Official Information Act Request – Electricity Pricing, Wind Generation Assessments, Crown Ownership and Public Interest

To:

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Energy & Resources)

The Treasury

Electricity Authority

Environmental Protection Authority

WorkSafe New Zealand

Transpower New Zealand Ltd

Greetings,
 

This request is made under the Official Information Act 1982.

Electricity affordability is a matter of significant public interest. The Crown retains majority shareholdings in several electricity generation companies while also influencing electricity market policy and regulatory settings. Electricity costs are now a substantial component of household cost-of-living pressures.

This request seeks clarification regarding electricity pricing, wind generation assessments, cumulative health and infrastructure impacts, and any analysis undertaken by government agencies regarding the relationship between Crown ownership interests and consumer electricity prices.

Where information is held by another agency, please transfer the relevant portion under section 14 of the Official Information Act.

1. Whole-of-Government Review of Wind Generation

Please provide any nationwide or whole-of-government review, audit, or cumulative assessment concerning wind generation in New Zealand that evaluates impacts including:

• public health effects

• low frequency noise or infrasound

• vibration or ground transmission effects

• geotechnical effects

• seismic or fault-line proximity risks

• infrastructure resilience

• electricity grid integration

• transmission constraints

• generation curtailment

• balancing or reserve generation requirements

• electricity price impacts.

If no such integrated national assessment exists, please provide documents identifying which agencies assess each component of these issues and how cumulative effects are evaluated across agencies.

2. Health, Noise, and Vibration Research

Please provide all reports, briefings, scientific advice, or correspondence held since 1 January 2015 relating to wind turbine health or environmental effects, including low frequency noise, infrasound, vibration, sleep disturbance, or physiological impacts.

Please also provide any documents referring to research by Dr Bruce Rapley or any other scientific studies concerning wind turbine vibration or infrasound.

3. Seismic and Geotechnical Assessment

Please provide documents relating to seismic risk assessments used when siting wind turbines, including turbine placement near geological fault systems and geotechnical stability analysis for wind turbine installations.

4. Electricity Grid Integration

Please provide reports, modelling, or advice since 1 January 2018 concerning wind generation integration into the national electricity system, including transmission upgrades, congestion, curtailment events, reserve generation requirements, balancing costs, and grid capacity analysis.

5. Economic Performance of Wind Generation

Please provide reports analysing the commercial profitability of wind generation projects in New Zealand, comparative generation costs between wind and other energy sources, and the effect of wind generation on wholesale and retail electricity prices.

6. Electricity Price Drivers

Please provide briefings or reports since 1 January 2020 identifying the causes of increases in residential electricity prices, including wholesale prices, transmission charges, distribution charges, retail margins, generation investment costs, renewable integration costs, and regulatory compliance costs.

7. Crown Ownership and Financial Interests

Please provide documents showing total dividends or financial returns received by the Crown since 2018 from Meridian Energy, Mercury NZ, and Genesis Energy.

Please also provide any analysis or advice concerning whether Crown shareholding in electricity companies creates any actual or perceived tension between consumer electricity affordability and Crown financial returns.

8. Electricity Market Structure

Please provide any reports discussing electricity market concentration, competition levels in electricity generation and retail markets, and the relationship between market structure and electricity pricing.

9. Data Requests

Please provide, where available in spreadsheet form, annual residential electricity price averages from 2015 to present, annual wholesale electricity price averages from 2015 to present, annual Crown dividend receipts from electricity companies from 2015 to present, and any electricity hardship indicators held by your agency.

 10. Administrative Matters

 If any part of this request is refused or withheld, please specify the statutory ground relied upon under the Official Information Act.

If the request requires refinement due to substantial collation, please contact me to discuss.

 Please provide the information electronically.

 In good faith 

Tracy

This was sent to us in a reply with nothing else attached.

Each of these companies have a 51% holding by the crown.