by Jonathan Gardiner | Jun 2, 2015 | Energy
The Gas Industry Co has issued the latest update of The New Zealand Gas Story – the State and Performance of the New Zealand Gas Industry. The third edition of this publication can be found here.
Notable elements of the update are:
• The Report updates current statistics and other information from a variety of published sources. Due to the staggered nature of formal disclosures the Distribution section will be updated when all latest Distribution Network disclosures are to hand at the end of April.
• The Gas Pricing section incorporates extended discussion of the wholesale gas market with additional information flowing from the operation of the wholesale trading platform.
• A variety of recent reports have fed into extended discussion of gas supply and demand scenarios, and the opportunities and challenges they may present.
Overall, the Report notes that the gas industry continues to be in good health, although it faces some headwinds:
• The total market has grown on the back of a return to full three-train methanol production at Methanex.
• Increased petrochemical demand is offset by a continuing trend towards a gas ‘peaking’ role in electricity generation, with a resulting further reduction in gas use for baseload generation. At the same time broader retail market demand is relatively flat.
• Fall in international oil prices is inevitably affecting New Zealand upstream investment, especially because New Zealand exploration is targeted mainly at oil. Smaller explorers and producers are particularly affected. Oil prices will continue to change within the longer horizons of the New Zealand gas story, however, and new and large investors continue to be attracted to New Zealand through the block offers regime.
• An intensive exploration effort in the last few years has to date not yielded the significant new discoveries that many hoped for. But the domestic gas markets have seen a lift in reported reserves levels in the past year from further development of existing fields, and new figures on ‘contingent’ reserves from those fields signal significant further potential.
• Downstream, gas consumers continue to be well-served and customer numbers are growing. Consumers have a good and expanding choice of retailers with recent new entrants strengthening an already competitive market. And the emsTradepoint wholesale market is gaining traction, with increasing market participants and volumes traded.
• Existing gas infrastructure is expected to carry the industry forward in the foreseeable future, pending any future step change in the form of a major new discovery or a substantial new demand source.
For more information about the Gas Industry Co please click here.
by Jonathan Gardiner | Dec 2, 2014 | Waste
Earlier this year Tamaki College’s executive officer, Neil McEnteer had no hesitation in handing over the school’s waste contract to Total Utilities for review. Since his first dealings with the utilities experts in 2012, Neil had seen the college benefit from significant savings across electricity, gas and telecoms bills. He remembers being quietly confident of another good result.
“In a sector where budgets are very tight, it is important keep costs to a minimum,” said Neil. “Every dollar we save is a dollar more we can spend on teaching and learning.
“Unless you are proactive, completely up to date with market information and have read all the fine print, it’s difficult to be sure that you’ve secured the best utilities contracts. Working with Total Utilities has shown us just what can be achieved when you bring in the experts.”
In 2012 Total Utilities cut the college spend on electricity by 12% and then by a further 13% through an early renegotiation in 2014. Acting on their advice, Neil moved the college’s gas supply contract to a new retailer in 2012, reducing annual costs by 13%. To complete the trifecta, Total Utilities renegotiated the school’s telecoms contract at the beginning of 2014, resulting in an overall saving of 29%.
“While we were discussing one of the other contract renewals, I asked for advice on our waste spend. Without realising it, we had allowed our contract to automatically roll over for two consecutive three-year terms. Jonathan Gardiner from Total Utilities took one look at the figures and said we could do way better on the price.”
Waste contracts almost always require 90 days’ notice prior to the renewal date if the customer wants to review pricing. If this opportunity passes, the pricing and contract terms automatically roll over for another three years. (more…)
by Jonathan Gardiner | Dec 2, 2014 | Waste
Jonathan Gardiner shares some ways to save money on waste management at your organisation:
How full are your bins?
If bins are regularly being picked up half or two thirds full consider increasing the size of your bin to reduce the number of pick-ups and cut transport and tipping charges.
Are you paying for pick-ups you don’t need?
Going into the long summer holidays, make sure your pick-up regime reflects the drop in the amount of waste generated over the next two months. If your scheduled pick-ups remain unchanged, you’ll most likely be paying for empty bins to be emptied!
What’s in the bin?
Carry out an audit of your waste disposal process on site. Walk through what actually happens on the ground rather than looking at the process you have in place to deal with waste (practice rather than theory). Ask your waste company to supply a breakdown of the bin contents from a typical week and see if it all stacks up. This will give you some insight into whether you can reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the bin.
Keep an eye on price adjustment clauses
Check your contract fine print to see whether your waste company can pass on increased charges at short notice. If they can, make a note to renegotiate the small print at next time your contract comes up for renewal.
Review contract pricing
Make a note of your contract expiry date and count back 90 days. Make sure that you give written notice of your intention to review pricing well in advance of the 90 day cut off if you want to avoid your current pricing being locked in for another three years.
If your pricing hasn’t changed for one or more contract terms, you will almost certainly be able to make savings on waste. Have a look at how Tamaki College cut their waste bill by 44% this year.
If you’d like to see how much you can save, talk to Jonathan Gardiner at Total Utilities. Find out more about the waste services that Jonathan and the team can assist your organisation with.
by Jonathan Gardiner | Oct 24, 2014 | Energy
NZ Hothouse is one of New Zealand’s largest privately-owned commercial growing and logistics operations. With over 300 staff, 20 hectares of glass houses across two sites and pack houses on a further two sites, the cost of gas and electricity to support operations represents a significant cost to the business. Consumption of natural gas well outstrips electricity usage, with gas-heated glass houses (the C0₂ from the burning process is also used to enrich the growing atmosphere), gas used to heat pack houses and LPG gas exchange cylinders fuelling the business forklift fleet.
“We wouldn’t go into an RFP without Total Utilities. Gas is one of our largest expenses and Total Utilities have handled our last four contract negotiations. They’ve managed to deliver significant savings every time,” said Managing Director, Simon Watson.
“This year, acting on their analysts’ advice, we went to market six months early as part of a large buying group. The savings we ended up with amounted to a six-figure sum.”
“We had offers from five or six suppliers. The ones that were attractive up-front often turned out not to be as good as they looked. It’s important to really understand the contract terms and conditions, be aware of the pitfalls and be able to cut through the smoke and mirrors. Total Utilities prepare a report that really compares ‘like with like’. That makes it easy for us to come to the right decision with the confidence that we are getting the best possible deal.”
Find out more about how Jonathan and the team at Total Utilities can help you to save on gas or other utilities.
by Jonathan Gardiner | Nov 13, 2013 | Energy
By now you should have received your October natural gas accounts. If you are in the Vector or Powerco networks you should have seen a reduction in your overall cost of gas. The ‘gas year’ runs from October to September and a raft of industry costs are reviewed annually ahead of October 1st. Typically an inflation adjustment is passed through with metering, network and transmission charge changes applying.
The good news this year for most natural gas customers, especially those based in Auckland, is that the annual review should result in lower costs. The Commerce Commission has enforced two sets of reductions – in transmission and distribution. The change to transmission costs affects all customers. As such, the charging methodology and overall level of the charge has changed. (more…)
