Review of Aurora Energy’s proposed customised price path is underway; farrierswier’s recent verification report provided an independent perspective to help inform the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

In New Zealand, an electricity distribution business that wants to apply to the Commerce Commission (the Commission) for a customised price-quality path (CPP) for its network tariffs must engage an independent expert to review its proposal for the benefit of the Commission.

Our recent verification report – which we prepared with help from GHD – did exactly this for Aurora Energy’s proposed CPP, which was submitted to the Commission in June 2020. After reviewing our report, the Commission concluded, “We are satisfied by the rigour of [farrierswier’s] analysis and consider their review to be thorough and undertaken to a high standard.”

This is our second such report, having previously verified Powerco’s CPP proposal in 2017 with help from WSP.

Requiring independent verification is unique among regulatory frameworks, but a pragmatic innovation suited to New Zealand’s regulatory environment. We see scope for such innovation applying to other sectors and jurisdictions.

For further information, please contact Eli Grace-Webb or Shaun Dennison.

Click here for a copy of our Aurora Energy verification report on the Commission’s website.