Consultations

The Authority has identified a barrier to emerging technology that is not in the long term interests of the New Zealand consumer, and is providing no benefit to the Authority or the consumer.

The Electricity Industry Act 2010 (Act) requires all participants to register with the Authority.

Many everyday consumers are unaware that they are participants, and that there is an obligation for them to register with the Authority. Registration includes providing personal address and contact details which are recorded in a publicly available list on the Authority’s website.

We consider there are two cases where participant registration is of no benefit to either the Authority or the consumer, yet is costly to administer. We propose recommending class exemptions to cover two categories of participant from having to register:

• persons, other than a generator (as defined in the Act), who generate electricity that is fed into a network, on a small scale
• metering equipment owners (MEOs) who only own metering equipment measuring electricity at the installation control point (ICP) where they consume electricity.