Recent trends in revenue and demand
Northpower’s revenue from distribution line charges has increased over recent years. Revenue from line charges, which made up most of Northpower’s revenue, increased by around 12% from 2008 to 2011, over and above inflation. Distribution line charge revenue from residential and smaller commercial customers increased by 17%, and from medium-sized customers by 6%. Most of Northpower’s revenue is from residential and commercial customers.
The increase in line charge revenue is due to a combination of prices increasing and demand increasing.
The average price increase varied across customer groups:
- The average price per small customer connection increased around 12%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to small customers increased around 15%.
- The average price per medium sized customer connection increased around 7%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to medium sized customers increased around 105.
Demand growth on Northpower’s network was mixed. Small customer connections grew modestly while the number of medium sized connections stayed constant. Small customer’s electricity consumption was flat while medium sized customers decreased their electricity consumption around 5%.
Northpower is a consumer owned trust and only subject to information disclosure regulation. Northpower may choose to re-distribute part of its revenue to its consumer-owners or to community projects.
Recent trends in expenditure
Northpower’s total operating expenditure decreased 2% per year after controlling for inflation.
Investment in the network has increased significantly in recent years.
The forecasts of network capital expenditure have different trends 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
Northpower’s average duration and frequency of interruptions have improved markedly. The average duration of interruptions fell around 80% and the average frequency of interruptions fell around 50%. In 2010 and 2011 Northpower’s average duration of interruptions was below the industry average.
Full analysis
The full analysis of Northpower'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.
