Generation restriction risks raising power prices, regulator told

Preventing electricity generators running their plants to avoid constraining parts of the national grid could raise prices to consumers and reduce competition in parts of the country, the Electricity Authority has been told. The regulator’s investigation of power pricing during South Island flooding last year assumed North Island prices would have been lower if Meridian Energy hadn’t priced its output to avoid constraining the high-voltage link to the North Island, energy market consultant Neil Walbran said. But that assumption is at odds...