GAVIN EVANS: Transmission pricing - pain now or more pain later

Wed, 10 Jun 2020

Falling interest rates and regulatory pragmatism have helped dull the pain of the new electricity transmission pricing rules announced today. The current regime – which disadvantages renewable generation options on the South Island and risks encouraging further cost avoidance by industry – had to change. You can quibble about the claimed $1.3 billion 30-year benefit - any cost-benefit analysis with a $400 million to $2.4 billion range can fairly be described as fudgy - but no-one can say the Electricity Authority’s final decision today is...

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