Recent trends in revenue and demand
Top Energy’s revenue from distribution line charges has increased over recent years. Revenue from line charges, which made up most of Top Energy’s revenue, increased by around 24% from 2008 to 2011, over and above inflation. Distribution line charge revenue from residential and smaller commercial customers increased by 26%, and from medium-sized customers by 2%. Most of Top Energy’s revenue is from residential and smaller commercial customers.
The increase in revenue is mostly due to prices increases, but some if it was due to demand also increasing.
The average price increase varied across customer groups:
- The average price per small customer connection increased by around 20%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to small customers increased by around 25%.
- The average price per large customer connection decreased by around 10%. The average price per unit of electricity delivered to large customers increased by around 20%.
Demand on Top Energy’s network grew modestly from 2008 to 2011. Electricity consumption declined for all customer groups except for the largest five customers, which increased consumption by around 20%. The number of small- and medium-sized connections grew by around 4%.
Top Energy is a consumer owned trust that is subject to information disclosure and price quality regulation. Top Energy may choose to re-distribute part of its revenue to its consumer-owners or to community projects.
Recent trends in expenditure
Top Energy’s total operating expenditure increased by 9% per year over and above inflation.
Growth in operating expenditure outpaced the industry average. Operating expenditure at Top Energy grew faster than growth in its customer base, electricity distributed, and network size.
Investment in the network has been increasing from 2008 to 2011.
Top Energy has forecast operating expenditure to decline substantially, while capital expenditure is forecast to stay flat.
Recent trends in service reliability
The average duration and frequency of interruptions in Top Energy’s network were above the industry average. In 2008 and 2009 they were both above, while in 2010 and 2011 they were both below their regulatory limits.
Full analysis
The full analysis of Top Energy'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.
