Genesis to buy gas customers

By CHRIS DANIELS energy writer

State-owned power company Genesis has agreed to buy NGC's 94,000 gas retail customers, conditional on permission from the Commerce Commission.

NGC's gas customers and electricity generation business have been put up for sale as part of the company's move to focus on gas transmission and energy metering.

NGC, in announcing the deal, said there would be another announcement once the commission made its decision on the deal, expected in the next few weeks.

This announcement is likely to include more details of the transaction, possibly including the price paid.

Genesis Power, which already provides the billing and customer service for NGC, is also awaiting commission approval to buy 20,000 customers from Energy Online, mainly in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawkes Bay.

Energy Online will operate as a standalone business within the company.

Genesis, New Zealand's largest electricity retailer, has about 450,000 customers and owns seven power stations in the North Island, including the Huntly Station.

It also has a 70 per cent interest in the Kupe gas field.

Genesis is preparing to build a 400-megawatt thermal power station alongside the Huntly station.

NGC yesterday called for expressions of interest from potential buyers of its Taranaki combined-cycle, gas-fired power station at Stratford (354MW) and its small Cobb hydro station near Nelson (32MW).

It wants indicative bids in November, with final bids submitted the following month.

Prospective buyers have also been invited to "register their interest" in NGC's stakes in the Southdown Co-generation and Rotokawa geothermal power stations.

The company has gained resource consent to expand its Stratford plant by adding another gas-fired power station.

This consent is likely to be part of the assets sold to any new buyer, which would give it the freedom to expand the station if it wanted.