Powerco

Powerco Limited
Industry Energy
Predecessor Taranaki Energy Limited
Founded 1999
Headquarters New Plymouth, New Zealand
Area served
 39,000 sq km[1]
Services Electricity distribution
Natural gas distribution
Owners QIC Limited (58%), AMP Limited (42%)
Number of employees
 330 full-time equivalent
Website www.powerco.co.nz

Powerco is the second-largest gas and largest electricity distributor in New Zealand. It is one of only two companies to distribute both electricity and natural gas through their network (the other being Vector Limited).[1] Its network delivers electricity and gas to households around the North Island from the national electricity transmission network Transpower and the natural gas transmission system owned and operated by Vector Limited.

Powerco arose from the energy reforms in New Zealand in the 1990s. It can trace its history back to a number of local power boards and gas companies that operated throughout the North Island. The company is 58% owned by QIC Limited - an investment firm owned by the Queensland Government - and 42% owned by AMP Limited.[2]

Business

The New Zealand electricity reforms of the 1980s split the electricity industry broadly into four sections - generators, transmitters, distributors and retailers. Six main generator businesses (Contact Energy, Genesis Energy, Mercury Energy, Meridian Energy, Trustpower and Nova Energy) generate electricity and supply it to New Zealand's national grid, operated by Transpower. Transpower transmits high-voltage electricity to grid exit points (or substations) around New Zealand for transmission to households and businesses. The local distribution network (mostly consisting of underground wires and/or overhead wires) that transmit electricity to end-users like households and businesses are owned and operated by local distribution companies, mostly regionally based.[3]

Powerco is a distributor whose business is completely separate from generation, national transmission and retail (selling delivered electricity to end-users). It operates a 30,000 km local electricity distribution network supplying 320,000 households, industries and businesses from Transpower's national grid and a 6,000 km natural gas distribution network supplying 102,000 households, industries and businesses from Vector's transmission system.

Its electricity network currently supplies the following regions:

Powerco's natural gas distribution network covers:

Key dates

Electricity network statistics

Powerco network statistics as of 31 March 2015[8]
Parameter Value
Total network Eastern network
(Tauranga, Coromandel and South Waikato) 		Western network
(Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu and Wairarapa)
Total circuit length 27,833 km 10,384 km 17,449 km
66 kV 169 km 169 km –
33 kV 1,484 km 456 km 1,028 km
22 kV 122 km – 122 km
6.6/11 kV 16,587 km 5,893 km 10,694 km
Single wire earth return (SWER) 86 km 69 km 17 km
Low voltage (230/400 V) 9,384 km 3,798 km 5,587 km
Street lighting 2,737 km ,1394 km 1,343 km
Customer connections 327,386 150,443 176,943
System maximum demand 860 MW 440 MW 412 MW
System electricity delivered 4,715 GWh 2,332 GWh 2,383 GWh

References

  1. 1 2 "Our Business". Powerco. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Our People". Powerco. 14 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Our Business: New Zealand's Electricity Market". Powerco. 14 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Our Business: Our Networks". Powerco. 14 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 http://web.archive.org/web/20010511053541/www.powerco.co.nz/about/story.htm
  6. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20030227164137/www.powerco.co.nz/0,2480,FF.htm
  7. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20030413170629/www.powerco.co.nz/0,3070,FF.htm
  8. ↑ "EDB Information Disclosure - Powerco Limited - year ending 31 March 2015" (PDF). 31 August 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
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