Learning to love Rio Tinto – can it be done?

The Tiwai Point conundrum in a nutshell: hydrogen-powered car, (mainly) aluminium body. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Thu, 10 Feb 2022

To gain new electricity contracts that would keep its Tiwai Point smelter operating, the smelter's majority owner Rio Tinto will need to achieve at least four things:1/ A decent electricity priceIt will have to pay a decent commercial rate for the one-seventh of all of New Zealand’s electricity the smelter has been using at heavily discounted prices since opening in 1971. The smelter currently pays about $35 per megawatt hour for its juice under contracts that end in December 2024. Twice that rate looks likely if it is to have any cha...

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