The electricity regulator has released a pricing plan to make sure the cost of lines charges are evenly spread across the country.
The change is good news for the power bills of Southlanders, but there will be rises for some consumers in the North Island.
Under the Electricity Authority’s plan, the power grid will be shared evenly to rectifying inequities that go back about 10 years.
Under the previous plan, the cost of charges was divided evenly across the country.
For many years this has been criticised by people living in the South Island who say they’re paying more for the cost of transporting that power up to the North Island.
Electricity Southland consumers will see their power bills go down by about $80 a year while households in the King Country or eastern Bay of Plenty will likely be paying about $30 more a year on their power bills.
Overall across New Zealand power bills will be going up by about $20 a year to balance this all out.
The regional coincident peak demand (RCPD) charge and the high voltage direct current (HVDC) charges have been replaced by two new main charges, a benefit-based charge where investments are paid for by customers who benefit and a residual charge to recover overheads and remaining costs.
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