Contact loses 2000 customers in April

Contact Energy lost 2000 electricity customers in the last month and 6000 customers in the last year, according to its latest operating report.

The company had 476,500 electricity customers at April 30, down from 478,500 at March 30 and 482,500 at April 30 last year.

The number of gas customers was 64,000, unchanged from March and down from 67,000 in April last year.

Competition for customers was intense in metropolitan areas and was continuing to creep into selected regional areas, Goldman Sachs JBWere NZ analyst Matt Henry said. The market would continue to be competitive.

Contact Energy said North Island lake storage was 49 per cent of mean levels last month, down from 71 per cent in March, while South Island storage was 142 per cent of mean, up from 102 per cent.

North Island storage has since fallen to 34 per cent of mean, while South Island storage is 139 per cent of mean.

Henry said the recent deluge in the southern hydro lake region had weakened the near-term outlook for wholesale electricity prices. Lower wholesale prices would promote further competition in the market.

Pole One of the HVDC inter-island power network link has been operating intermittently but was expected to operate consistently through the winter when transmitting to the North Island.

- NZPA