A Hawke’s Bay farm is taking part in a world-first pilot, launching today, which allows customers to contract with more
than one electricity supplier at a single location.
The pilot of an innovation called multiple trading relationships (MTR), has been enabled by New Zealand’s future energy
centre, Ara Ake. It aims to introduce more competition into the electricity sector, making electricity cheaper for
customers, helping reduce energy hardship and allowing for a greater uptake of low emission technologies, such as solar.
"We set up Ara Ake to drive innovation and a different way of doing things in our energy sector. This Multiple Trading
Relationships scheme is a great example of this. By bringing in more competition into the energy sector, distributed
energy resources can be shared more widely, which will ultimately help bring down costs," says Dr Megan Woods, Minister
of Energy and Resources.
"Cheaper electricity, fairly priced power bills, more choice for consumers, lower emissions, and radically reduced
energy hardship are exactly the outcomes we as a Government are trying to achieve, so it’s great to see this world-first
pilot taking aim at these objectives," said Megan Woods.
MTR will allow him to do just that.
"I’ve always been interested in solar power, and I’m looking forward to being able to use the excess electricity to
power different areas of my farm, including my family home, my mother-in-law’s home, and the irrigation pump," Mr Wilson
says.
Ara Ake Chief Executive, Dr Cristiano Marantes, says New Zealand has started its journey to decarbonisation and Ara
Ake’s role is to accelerate innovation in the energy sector.
"Achieving our goals for a low emissions future won’t be possible unless customers are put at the centre of this
transition. MTR is the type of energy innovation which does exactly that - it’s the Uber or Netflix of the electricity
world."
"As well as adopting innovation that helps us decarbonise, the MTR scheme also has the potential to alleviate energy
hardship for those most in need - an outcome that would be invaluable to our nation," says Dr Marantes.
With the support of the Electricity Authority, Ara Ake is coordinating an off-market pilot to demonstrate the benefits
of MTR, which is currently not allowed for under the Electricity Participation Code (the Code). The pilot will evaluate
if MTR is sufficiently valuable (i.e., demonstrates long term benefit for electricity customers, and commercial
prospects of new business models) to justify a change of the Code. Additionally, this pilot will provide insights as to
any risks and constraints that may impact negatively on the electricity market if MTR was allowed for under the Code.
John Campbell, founder of Our Energy, says "It’s great to get a real-world demonstration underway and we hope this is
the beginning of a more accessible model for local and community energy trading."
"There are many opportunities to explore this innovative concept further, and we look forward to working with Ara Ake on
these so we can enable our communities to have a sustainable future," Mr Campbell says.
Flick Electric’s Head of Customer Service, Craig Ironside, hopes the MTR pilot will demonstrate benefits, not only for
their customers but, all New Zealanders.
"The desired outcome of this pilot is to gain a better understanding of the benefits for our customers and having a farm
with five different connection points will provide us with this insight, as well as commercial prospects for new
business models," says Mr Ironside.
Ara Ake has received many enquiries about the project - from New Zealand electricity retailers through to UK regulators
wanting to know more about the pilot
"We’re proud that Ara Ake has been able to test this exciting world-first pilot in Aotearoa," Dr Marantes says.
Other case studies within the MTR pilot include a company who is planning to provide its excess solar to help reduce
their household power bills, a marae wanting to share excess solar energy with local houses in the papakāinga, and
Kāinga Ora exploring ways to share energy between their tenants helping to reduce energy hardship and emissions.