Drought hits Q4 MightyRiver production, as forecast

Wednesday 24th July 2013

Partially privatised electricity company MightyRiverPower saw electricity generation and sales fall in the last quarter of the financial year to June 30, although the decline was forecast in the company's April prospectus.

MRP listed on the NZX and ASX in May at $2.50 and was quoted this morning at $2.40.

While sales to customers were down 3 percent on the comparable prior period in 2012, sales for the year were up 5 percent.

The lowest hydro inflows into the company's Waikato River catchment in April, combined with scheduled maintenance on geothermal plant and reduced gas-fired generation because of low wholesale electricity spot market prices, saw total generation 16 percent lower than in the same quarter a year earlier.

For the year as a whole, total generation was 9 percent lower than in the previous year.

The lower sales were "driven by lower volumes to commercial customers, which were down from 679GWh to 638GWh," the company said in a statement to the NZX, reflecting "the tail of strong growth with medium-sized commercial customers, offset by a drop in volumes of sales to small and large commercial customers."

The average price received from customers over the quarter was $126.76 per Megawatt hour, compared with $122.32 per MWh in the same period a year earlier, and $117.28 per MWh for the 12 months to June 30.

April was MRP's lowest month ever for hydro production after it started the quarter with storage at 33 percent of historical average, but that improved to 79 percent by the end of the quarter.

The company increased its hedge book to "minimise the company's downside exposure during a sustained period of drought-induced low hydro generation."

The company will release its annual results on Aug. 28.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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