Recent trends in revenue and demand
Electricity Ashburton’s revenue from distribution line charges has increased over recent years. Revenue from line charges, which made up most of Electricity Ashburton’s revenue, increased by around 8% from 2008 to 2011 over and above inflation. Distribution line charge revenue from residential and smaller commercial customers increased by 6%, and from large-sized customers by 14%. Most of Electricity Ashburton’s revenue is from residential and smaller commercial customers and large-sized customers.
The increase in revenue is mostly due to an increase in demand.
The average price change varied across customers:
- The average price paid per small customer connection increased 2%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to residential and smaller commercial customers increased 4%.
- The average price paid per large-sized customer connection decreased 6%. The average price paid per unit of electricity delivered to a large-sized customer declined 7%.
Demand on Electricity Ashburton’s network grew from 2008 to 2011. The number of large customer connections increased 22% and the number of small customer connections increased 4%. Large customers increased electricity consumption by 25%. Small customers increased electricity consumption by 7%.
Recent trends in expenditure
Total operating expenditure grew by 4% per year over and above inflation. The majority of operating expenditure was not directly related to the network.
Capital expenditure has increased at a rate faster than the scale of Electricity Ashburton’s business.
Forecast of network operating expenditure is flat for the coming years.
Forecasts of network capital expenditure generally decline over the coming years. The level of forecast capital expenditure differs significantly between forecast rounds. This may reflect the uncertainty of scheduling projects in future periods and the opportunity to update forecasts in the Asset Management Plan annually.
Recent trends in service reliability
The average duration of interruptions was greater than the regulatory limit in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The average frequency of interruptions was greater than the regulatory limit in 2009 and 2011.
Full analysis
The full analysis of Electricity Ashburton'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.
