by RichardGardiner | May 19, 2015 | Energy
According to BloombergBusiness in the USA:
‘The race for renewable energy has just passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas and oil combined. And there’s no going back’.
‘The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels. The shift will continue to accelerate and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added’.
‘The price of wind and solar power continues to plummet and is now on par or cheaper than grid electricity in many areas of the world. Solar, the newest major source of energy in the mix, makes up less than 1% of the electricity market today but could be the world’s biggest source by 2050, according to the International Energy agency’.
‘The question is not if the world will transition to cleaner energy, but how long it will take’.
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by RichardGardiner | May 6, 2015 | Energy, ICT, Waste
The recent Commerce Commission ‘ruling’ on Unfair Contract Terms for utilities is great news for businesses.
Total Utilities has been negotiating utility agreements since 1999 and a recurring bugbear for us in the past 16 years has been the use of automatic contract roll-over and right of renewal/price-matching provisions by some suppliers to constrain effective competition.
Put bluntly, these clauses have been used as a ‘hospital pass’ by the suppliers in question to avoid a level competitor playing field – especially in the waste services/recyclables and natural gas markets.
As of 16 March 2015, the applicable new agreements must not include such clauses (i.e. Unfair Contract Terms).
It must be emphasised however that these contract clauses are still allowed if existing supply/service agreements are renewed for a further term.
The implications of this are very clear, businesses should negotiate brand new agreements covering the utilities etc in question – don’t just roll your existing agreement on the basis of unchanged contract terms and conditions.
Reference should be made to the Commerce Commission website for full details of their ruling. A PDF of the ruling can be downloaded here.
by chris | Jan 15, 2015 | Energy
Geothermal generation supplied nearly 20% of New Zealand’s total electricity last week – a substantial rise from the average 7% contribution from this energy source. The spike in demand was due to lower than average output from thermal and hydro generation, caused by power station outages in December and low inflow levels in the country’s hydro lakes.
Thermal-based generation outages kept pricing elevated throughout December and Contact’s Otahuhu B plant in Auckland remains out due to on-going maintenance. National water storage in hydro lakes has continued to fall around 7% below average for this time of year. Latest NIWA forecasts predict less than a 50% chance of rainfall hitting normal levels in the South Island between January and March. This could be compounded by above-normal temperatures in the west of the South Island over the same period with a 35-40% chance of average temperatures in all other Southern regions.
The country’s biggest hydro generator, Meridian, is reported as being “comfortable with the current situation.” Meridian’s operating report for December shows its inflows last month were 81 per cent of average. (more…)
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 chris | Sep 5, 2014 | Energy
Price is not king when it comes to managing utilities and getting the best from your investment. Businesses typically overlook the strong relationship between purchasing prices, consumption and utilisation efficiency. Focusing on cost per unit without analysing the way in which utilities are consumed can result in businesses paying more and getting less value.
Total Utilities provides an end-to-end approach to utility optimisation across electricity, natural gas/LPG, trade waste and ICT. This starts with strategic, proactive purchasing but it doesn’t end there. We focus on key business drivers like controlling cost and consumption – and report back on usage trends, exceptions and changes, provide budgeting advice for the future and remove the need for manual bill-checking. These deliverables should be underpinned by a proactive energy audit of any new premises to ensure that these meet best practise from day one.
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by chris | Sep 1, 2014 | Energy
Electricity price rises are coming from the regulated parts of the industry, writes Chris Hargreaves in the Sunday Star Times 31 August 2014.
Rod Oram’s recent comments in the Sunday Star Times and on National Radio were critical of the current market prices for retail energy and the way in which increased profits were distributed to shareholders by generators and retailers – rather than being used to bring retail pricing down.
While Rod’s comments bear thinking about, his analysis failed to take into account market changes over the past few years – and the considerable impact of key pricing factors such as transmission and distribution charges (both of which are regulated and out of the control of retail providers).
Rod Oram also appears unaware of the significant reductions in energy prices that have benefitted commercial users of electricity in the past. Total Utilities Management Group has seen reductions averaging 20% on recent contracts since the last quarter of 2012 as both generators and retailers have rebalanced their regional and commercial portfolios in response to changes in generation capacity, lower demand and increased regional competition.
Electricity pricing in New Zealand is far from transparent. This leads to uncertainty around how invoiced prices are derived and means that changes to the various cost elements can be difficult to police. This uncertainty can muddy the water when talking about the historical cost of contestable energy prices.
The Electricity Authority recently released a Statistics New Zealand survey covering historical retail residential pricing with figures backed up by the MBIE. (more…)
