Power prices up

Ruapehu Bulletin, 20 August 1991, Page 6

Power prices up

King Country Energy consumers will pay an average nine per cent more for their electricity i after October 1 but will

still have the cheapest domestic power in New Zealand. On average, domestic tariffs will rise by 11.4 percent while commercial customers will have to pay 6.6 percent more. Industrial customers will face an average 4.6 percent increase. The tariff increases were confirmed at the August King Country Energy board meeting. General manager Peter Till said the different size increases were necessary to reduce "crosssubsidization" of domestic consumers by the non-domestic sector. The rise in bulk power prices from Electricorp Marketing and a need to finance work necessary to improve the electricity distribution system from profits were additional reasons for increasing the tariffs. Chairperson Ken Street said after the meeting that King Country Energy had consistently limited tariff increases over the past few years, funding major work from reserves, but it could not continue to do so. "While the average domestic power bill will rise by about $6 per month, our domestic consumers will still be paying, on average $3.52 less that those supplied by the next cheapest supplier," Mr Street said. "Other domestic customers are paying up to $92.50 per month, compared with the average domestic monthly bill of $58.44 with our new tariff. "Any customer who feels the tariff increase could produce hardship should contact our customer advisers. It's highly likely that their

advice could produce monthly energy savings greater than the proposed 20c per day tariff increase." Two new features will be introduced with the October tariff changes: Farmers and others with more than one supply will be charged only one supply charge if they have all the meters at one point and new customers, or those changing the name on an account will be required to pay a $50 application

fee on top of any bond, to cover the administrative costs of setting up the account. General manager Peter Till said the newly approved tariffs will probably be the last in their present form. Next year King Country Energy will be required to split line and energy charges, so that the cost of the actual electricity is separated from the cost of delivery. Such a move has been requested by Government

as part of a nation-wide bid to make energy cost reflect the true cost of supply. King Country Energy will be employing someone to make a complete study of line and energy charges in its area so that it will be ready to adopt the new format on 1 January. Meanwhile Mr Till said a day/night commercial tariff is also being investigated for next year.