Power prices up in October

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 551, 30 August 1994, Page 5

Power prices up in October

King Country Energy has announced an average four percent tariff increase from 1 October which will mean the average domestic consumer will pay an extra 14 cents per day, or a little over $50 extra per year. Domestic tariffs will rise by five percent. Average non-domestic customers face a 3.25 per cent rise, which will add an average 17c per day to their electricity costs. Customers paying by the due date are entitled to a 10 percent discount, which would lower the new average monthly domestic power charges from $93.84 to $84.46. Comparisons with other power companies show that KCE's total charges are well below

the present North Island average of $98.28 per month, said General manager Peter Till The average monthly domestic bill levied by the KCE's neighbours at present are; Waitomo Energy $ 1 1 2. 39, Powerco (Wanganui) $112.61, T aupo Electricity $112.61 and T aranaki Energy $116.55. This is in spite of two years of tariff increases for domestic customers in the order of nine per cent as the company began removing the cross subsidisation of domestic customers by nondomestic customers, in order to remain competitive in the deregulated energy market. Mr Till said the company would have had to raise domestic tariffs by 12 per cent and reduce

non-domestic rates by four per cent to balance the tariffs this year, and he believes this would have been unacceptable. The above figures are based on a December 1 993 study by the Rural Electricity Reticulation Council (RERC) for customers using 1000 units of electricity, with 600 units on the general tariff and 400 on the off peak "short interruption" rate. GST is included. Most King Country Energy domestic customers use a little less than the 1000 units per month. Mr Till said KCE's domestic customers will still be paying some of the lowest rates for electricity in New Zealand, when energy charges and line charges are combined.