Powerco charges on the rise

Lines charges cover the cost of distributing electricity.

Lines company Powerco has announced its charges will increase by 4.8 per cent but the majority of Bay electricity retailers are not yet saying how it will affect consumers.

Powerco, New Zealand's second largest electricity and gas network utility, has warned that more than 76,000 Bay of Plenty customers of a $3.50 increase per month.

Powerco announced, on Friday, that the combined electricity distribution and transmission charges would increase by 4.8 per cent, effective April 1, 2015.

"This translates to around a $3.50 increase per month in lines charges for the average customer connected to Powerco's electricity network - or $42 per year," the announcement stated.

Powerco general manager electricity Andrew McLeod said it was important to note the increase was an average across Powerco's Bay of Plenty electricity network and therefore different customers with different energy requirements might see variations in changes to their line charges.

"The changes are to ensure that all consumers across our various regions and consumer groups pay a fair and equitable amount," Mr McLeod said.

The change was also to allow for a re-balancing of the company's charges to ensure they better reflected costs.

Mr McLeod said Powerco invoiced electricity retailers for combined distribution and transmission charges, and retailers determined the final price of delivered energy to customers by adding in their own costs and the cost of generation.

Meridian Energy external communications specialist Amy Lockyer said Tauranga Meridian customers on the Powerco network would see an increase of about 0.7 per cent.

Contact Energy general manager of corporate affairs Nicholas Robinson said their customers would also face adjustments to account for the changes in Powerco network charges.

However, Powershop, run by Meridian Energy, would not say yesterday if their customer's bills would increase but said they were preparing to release changes later this week.

Powershop chief executive Ari Sargent said he could not make general comments about price changes because each customer was different depending on their usage.

Richard Gordon, of Genesis Energy said Genesis was "reviewing the impact of Powerco's lines increase on our customers and will make a decision whether to pass through the Powerco increase in the near future".

Changes in lines charges, up or down, had been passed through to customers in the past but not always, he said, with Genesis absorbing the cost in some cases.

Mr Gordon would not say what the impact on Genesis Energy customers would be until the company had notified their customers directly.

Trustpower community relations co-ordinator Suzi Luff said the price team were still working out what the Powerco lines changes would mean for their customers.

The changes would not be known or announced to customers until March for an April start, she said.

"We are currently working through our annual price change process for the Tauranga region, which takes place at this time normally every year".