KEY POINTS:
Spot power prices in New Zealand were a shade softer last week as inflows into hydro lakes improved.
Prices at the North Island reference point of Haywards were 0.7 per cent down to an average $56.19 per megawatt hour (MWh), while at the South Island reference point of Benmore they were fractionally lower to an average $54.23 per MWh.
"There's a slight edging down in prices, but they are being relatively well contained at the moment and there's not much change in expectations of the hydro (lakes) situation," a market analyst said.
"Storage levels are just around that 90 per cent level, neither going up nor down, and in those circumstances the market just keeps on ticking over."
National demand was nearly 1 per cent higher at 103,761 MWh.
Wholesale market operator M-Co said New Zealand's stored energy over the past seven days was at 92 per cent of average, down 2 percentage points from a week ago.
A late summer dry spell had resulted in a sharp reduction of inflows in catchments in the South Island in February, where all electricity is produced by hydro power stations, forcing greater reliance on more expensive thermal power.
National inflows were 69 per cent of average over the week to Tuesday, compared with 52 per cent in the previous week.
Around 60 per cent of New Zealand's electricity is produced by hydro power stations.
- REUTERS
