Aurora commercial manager Jon Stone and customer and engagement manager Lisa Gloag spoke at the Central Otago Grey Power annual meeting on Wednesday.
Members questioned the pair on a range of issues and the high cost of electricity bills compared with other areas such as Dunedin, given the proximity to the electricity source, was top of the list.
Mr Stone began by saying what he had to say would not make the meeting happy but might help them understand.
"We know there are people out there doing it hard."
Electricity accounts were made up of various components, including generation, transmission and distribution as well as the price per unit charged by the supplier, he said.
Transpower was effectively the state highway network of electricity and Aurora, and other distribution companies, functioned as the local roading network. Central Otago residents paid less for transmission, due to proximity to the Clyde and Roxburgh dams. However, they paid more for distribution due to the low number of people in what was a large area.
It was a simply a numbers issue, Mr Stone said.
In February, the national average of line charges on a domestic power bill was 28%. In Central Otago it was 40%. Line charges made up on average 30% of Queenstown residents’ bills, while for those in Dunedin it was 27%.
In Dunedin, Aurora had about 56,000 customers in a fairly small area; in Queenstown there were 22,000 and spread across Central Otago and Wanaka there were 14,000.
The company’s profit last year of around $7.2million seemed to infuriate some at the meeting.
The revenue that could be recovered from its prices was determined by the Commerce Commission, Mr Stone said.
There were 27 lines companies in New Zealand and the Electricity Authority had deemed Aurora had the most efficient pricing structure in the country, he told the meeting.
That was met with a stony silence.
The electricity industry had not changed significantly in 100 years and the infrastructure could not cope with the doubling of usage expected to come with the push to decarbonise, Mr Stone said.
It was likely the industry would move towards more fixed charges and pricing incentives to use electricity outside peak times, Mr Stone said.
Power outages were another hot topic at the meeting.
Ms Gloag said there was a $563million five-year work programme to improve the network.
It was necessary to have planned outages to prevent unplanned ones, she said.
While there were planned outages booked until the end of June this year, the company had committed from next year there would be no planned outages between mid-June and mid-August in the Central Otago/Queenstown Lakes area unless needed for safety reasons or urgent maintenance or affected fewer than 60 customers.
However, if snow was forecast the planned outages would be deferred, she said.
During June and July 15, power poles on the Earnscleugh side of Clyde Hill would be replaced but no outages were required for that work.
Lines charge
February average, as percentage of domestic power bill
Central Otago - 40%
Queenstown - 30%
Dunedin - 27%
National - 28%
