Lakes filling, but crisis not over yet

Higher-than-average flows into the country's hydro-lakes are a positive sign, but it is not yet time to relax, says national electricity monitoring company M-Co.

Heavy rain in the main catchment areas in the past few days has seen lakes replenished, but not enough to fill them up.

M-Co figures show Lake Taupo was 16 per cent full by Saturday, compared with just 6 per cent a week ago, after inflow recorded at 175 per cent of the average for this time of year.

Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, which make up nearly 55 per cent of New Zealand's storage capacity for hydro-electric generation, received 113 per cent of the average.

They were 25 per cent and 38 per cent full respectively.

National inflow on Saturday was average or higher for the fifth day in a row and for the last seven days was 7 per cent higher than average.

"We're still not there," said M-Co spokeswoman Jane Tronson. "At the end of the day, the lakes are still only two-thirds of what you would normally expect them to be at this time of year."

In July, Energy Minister Pete Hodgson said New Zealand could have a power crisis if the country did not save electricity in the next two months.

He called for a 10 per cent saving over 10 weeks from most New Zealanders but asked the public sector to save 15 per cent.

Saturday's national savings figure was 8 per cent and since the campaign began 7.4 per cent has been saved nationally.

Mr Hodgson said yesterday that Government agencies had cut electricity use by 12 per cent in the fortnight since the drive began.

The figures were based on reports returned by 26 large Government organisations, including hospitals, universities and crown research institutes.

Although the 15 per cent target had not yet been reached, Mr Hodgson said an improvement from 8 per cent in the first week to 17 per cent in the second was creditable.

- NZPA

Feature: Electricity

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority