The Electricity Authority () is an independent Crown entity responsible for the regulation of the New Zealand electricity market. The Authority was established in November 2010, following a government review of the electricity industry, and replaced the Electricity Commission. The Authority has a narrower focus on industry competition, reliability and efficiency than the Electricity Commission had.
Functions and responsibilities The key functions performed by the Authority are: Registering industry participants Developing and administering the Electricity Industry Participation Code Monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Code Acting as Market Administrator and contracting providers of market operations services Facilitating market performance through information, best-practice guidelines and related services; and Undertaking sector reviews
Functions that were performed by the Commission, but which are undertaken by agencies other than the Authority include: Consumer protection – Consumer Affairs at Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Electricity efficiency – Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Reserve energy and emergency campaigns – Transpower Security of supply information and forecasting – Transpower Transmission network upgrades approval – Commerce Commission
Funding The Electricity Authority is publicly funded, and this cost is then recovered by the government through a levy on electricity industry participants. This levy has the potential to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity prices. A portion is on-charges through electricity bills (roughly 0.4% of household bills). Additionally, this levy funds electricity efficiency programmes delivered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.
These Levy rates are rest based on the costs burdens on the Electricity Authority, and the costs of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's electricity efficiency programmes quantity of electricity generated, purchased and conveyed, plus the number of consumer connections.
See also Electricity sector in New Zealand
References
External links Electricity Authority