The discount will apply to this or next month's electricity bills and takes the total discount since 2000 to almost $30 million.
Network Waitaki supplies electricity to 12,341 consumers between Shag Point and the Waitaki River and inland to the Hakataramea Valley and Ohau. All the shares in the company are owned by the elected Waitaki Power Trust on behalf of consumers.
The company, in consultation with the trust, pays out a discount based on the financial year's surplus, taking into account its future requirements, particularly capital investment.
This year, its consumers will get a total of $2 million (including GST), compared with $2.3 million last year and $2.1 million in 2012.
The 3955 residential consumers on the domestic low-user rate will get a credit on their bills of $88.73 this year and the 4933 residential consumers on the next 15C rate $143.53, making up the bulk of Network Waitaki's customers.
The difference in the discount between the two residential consumer groups is those on the domestic low-user rate get a lower fixed charge throughout the whole year.
Discounts increase for higher user rates.
Network Waitaki board chairwoman Clare Kearney said the company was committed to promoting the growth of North Otago and keen to reduce the cost of electricity to homes and businesses.
''Consumers share in our success once a year with the discount,'' she said.
Waitaki Power Trust chairwoman Helen Brookes said that, to meet consumers' growing demand for more electricity, the company needed to make considerable new investment to secure an improved connection to the Transpower national grid.
''Despite an increased budget for network development into the future, the trust has made a point of ensuring that consumers will continue to receive reasonable discounts on their bills,'' she said.
The upgrade of the company's link to the Transpower grid was to ensure the electricity supply into North Otago was secure with increasing consumption.
It also needed to continually upgrade its local network, particularly in some rural areas where the demand had grown substantially as a result of new irrigation and land-use changes.
Details of the discount are on the Network Waitaki website (www.networkwaitaki.co.nz).
