Oh, but it's for the social good you know! Next we'll be imposing similar regulation on supermarkets and other "essential services".
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Dear horus....thanks for your posts....much appreciated...folks opinions here will differ ..that is the nature of the beast..consumers vs investors...you obviously have some insight that most of us do not have.I probably as most posters have to ST have are biased towards favouring the power companies because they are profitable...et al....it would be great to see what we are paying for power in say 5-10 years time.......any guess's....cheers
Thanks , troyvdh. I have been around the electricity Industry for a long time. Technology is hitting the industry badly overseas with generation values declining substantially. The cost of solar is coming down fast as are battery costs . The NZ market was not recommended in the 1990's by the Mclay committee but the politicians reworked it and a market was finally recommended. Domestic consumers have been badly ripped of . The overheads in the present industry are much higher than those in non market countries. There is a split between countries with a market system and those with a central supplier, for the consumers the central supplier model is better it is better for the country to. One of the factors behind industry leaving NZ is the volatile , high, electricity prices. When the market was introduced an option was progressive pricing which is what we should have adopted but it would have been better to leave it together as in ECNZ days.That was the time when the most benefit was delivered to NZ from this industry.
The sale of the Generators has been a disaster for this country.
Interesting balance of views here
horus1..my personal view is that NZ will eventually go the same way as overseas with declining values of generation...This will be passed on to the customer given time due to micro-generation competition via household/commercial photovoltaic self sufficiency...We are seeing the costs of solar photoelectric technology in a exponential decline thanks to nanotechnology and we are reaching a cost effective trigger point with silicone solar panels .. Technogy Revolution does not stop here as there's talk that not in the too far in the future newly built houses may come equiped with photovoltaic roof products which contain bedded inks or paint which may see silicone solar panels become an expensive outdated alternative...Other technology advances such as LED street lighting, low voltage appliances etc all going to point to electrical oversupply at some point in time..
I think the Opposition regulation of power pricing is 40 years too late ...this ongoing Technological Revolution is going to create a deflationary effect in this sector anyway and Labgreen regulation although very honorable may be less needed now than it ever was...it may even turn out be counterproductive as regulations tends to slow progress..
horus1 your expert views on this scenario???
Disc,,,have shares in GNE MELCA
My understanding was that solar PV as a distributed national grid is going to have some serious frequency keeping problems. Generators output at pretty much 50hz, which is what our electronic devices depend on, each station has its own model that trans power as the system operator use to balance the grid.
with PV I don't see how the generators are going to lose out. I would foresee them providing more and more of a frequency keeping role to the grid, which the regulator is currently trying to establish a separate market for.
long term I ponder what will happen first. The prevalence of electric vehicles on our roads requiring substantial daily generation, or a rapid increase in solar PV. The Gentailers do substantially better in one of those cases.
I agree with you Hoop . The values are going to come down quickly and it will be customer choice not the need for connection. Batteries are coming as are fuel cells . It is not a good industry to be invested in on the retail side
Are you sure, horus? Just inspire us - how much does it cost to generate a kWh with a large hydro generator ... and how much do you need to invest per kWh over the average lifetime of a private small solar system with battery backup? Last time I looked the solar system was still orders of magnitude more expensive. Not to forget all the heavy metals you first need to mine and afterwards to dispose for the solar / battery system. and don't tell the Greenies :scared:; Remember - not all of them are stupid!
If oil becomes more scarce and expensive we might have a few more electric cars to push up demand. I guess maybe not in my lifetime. I don't like the Labour/Greens proposal as I own power company shares and like the idea of having solid investment alternatives to housing. Obviously if I didn't hold shares I would be more than happy to have lower power prices. Disclaimer hold MRP and sorry I chickened out on MELCA