Trustpower affirmed annual earnings guidance, having raised its outlook three times this financial year on strong wholesale electricity prices, and noted the low hydro lake levels are threatening to trigger a high-priced event in 2018.
The Tauranga-based company retained its forecast for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and fair value adjustments to be between $255 million and $270m in the year ending March 31, although it now expects the final outcome will be around the mid-point of the range, it said in a statement.
Trustpower raised that guidance three times this financial year citing favourable trading conditions.
That forecast relies on long-run average generation volumes for the rest of the year, wholesale prices staying in line with forward pricing, normal temperatures and consumption and a customer base of between 255,000 and 260,000, including 90,000 to 95,000 telecommunications customers.
The electricity generator-retailer reported an average spot price of electricity generated of $88 per megawatt hour in the December quarter, up from $46/MWh a year earlier, and taking the year-to-date average to $89/MWh. New Zealand generation was down 8 percent to 484 Gigawatt hours from a year earlier, although the year-to-date tally was still up 14 per cent at 1,809 GWh.
