Electricity Generation Up in June Quarter
Seasonally adjusted electricity generation rose 0.3 percent in the June 2004 quarter compared with the March 2004
quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand.
In the June 2004 quarter, hydro and wind generation (6,277 gigawatt hours) was 24.0 percent higher than in the June 2003
quarter, while thermal generation (3,634 gigawatt hours) was 8.6 percent lower, for the same period. Hydro and wind
generation supplied 63 percent of the electricity generated in the June 2004 quarter, compared with 56 percent in the
June 2003 quarter. This lower contribution in the June 2003 quarter was due to low lake levels. Over the past 10 years,
the average June quarterly contribution of hydro and wind generation to total electricity generation has been 64
percent.
Gas production in the June 2004 year was 171,500 terajoules. This was 21.6 percent lower than in the year ended June
2003, and 33.5 percent lower than in the year ended June 2002, when production reached the highest level recorded in a
June year.
In the June 2004 quarter, the volumes of petrol and diesel produced were 7.3 percent and 25.5 percent lower,
respectively, than in the same quarter of the previous year. Production at the refinery at Marsden Point ceased for
three weeks during May 2004. The fall in production was offset by rises in the volumes of imported fully refined petrol
and diesel in the June 2004 quarter. Production of refined petrol in the year ended June 2004 was 1.5 million tonnes,
2.3 percent higher than in the previous June year. Diesel production was 1.6 million tonnes, 13.1 percent lower, when
comparing the two June years.
In the June 2004 quarter, deliveries of petrol (593,000 tonnes) and diesel (560,000 tonnes) to resellers and direct to
industry were 4.7 percent and 1.0 percent higher, respectively, than in the June 2003 quarter.
Brian Pink
Government Statistician