The gentailers denied claims they had acted anti-competitively.
The Electricity Authority has now confirmed that it is planning to amend the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 and introduce non-discrimination obligations (NDOs).
The authority said this would require the four large gentailers – Contact Energy, Genesis Energy, Mercury NZ and Meridian Energy – to supply risk management contracts, or hedges, on an even-handed basis to all buyers, meaning they cannot favour their own retail arms on price or non-price terms.
Electricity Authority acting chair Erik Westergaard said the move would strengthen competition, increase transparency and provide information the authority could use for monitoring and enforcement.
He said the move would not be overly disruptive.
“The NDOs can be enacted quickly and will not materially increase costs for gentailers. They should not be used as a reason to increase prices,” he said.
– RNZ