NZ transmits power market ideas

By RICHARD BRADDELL utilities writer

Singapore is to adopt the key features of New Zealand's wholesale electricity market under a joint venture with New Zealand market administrator M-co.

Chief executive Philip Bradley said New Zealand's head-start into deregulation and the new free-trade agreement between the two countries were important factors that led M-co to win a 49 per cent stake in the new, joint-venture company.

It will establish wholesale trading in the island state before the end of the year.

The Energy Market Company will undertake governance, compliance and settlement roles using New Zealand-developed systems and under the watch of M-co's general manager of operations, Allan Dawson, who will become chief executive of the new venture.

"This is really the beginning of taking the model that we developed here in New Zealand to the rest of the world," Mr Bradley said.

Singapore had considered Californian, Australian and New Zealand regimes last year and had opted for New Zealand because its governance systems filled a gap that had not been addressed in their own work on establishing a market.

"They really liked the attitude we brought to running the market as an equivalent of a stock exchange," he said.

The Singapore-New Zealand free-trade agreement that came into effect last year had also smoothed the path.



M-co, which is ultimately owned by South Africa's First Rand, has been administering New Zealand's wholesale electricity market since its inception in 1996.

It also operates a "green" electricity market in Australia which trades rights in renewable electricity. Such rights will become important because retailers will eventually have to demonstrate that 2 per cent of their electricity is generated using renewable sources.