Electricity Generation Increases in September Q.

Electricity Generation Increases in September Quarter

Seasonally adjusted electricity generation increased by 7.2 percent in the September 2003 quarter compared with the June 2003 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. This increase follows the voluntary savings in consumption of electricity that were achieved in the June 2003 quarter.

In the September 2003 quarter, hydro generation was 5,952 gigawatt hours, 11.5 percent lower than in the September 2002 quarter. Thermal generation of 3,915 gigawatt hours was 25.4 percent higher in the September 2003 quarter than in the September 2002 quarter.

Hydro generation supplied 60 percent of the electricity generated in the September 2003 quarter. Over the past 10 years, the September quarterly average contribution of hydro generation to the total electricity generated has been 67 percent.

Gas production was 18.2 percent lower in the September 2003 quarter than in the September 2002 quarter. Gas production was 207,000 terajoules in the year ended September 2003, down 17.0 percent when compared with the year ended September 2002, and 19.9 percent lower than in the September 2001 year, when production reached the highest level recorded in a September year.

Production of crude petroleum was 972,000 tonnes in the year ended September 2003, a fall of 10.2 percent compared with the year ended September 2002. This is the first time that production has fallen below 1 million tonnes since the series began in 1987. Production was 49 percent lower than in the September 1991 year, when production peaked at 1.9 million tonnes.

In the September 2003 quarter, deliveries of petrol (598,000 tonnes) and diesel (544,000 tonnes) to resellers and direct to industry were 1.5 percent and 1.2 percent higher, respectively, than in the September 2002 quarter. The total volume of petrol delivered in the year ended September 2003 was 2.4 million tonnes, 5.9 percent higher than in the year ended September 2002. Deliveries of regular petrol (91 octane or less) totalled 1.9 million tonnes, an increase of 6.1 percent compared with the year ended September 2002. Regular petrol accounted for 78 percent of the total volume of petrol delivered in the year ended September 2003, compared with 40 percent in the year ended September 1993.

Deliveries of diesel in the September 2003 year amounted to 2.3 million tonnes, 7.1 percent higher than in the September 2002 year. The volume of diesel delivered has been increasing by an average of 6 percent since 1989.

Brian Pink

Government Statistician

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