Genesis Power seeks commission approval for NGC gas customers

By NZPA

Wednesday 11th September 2002

Genesis Power is seeking Commerce Commission approval to acquire Natural Gas Corp's retail gas customers.

NGC said last month it wanted to sell its 94,000 gas retail customers and electricity generation assets to concentrate on gas distribution and energy metering.

State-owned Genesis Power already provides the billing and customer service for NGC.

The Commerce Commission said in a statement today that in considering Genesis' application it had to determine whether a merger would substantially lessen competition in any market.

NGC was established in 1967 by the Government to buy, process, transport and wholesale Kapuni natural gas. NGC became a publicly listed company in 1992 and was currently involved in the transmission, distribution, wholesale and retail of gas, as well as electricity generation.

NGC has returned to its core gas transmission and distribution business since it bought TransAlta New Zealand in 2000. Last winter it sold 400,000 electricity customers when soaring wholesale electricity prices crippled its retailing arm, On Energy.

NGC has said that the sale of the gas customers would ease criticism it was competing in the retail market while also having a natural monopoly in transmission and distribution of gas.

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