A Wellington supermarket is forced to axe a compulsory plastic bag charge it introduced only four weeks ago.

The number of plastic bags used by NZ shoppers has been slashed by 157 million over five years - almost a quarter of the original total.

Profits at New Zealand's largest energy distributor, Vector, have risen 16.3 per cent, but the recession means growth in new connections has slowed and volumes are down.

Mastercard will let merchants surcharge customers when they use their cards to make purchases under a settlement announced today.