Commission Publishes Tools For Assessing 2020 Performance Of Local Electricity Lines Companies

The Commerce Commission has today published performance information for regulated local lines companies for the year to 31 March 2020 as part of a suite of resources created to support the understanding of supplier performance.

“Helping consumers, communities and the industry easily access and interrogate the performance of electricity lines companies is an important part of our regulatory regime for monopoly infrastructure providers,” Commission Deputy Chair Sue Begg said.

“We are continuing to look for ways to make performance information easier for people to access and use. We already have a range of tools and resources to help consumers, the boards and management of regulated businesses, technical advisors and major customers get the information they need to assess whether individual companies and the industry are delivering for New Zealanders," she said.

Tools published today are:

• one-page performance summaries which provide high level statistics on each lines company’s performance, such as profitability, capital and operating spending, asset condition, line charge revenue and network reliability
• a performance accessibility tool which uses data visualisation software to present information on each lines company’s profitability and revenue, capital and operating spending, asset condition and age, and reliability data.

Other resources available include:

• an excel dataset which can be accessed through a pivot table function, containing all performance information disclosed by local lines companies from 2008 to 2020 to help people better understand how the electricity sector is performing
• high-level reports and visual dashboards that tell the story of industry performance, such as revenue and reliability trends for local lines companies over time
• in-depth detailed technical reports on regulatory considerations such as asset management, profitability and emerging technology.

All of the tools and reports for regulated local lines companies can be found on the

Commission’s website.

The Commission will continue to develop the range of tools and resources available for all regulated sectors including gas pipelines and major international airports.

For any feedback on the range and performance analysis tools and resources or to be notified of future publications, please contact the Commission on

regulation.branch@comcom.govt.nz

Background

The performance accessibility tool and one-page performance summaries are based on data we have collected from all of New Zealand’s local lines companies under information disclosure regulation since 2008. Under the Commerce Act, the Commission regulates monopoly infrastructure providers, including 29 local lines companies and five gas distribution businesses to ensure they deliver strong and sustainable services for the long-term benefit of consumers.

The Commission’s price-quality regulation sets rules about how much the regulated businesses can earn from their customers and the minimum reliability standards they must deliver. Community-owned lines companies are exempt from price-quality regulation. The companies must also publicly disclose information about their financial and physical performance of their networks to increase transparency.

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