Photo: lighthunter/123RF
Proposed changes should lead to New Zealanders with solar power systems on their houses get more of a return for any power they put back into the system.
The Energy Competition Task Force on Wednesday revealed three proposals that it said would give people more control over their power costs, and make better use of rooftop solar and batteries.
Two of the three proposed changes are about rewarding consumers for supplying electricity to the network at peak times, typically through their own solar and battery systems.
The taskforce recommended lines companies provide a rebate when consumers supply energy into congested parts of the network, and that large electricity retailers offer at least one time-varying rate for when they buy electricity from consumer power systems.
The other proposal would make "time-of-use" plans, which offer cheaper off-peak power, more widely available, by requiring every power firm with at least 5 percent market share to offer it as an option.
Electricity Authority chair Anna Kominik said there would be benefits if consumers were empowered to more actively participate in the electricity market, including increased energy resilience and reduced power costs over time.
"New Zealand's electricity market currently relies on a few big generators to supply electricity at select locations and transmit it to households and businesses across the country. But as uptake of solar and battery systems continues to increase, more consumers will be able to contribute to our electricity system. And as smart electronics and vehicles become more ubiquitous, consumers will also be able to more actively manage their own energy use and costs.
"We're proposing three changes to help support this consumer empowerment and decentralisation of our energy system. Over time, this will increase community resilience and lower power costs for everyone," she said.
"We'd like to see people fairly rewarded for supplying power when it's needed, and incentivise efficient uptake of flexible, small-scale electricity generation systems such as rooftop solar and batteries. Energy from rooftop solar supplied at peak times can ease pressure on the electricity network, reducing demand and keeping the lines costs we all pay for through our power bills to a minimum.
"By incentivising households and businesses to invest in their own generation, we can help meet New Zealand's electricity needs when demand is high and improve community resilience," she said.
Commerce Commission chair John Small, who is also part of the taskforce, said the intention was to offer people with rooftop solar more incentive to use it in ways that helped themselves and others.
"There's been some well publicised difficulties with SolarZero and so on. But my view is it's still got a significant role to play both at the household level and at big scale."
He said the amount that people received for power they put back into the grid had fluctuated over the years.
It is currently anything from 8c per kWh with Mercury to up to 21c with Ecotricity.
"That is a function of all sorts of things including the prices that are out there in the market for offtake and also the willingness of retailers to buy it back. There are a lot of factors underlying that - it doesn't help the investment case for rooftop solar."
He said he hoped competition would reduce the volatility and get prices to a reasonable level.
"We're really relying on competition to do that at this point."
He said while time-of-use plans were not new, many people did not have access toone.
"As these plans provide a simple, effective tool for consumers to manage their energy use and costs, we'd like to see all major retailers offer them, so more consumers have this choice."
Small said the plans have the additional benefit of reducing overall electricity costs for consumers across the country.
"People on these plans are incentivised to shift their use away from peak periods when electricity is most expensive. The more consumers shift their use at these times - for example by running EV chargers later at night when electricity demand is generally lower - the less high-cost electricity needs to be generated, and this lowers costs for everyone," he said.
He said this was the first step of the taskforce's process. "It's not the end of the line for the work we are doing. There is more coming in the near future."
Powerswitch general manager Paul Fuge said it was working on a calculator that would help people work out whether they could save money on a time-of-use plan. "There is a danger some households will think it will save them money when it won't."
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