Contact Energy gas price hike: Tens of thousands of customers will see average 17% jump
Tens of thousands of households will see their gas prices hiked by an average of 17% as Contact Energy says the decline in production has hit faster and harder than expected.
“We work hard to ensure our customers are on a competitive gas rate,” Contact’s chief retail officer Carolyn Luey said.
“We are balancing the need for energy security with a constrained gas supply as the country transitions to a renewable energy future.”
Contact has “committed more than $2 billion on building the critical energy infrastructure New Zealand needs”, Luey said.
“In the past financial year, our entire net profit – and some – was invested in developing renewable energy projects.
“The more power stations we build, the faster prices will come down over time. And this will help ensure New Zealand has a secure, sustainable renewable energy supply for households and businesses.”
A letter to one affected customer in Wellington said their prices would rise more than 20% on December 1, the Post reported.
One of Contact’s energy plans will see prices increased to 14.9 cents per kilowatt hour, excluding GST or prompt-payment discounts, the Post said.
It would see each gigajoule (GJ) of gas priced around $41.40, excluding GST, the Post said.
The latest spot price for gas today was $13.12, Transpower-owned EMS Tradepoint showed. The average price for the quarter was listed today as $15.98.
Statistics NZ last week revealed September price figures.
Gas was 17% more expensive than a year ago and 1.4% more expensive than the month before, the data showed.
The Post reported the country’s largest gas user, methanol producer Methanex, was believed to pay $6/GJ. Other businesses are paying $25 or more per GJ, a BusinessNZ survey from August found.
Contact Energy chief executive Mike Fuge told the Herald in August: “No one foresaw the collapse on the upstream gas market, and how rapid it was going to be.
“The answer is to get off base load gas [for continuous power generation], as we’ve done, and to build more renewables as we’re doing.
“And the answer is to actually keep going.”
Contact earlier reported a net profit of $331 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments (ebitdaf) of $872m for the 2025 financial year.
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Wills and Luxon are screwing the country to please the oil and gas industry.
Today the smart investment is in battery peaker plants in combination with solar and wind, or with any other renewable generation capacity during low demand times.
Gas is expensive and will get more so over time.
Let's not forget that Nicola Willis' dad is a big time oil and gas investor, lobbyist, and industry insider.
Maybe this should be posted in ‚Crime & Safety‘?
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