The information in this report does not reflect the impact of the Canterbury earthquake
- The impact of the Canterbury earthquakes on Orion’s current and future cost, revenue, prices and reliability in future years is not clear yet.
- We provide an overview of information up to March 2010, which excludes the impact of the earthquake.
- Orion is expected to propose a customised price-quality path in February 2013, which will allow the Commission to consider its particular circumstances.
Recent trends in revenue and demand
Orion’s revenue from distribution line charges has increased over recent years. Revenue from line charges, which made up most of Orion’s revenue, increased by around 6% from 2008 to 2010, over and above inflation. Distribution line charge revenue from residential and smaller commercial customers increased by 3%, and from large-sized customers by 14%. Most of Orion’s revenue is from residential and smaller commercial customers.
The increase in revenue is due to a combination of prices increasing and an increase in demand.
The average price change varied across customer groups:
- The average price per small customer connection grew modestly. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to small customers declined modestly.
- The average price per large-sized customer connection was the same in 2010 as in 2008. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to large-sized customers grew around 17% from 2008 to 2010.
Overall demand growth on Orion’s network from 2008 to 2010 was mixed. Small customer connections and electricity consumption grew 4% and 5% respectively from 2008 to 2010. Large customer connections grew around 15% but electricity consumption was flat from 2008 to 2010.
Recent trends in expenditure
Orion’s total operating expenditure increased by 4% per year over and above inflation.
Investment in the network increased from 2008 to 2010.
Recent trends in service reliability
The average duration and frequency of interruptions in Orion’s network was consistently below the industry average and regulatory limit.
Full analysis
The full analysis of Orion'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.
