Recent trends in revenue and demand
Alpine Energy’s revenue from distribution line charges has increased over recent years. Revenue from line charges, which made up most of Alpine Energy’s revenue, increased by around 5% from 2008 to 2011, over and above inflation. Distribution line charge revenue from medium-sized customers increased by around 21%, but for large-sized customers declined 33%. Most of Alpine Energy’s revenue is from medium-sized customers.
Alpine Energy’s revenue growth from line charges reflects a combination of prices increasing and demand growth.
The average price change varied among customer groups:
- The average price per medium sized customer connection increased 28%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to a medium sized customer increased 13%.
- The average price per large-sized customer connection decreased 30%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to a large-sized customer decreased 37%.
Overall, demand on Alpine Energy’s network grew modestly from 2008 to 2011. The number of medium- and large-sized customer connections decreased 5% and 7% respectively. Medium-sized customers increased their consumption of electricity by 7%, while that of large-sized customers increased by 6%.
Recent trends in expenditure
Total operating expenditure increased 14% per year over and above inflation. This is faster than growth in size of Alpine Energy’s business. Less than half of operating expenditure was directly related to the network.
Capital expenditure has increased in recent years. Most capital expenditure in 2011 went towards system growth.
Forecast network operating expenditure increases over the coming years. Forecasts of network operating expenditure underestimated actual expenditures. Forecast network capital expenditure peaks in the coming years and then tails off. Forecast network capital expenditure overestimated actual expenditures.
Recent trends in service reliability
Alpine Energy’s average duration and frequency of interruptions were greater than the regulatory limits in every year from 2008 to 2011.
Full analysis
The full analysis of Alpine Energy Limited's performance from 2008 to 2011 can be downloaded below.
All dollar figures in our analysis are adjusted for inflation and expressed in 2011 dollars.
