KEY POINTS:
Market analysts Fitch have affirmed Contact Energy's ratings, despite uncertainties over its long-term gas supplies and planned $2 billion investment in renewable generation.
Contact, rated BBB+ with a stable outlook, is a strongly hedged integrated electricity and gas company, said Fitch Asia-Pacific director Kevin Lewis.
Contact was expected to be able to deal with a tightening of New Zealand's gas supply over the next two to three years, and would work closely with its 51.4 per cent owner, Origin Energy.
Maui low-priced gas will soon be finished and in the absence of a major gas find, prices may continue to increase.
Contact is NZ's second-largest electricity generator and electricity and gas retailer and has 50 per cent of the LPG retail market share.
- NZPA
