The objective of Wellington Electricity’s pricing programme is to equitably collect the revenue it needs to build and operate the network and to signal the future cost of using the network.

We can achieve this with prices that:

• will recover the cost to build and operate the network
• encourage off-peak use and discourage peak use
• encourage consumers to allow their appliances to be directly managed.

Signalling the cost of network congestion provides consumers with the opportunity to change their energy use behaviour and to reduce their electricity costs by moving their demand to when the network is not congested. This has the immediate benefit of less expensive lines charges (for those who move their energy consumption to off-peak periods) and the long-term benefit of lower prices through avoiding or delaying network reinforcement.

We want to move all consumers to cost-reflective pricing arrangements that better signal economic costs. Our Pricing Roadmap provides a close look at our future pricing plans, including our transition to prices which are more cost reflective.

We are planning to introduce prices to support new services that will offer consumers with smart devices (like smart electric vehicle chargers and household solar and battery systems) the opportunity to participate in services that manage demand away from peak demand periods on the network. Click below to find out more about these new services.

Flexibility Services

If we can shift peak demand away from busy periods on the network, we can delay building a larger network to meet the increase in climate change related electricity demand from the electrification of transport and gas appliances. Participating consumers will be rewarded with cheaper prices and will help keep prices lower for everybody in the long term (lower than they would be if peak demand wasn’t reduced and we had to build more capacity).

Watch the video below to see how shifting electricity use to less congested times will help us electrify transportation and meet Wellington decarbonisation targets.