Renewed demand sees power prices jump

Wholesale power prices rose over the past week as demand levels returned to normal after the New Year holidays, despite a recovery in rain inflows into hydro-electricity catchments.

Prices at the North Island reference point of Haywards rose 8.3 per cent to an average $92.59 per megawatt hour (MWh), while at the South Island reference point of Benmore they rose 6.8 per cent to an average $91.84 per MWh.

Demand rose 8.5 per cent to 92,108 gigawatt hours (GWh).

"Business and industry are back to work after the holiday period and that is translating into higher demand and higher prices," an industry analyst said today.

"But after a longish dry spell there's been more rain this week so that is controlling the effect to an extent."

Inflows into the South Island, where all electricity is produced by hydro power stations, were 117 per cent of average over the past week to Tuesday, rising from 88 per cent last week.

The biggest inflows were recorded in the Waikaremoana catchment on the North Island and the Waiau catchment on the South Island.

As a result, market operator M-Co said New Zealand's stored energy had risen 8 percentage points over the past seven days to 79 per cent of normal levels.

Around 60 per cent of electricity is produced by hydro power stations.

- REUTERS