Appointment of Security and Reliability Council members
We have appointed three members to the Security and Reliability Council (SRC).
Guy Waipara (General Manager of Generation and Natural Resources at Meridian Energy) has been reappointed for another three-year term. Bruce Turner (Director Commodity and Risk Trading at Fonterra) has been reappointed for a one-year term.
Tracey Hickman (Executive General Manager - Generation and Wholesale at Genesis Energy) has been appointed for a three-year term. Tracey has worked in the electricity sector for over 22 years, and has been responsible for managing Genesis Energy’s hydro and thermal generation assets for over 12 years. Over this time, Tracey has overseen Genesis Energy’s generation fleet through a number of significant events in the industry, from volcanic eruption and earthquake responses to major switchboard disruptions.
Biographies for Guy Waipara and Bruce Turner are available on our website.
Final Court of Appeal decision on the Default Distributor Agreement
On 13 March 2019, the Court of Appeal released its second decision on the Authority’s right to introduce a Default Distributor Agreement (DDA). The decision allows us to proceed with a DDA proposal (as indicated by the first decision issued in November 2018).
The DDA is designed to promote competition and efficiency in the electricity industry by achieving more standardisation of contracts for distribution services.
Further information about this decision is available on our website.
The Electricity Authority welcomes the Network Transformation Roadmap released by the Electricity Network Association (ENA) last Tuesday.
As the document explains, it will help distribution companies navigate changes in the way electricity distribution networks will be used in the future.
In particular, the Authority is pleased to see the Roadmap complements the Authority’s work on open networks and cost-reflective distribution pricing.
Code Amendment: Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Terms and Conditions for Access to Registry and WITS) 2019
On 18 April 2019 amendments from the Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Terms and Conditions for Access to Registry and WITS) 2019 will come into force.
These amendments are to Parts 11 and 13 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010.
We remind participants about the Electricity Education Portal available on our website. The portal helps new entrants and participants in the electricity sector easily access key information currently contained in our guideline documents.
Participants can search on a specific topic and follow the links to find more in-depth information. If you are new to the portal we have developed a helpful user guide and video.
Reminder: Participant registration and information update
We remind participants that it is their responsibility to register with the Authority as a participant, and ensure the information they provide for registration is up to date. Please check that all information is up to date including contact names and details that may have changed. All changes and updates may be directed to compliance@ea.govt.nz.
The participant register is available on our website.
Failure to register or to update information is an offence under section 31 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010.
The Authority is running participant auditor training on Thursday, 2 May 2019. The training is specifically designed for:
people interested in becoming an approved auditor
existing approved auditors seeking a refresher.
Please email your expression of interest to conference@ea.govt.nz with “Auditor Training – 2 May 2019” in the subject line by 4pm on Tuesday, 16 April 2019.
Spaces are very limited and preference will be given to prospective auditors and approved auditors. A participant focussed session is planned for July 2019.
A draft agenda and more information on approved auditors can be found on our website.
Consultation on remaining elements of Real-Time Pricing
We are consulting on three remaining elements of the design for spot market settlement on real-time pricing. This project aims to develop a dispatch-based real-time pricing option to deliver more certainty, accuracy and efficiency.
