Prices up as power station offline

SYDNEY - New Zealand spot power prices rose sharply over the past week as inflows into hydro-electricity catchment lakes remained low and a gas-fired power station came out of service for maintenance.

Prices at the North Island reference point of Haywards rose 23.9 per cent to an average $79.08 per megawatt hour (MWh) while at the South Island reference point of Benmore they rose 19.9 per cent, to an average $79.10 per MWh.

"We've had a few weeks of low inflows and that is now feeding into pricing," an analyst said on Wednesday. "But the big event of the week has been the loss of a power station which was pumping close to capacity until Friday."

The 365 megawatt Otahuhu power station, near Auckland, is owned by Contact Energy, and is scheduled to be off-line until Christmas.

Inflows into the South Island, where all electricity is produced by hydro power stations, were 57 per cent of average over the past week to Tuesday, rising from 37 per cent last week after a wet Saturday.

Demand rose 0.5 per cent to 101,518 gigawatt hours (GWh), also contributing to rising prices.

Market operator M-Co said New Zealand's stored energy fell 4 per cent over the past seven days to 74 per cent of normal levels.

Around 60 per cent of New Zealand's electricity is produced by hydro power stations.

- REUTERS