KEY POINTS:
Rising hydro lake levels have eased fears of power shortages this winter, but the electricity industry is still asking people to save for now.
In the last three weeks, storage in the hydro lakes has risen from 49 to 61 per cent of the average for the time of year.
Just a few weeks ago, a lack of rain feeding the lakes had some commentators warning of an impending electricity crisis.
"It's all very positive at this stage," said hydrologist Dave Stewart.
"If we continue to have rainstorms for the next three weeks like we have in the last three weeks, we will just about be out of the woods."
The lakes were boosted by average or above average inflows on about 12 days since June, said Electricity Commission chairman David Caygill.
The commission would not relax until the storage levels had risen above the "min zone", where the risk of involuntary power cuts is about 1.5 per cent.
The convener of the Winter Power Group, Patrick Strange, said the controlled storage of the southern hydro lakes, at 53 per cent, was a concern.
Energy Minister David Parker is cautiously upbeat.
"Barring some sort of extraordinary thing, like some form of long-term failure of a big thermal plant in the North Island, things are a lot better than they were."
Consumers have responded well to a nationwide power conservation campaign, with savings of 4.6 per cent for the week ended yesterday.
However, the recent cold snap had also lifted electricity use to its highest level this winter, Dr Strange said.
"So continued savings are important. Just to show how important that is, overall, over the last week people and businesses (excluding major industries) have saved over $6 million worth of electricity."
Meridian Energy spokeswoman Claire Shaw said the company was confident it could manage through winter but was "talking to customers about saving power still".
Mr Stewart said consumers should continue to try to save electricity until lake levels were close to last year's storage levels.
HOW WE SAVED
Power savings, by region, for the week ended Tuesday, July 8 - compared with the same week last year.
* Upper North Island: 1.8%.
* Central North Island: 3.3%.
* Lower North Island: 6.3%.
* Upper South Island: 6.1%.
* Lower South Island: 6.6%.
