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The Electricity Commission yesterday delayed its decision on Transpower's proposed power line upgrade into Auckland until next year.
The commission, which declined Transpower's initial plan in April, said it expected to release a draft decision at the end of next month, instead of at the end of the year.
"We are still working through a small number of reliability, strategic and competition issues, but felt that it would not be good practice to rush consideration of them to meet an arbitrary decision timeline," said commission deputy chairman, Peter Harris.
Transpower said: "We would have hoped the process would have been completed, but we recognise it is a big project with a lot to consider and that the commission needs a bit more time in order to make an informed decision."
Some landowners along the planned route have opposed the building of pylons, although Transpower has been buying land which it intends to sell later.
Transpower plans to build overhead lines from Whakamaru to near South Auckland to handle 400kV but initially only operate them at 220kV. It has delayed spending on transformer equipment.
The proposal - to cost $683 million, up from $622 million for the original plan - would also need approval under the Resource Management Act.
Electricity demand is growing at 2.8 per cent a year in Auckland, faster than any other area of the country.
