Electricity lines company Orion will be reducing its prices by an average of six per cent from April 1.
The Christchurch city and Selwyn district council-owned company distributes power to 204,000 homes and businesses in Canterbury.
But whether the reduction in Orion’s prices is reflected in people’s power bills will be up to individual electricity companies.
The reduction in Orion’s prices reflects a decrease of 7.4 per cent in its cost of distribution, partially off-set by a 1.4 per cent increase in transmission costs from the national grid operator, Transpower.
Consumer NZ head of research Jessica Wilson said the changes would shave an average of about $3 off a monthly power bill. She would expect the price drop to be passed through by energy retailers.
“We would be very surprised if they were fudging the numbers and trying to use it as an opportunity to put up prices by an equivalent amount.”
A Mercury NZ Ltd spokeswoman said the company will be passing on the reduction in lines charges for customers.
“We will be communicating directly with our customers shortly about what this means for them and how it relates to their combined electricity charges.”
Meridian Energy is also likely to drop its pricing.
Said a Meridian spokeswoman: “We are still working through pricing but historically we have always passed through any changes by the network companies.”
She said Meridian Energy will have an answer for customers within the next few weeks.
A Contact Energy spokeswoman the company is working on price changes across the country but did not have anything to share in terms of its approach at the moment.
Said Orion chief executive Rob Jamieson: “The key component of the price reduction is the lower interest rate environment, which the Commerce Commission has factored in to our cost of distribution.”
