PROJECTS

Reviewing the Single Buyer Model for the Electricity Market, New Zealand

The problem

New Zealand’s opposition parties campaigned on a platform of ending New Zealand’s wholesale electricity market and replacing it with a ‘single-buyer’ model. The single-buyer would be a publicly-owned entity that would purchase electricity from private generators and sell power to retailers for on-sale to customers. From a policy perspective this proposal was flawed. From a business perspective, Contact Energy, a leading privately owned electricity generation and retail company, felt that the proposal threatened its business.

How we helped

Castalia identified how the single buyer proposal could be implemented in practice. We analyzed international experience of single buyer models, such as in Ontario (Canada) and Brazil. We modeled the likely financial impact of the proposal on market participants. Our analysis found there was no evidence that a single buyer would achieve better outcomes than a wholesale market. Our report was widely disseminated to decision-makers and stakeholders.

Impact

The opposition parties did not win the election, and the single-buyer model was dropped from policy discourse, as it was generally thought to have been discredited.

The client

Contact Energy

Our team

Alex Sundakov

Alex Sundakov

Executive Director
David Ehrhardt

David Ehrhardt

Chief Executive
Peter Hoogland

Peter Hoogland

Director

How can we help you?

How can we help you?