By NZPA
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Wednesday 29th March 2006 |
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Traders said Contact Energy's 350 megawatt gas-fired Taranaki Combined Cycle plant, which had been working at full capacity to compensate for the hydro shortage, did not operate on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday and this had removed a large amount of relatively cheap power from the market.
Prices at the North Island reference point of Haywards rose 1.7% to an average $181.79 per megawatt hour (MWh) over the past week to Tuesday.
At the South Island reference point of Benmore prices rose 0.3% to an average $180.60 per MWh.
"Prices have really jumped on the days Taranaki has been down," an analyst said on Wednesday.
"It just shows how reliant we are on available generation during this dry period."
Hydro inflows in the South Island, where all electricity is produced by hydro power stations, were 48% of average over the past week to Tuesday, falling from 62% last week.
Demand fell 1.0% to 102,172 gigawatt hours (GWh).
Market operator M-Co said New Zealand's stored energy fell 4 percentage points over the past seven days to 67% of normal levels.
Around 60% of New Zealand's electricity is produced by hydro power stations.
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