Increase in network costs mean price change for Meridian customers

Friday 17 February 2012

An increase in electricity distribution and transmission charges will see a price change for Meridian Energy customers in April.

Meridian today announced that its customers will receive price changes from 1 April to reflect an increase in costs from the country’s 29 lines network companies and national electricity transmission operator Transpower. There will be no increase in Meridian’s energy charge.

Meridian General Manager Retail Bill Highet says this means most customers will get a price change of between one and five percent.

“The country’s network companies have told us they are increasing their fees for the services they and Transpower provide for grid and upgrade maintenance projects,” he says. “We need to reflect that cost increase in the network component of what we charge our customers.

“Meridian customers will receive a letter explaining the price change next week. The exact price change for Meridian customers will vary depending on what network company area they live in and how much their network company changes its prices.”

Network companies manage the distribution power line network, while Transpower owns and manages the national electricity transmission network through the larg e pylons running the length of New Zealand. The increase in distribution and transmission charges affects all electricity retailers.

To find out more, please click here.

For further information contact:

Michelle Brooker
External Communications
Meridian Energy
021 225 9624

About Meridian Energy

Meridian is New Zealand’s largest electricity generator and currently owns and operates seven hydro stations, four wind farms within New Zealand, and one wind farm in Australia:

• Manapouri power station and six hydro stations on the Waitaki River in the South Island
• Te Apiti wind farm near Palmerston North
• White Hill wind farm in Southland
• West Wind farm in Wellington
• Te Uku wind farm in Raglan
• Mt Millar wind farm, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
• CalRENEW-1 solar farm in Mendota, California

Internationally, Meridian has operations in Melbourne, Australia and San Francisco, California.

Meridian also retails electricity to around 280,000 individual customer connections (including Powershop) throughout New Zealand, which includes households, farms and businesses. It also provides electricity to New Zealand’s single largest electricity user, the Rio Tinto Alcan New Zealand Limited aluminium smelter in Bluff. 

Meridian invests strongly in renewable energy development and has over 1,500 megawatts of Australasian development opportunities in the development pipeline.