Introduction
In September 2001 the Minister of Energy announced a review of the way that New Zealand's electricity system functioned during winter 2001. This was in response to concerns among electricity consumers and industry participants about whether the market works properly under dry-year conditions. The purpose of the review was to identify whether further changes were required to electricity market arrangements.
This document is a summary of the submissions received. The points made are those of the submitters. The Government response will be announced in December 2001.
The Submissions Process
The review comprised a process of calling for submissions from interested parties, posting these on a website and inviting cross-submissions. The questions posed for submitters in the review's terms of reference were:
- What factors contributed to wholesale electricity market developments in the 2001 winter?
- How effective were existing market arrangements in responding to these developments?
- What changes should be made to market arrangements, why are these changes recommended and what are the costs and benefits?
(Submitters were asked, in responding to question 3, to take account of the improvements to market arrangements required by the Government as set out in the December 2000 Government Policy Statement on Electricity.) - What changes to the energy efficiency and conservation campaign should be considered in case the need arises in future for a similar campaign?
Forty-seven submissions were received in the first round, and 12 cross-submissions were received. A list of submitters is presented in Appendix 1.
Report Structure
This document presents a series of bullet points that summarise the points made by respondents, followed by selected quotes relating to those bullet points (if applicable), and a list of the submitters who made each point. In cases where a large number of submissions contributed to a point, the respondents concerned have been listed in a shaded box following the applicable bullet point(s) and quote(s). In the case of points made in only one or two submissions, respondents are listed in brackets at the end of the applicable bullet point (this occurs particularly in the case of suggested changes in section 3). All quotes are attributed to the applicable submitter.
Each section begins with a brief summary of the key points made under that section. These summaries have also been collated together and presented at the beginning as a summary of the entire document.
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