Falling electricity demand to push transmission costs up, warns MEUG

Falling electricity demand to push transmission costs up, warns MEUG
By Pattrick Smellie Sept 6 (BusinessDesk) – Falling demand for electricity will push up power prices as the monopoly national grid owner, Transpower, spreads its regulated charges over smaller total consumption, warns the Major Electricity Users Group. MEUG formally raised the issue with senior government ministers, including Prime Minister John Key, in a June 17 letter, saying “the greatest risk to near term power prices is increasing monopoly charges”, claiming this has become “almost a forgotten policy issue.” However, ministers responde...