Contact's power generation falls

Contact Energy's Otahuhu Power Station in Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker

Contact Energy's electricity generation fell 2.6 per cent to 9691 gigawatt hours in the year to June.

The main decline was in thermal generation, which fell 10.7 per cent to 3654GWh, compared with a year earlier.

The average national wholesale electricity price, which Contact receives for its generation, fell to $52.23 in the latest year, compared with $56.08 the year before.

For the month of June total generation eased to 937GWh from 964GWh a year earlier, with the average wholesale price falling at $38.62, compared with $58.11 in June 2009.

Contact said it had 477,000 electricity customers as at June 30, about 500 up from a month earlier but 1500 lower than a year before.

Gas customers slipped to 63,500 from 64,000 at the end of May and 66,500 at the end of June 2009. LPG customer numbers were 58,000 at the end of June, up 1000 from a month earlier and up 4500 over a year. Contact shares fell 9c to $5.60.

- NZPA