Appendix 1: Crown Entities and Boards
Electricity Commission
The Electricity Commission is a Crown entity established under the Electricity Act 1992 to take responsibility for governing and regulating New Zealand's electricity industry and markets.
The Commission commenced operations in September 2003 and took over responsibility for operating the electricity market under the Electricity Governance Rules and Regulations 2003 from 1 March 2004.
The Electricity Act 1992 (as amended in 2004) sets the following principal objectives for the Electricity Commission:
- ensuring that electricity is produced and delivered to all classes of consumers in an efficient, fair, reliable, and environmentally sustainable manner
- promoting and facilitating the efficient use of electricity.
The Commission has extensive powers to recommend regulations or rules to achieve its aim. However, where possible, it should instead use its powers of persuasion and promotion, and provide information and model arrangements to achieve its objectives.
The Minister of Energy must formally issue a Government Policy Statement setting out the objectives and outcomes to which the government wants the Commission to give effect. A statement was issued in October 2004. In recognising that the Commission has a substantial task ahead of it, the government has directed the Commission to give priority to the following four areas:
- managing security of supply and implementing the reserve energy mechanism
- working with Transpower and grid users to facilitate priority investment in the grid
- promoting efficient use of electricity
- improving hedge market transparency and liquidity and demand-side participation.
The government expects the Commission to provide early warning if it believes there is any material risk that current policy settings for electricity are unlikely to produce sufficient investment, particularly in generation and the national grid.
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