Blog

Genesis Energy's head office in Auckland. Photo: Supplied / Genesis Energy Genesis Energy says it is doing its bit to deliver energy to New Zealand and sudden changes to power market rules can be unfairly costly. This comes after Transpower, the grid operator, announced it would allow generators to access more water from hydro lakes to combat the country's power supply problem. Genesis has posted its full-year profit, which fell to $131 million due to low gas, hydro and wind levels and an outage at its Huntly power station. Costs increased for the company as it had to burn more coal to make up for the shortages. Chief executive Malcolm Johns said his company's customers have been protected from the volatility in the sector. "We've put $160m more into fuel in the last 12 months... We've ...

Photo: 123rf.com New Zealand is heading towards an electricity supply crisis. Months of dry weather have led to low hydro storage and that along with falling gas reserves are being blamed for soaring wholesale electricity prices. The crunch is already hurting businesses and forcing closures, with residential consumers next in line to feel the pinch. RNZ explains how we generate electricity, why demand is increasing, how that affects the cost and what could happen next. Where does our power come from? In New Zealand, electricity is generated through hydropower, geothermal power and wind energy - with generation from the combustion of coal, oil, and gas providing baseload or backup electricity supply. Data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) showed that in 2023,...

Seeka profts and revenue were up due to a bumper kiwifruit crop. Photo: Seeka A bumper crop has helped the country's largest kiwifruit grower turn its fortunes around. Seeka has reported a net profit after tax of $17.1 million for the six months June, a 63 percent increase on the same period last year. Revenue is up 34 percent to $284.2m. In February the company reported a full year loss of $14.5m for the 2023 financial year due to lower kiwifruit volumes. Chief executive Michael Franks said following two challenging seasons, kiwifruit volumes have rebounded. "In New Zealand, our orcharding business grew 17 million trays, a 53 percent increase on 2023, and production from our Australian kiwifruit orchards was up 164 percent. "Seeka handled a record 43 million class one trays for New Zea...

Photo: Supplied Genesis Energy's full year profit dropped a third with low gas supply, hydro and wind levels and the outage of a power station unit squeezing earnings. Key numbers for the 12 months ended June compared with a year ago: Net profit $131.1m vs $195.7m Revenue $3.04b vs $2.3b Operating earnings (EBITDA) $407m vs $523.5m Full year dividend 14 cents per share vs 17.6 cents per share Operating earnings were down 22 percent on the previous year due to energy constraints. The electricity company said lower rainfall, the country's gas shortage and the outage of its Huntly Power Station unit 5 lowered generation. It had to burn more coal to make up for the shortage, which increased fuel costs by almost $170m and emissions by 60 percent. Chief executive Malcolm Johns said gas suppl...

Photo: Kiwibank Kiwibank has posted a record full year profit on the back of increased lending as it grew faster than the main Australian owned rivals. Key numbers for the year ended June compared with a year ago: Net profit $202m vs $175m Net interest income $824m vs $794m Lending $32.4b vs $29.7b Deposit $28.2b vs $ 25.8b Net interest margin 2.38 pct vs 2.48 pct Credit losses $24m vs $37m Steve Jurkovich Photo: Kiwibank Chief executive Steve Jurkovich said home and business lending grew 9 percent, which was about three times faster than the broader industry, while its deposits had grown about the same level. He said the performance reflected a clear preference among many consumers for a New Zealand owned bank, whose earnings and profits were retained in the country. "We know th...

Photo: Supplied / Transpower Transpower has announced it will bring forward the ability of generators to access water storage to alleviate risks to the power supply because of historically low lake levels. The decision was announced on Thursday morning. Transpower said hydro storage was at just 55 percent, among the lowest levels in around 90 years of historic records. Executive general manager operations Chantelle Bramley said the decision was largely supported by industry and will allow generators to access contingent storage at Lakes Tekapo, Pūkaki, and Hāwea if what is called a security of supply alert status is triggered. Transpower wanted to increase the buffer applied in calculating the Contingent Storage Release Boundary (CSRB) from 50 GWh to 320 GWh from 1 September 2024 until ...