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Load management & metering conference 2005

Presentations and contributions to the May 2005 conference.

Background

The Government Policy Statement (GPS) notes that the Electricity Commission (Commission) is required, among other outcomes, to achieve the following:

1. incentives for investment in…demand side management are maintained or enhanced and do not discriminate between public and private investment;
2. delivered electricity costs and prices are subject to sustained downward pressure; and
3. the electricity sector contributes to achieving the Government's climate change objectives by minimising unnecessary hydro spill, efficiently managing transmission and distribution losses and constraints, promoting demand-side management and energy efficiency, and removing barriers to investment in new generation technologies, renewables and distributed generation

In particular, the GPS sets out ways that the Commission should promote the efficient use of electricity. Among these are:

• by seeking innovative ways to enable residential and other consumers without time of use meters to respond to pricing incentives to use electricity more efficiently;
• by keeping under review, and making recommendations to the Government as appropriate, on whether there is a strong case for requiring the progressive introduction of smarter meters for consumers;
• by encouraging and facilitating demand-side participation in the wholesale and retail markets; and
• by promoting the efficient use of ripple control.

The Board agreed to hold a conference/workshop on ‘Load Management and Metering’ to provide a forum for affected stakeholders to discuss the issues surrounding load management, metering and other enablers for demand side involvement in the electricity market.  The objective was to identify future work required to remove barriers to investment and identify opportunities and incentives for investment in enabling technologies.

The conference focussed on policy rather than technology, to provide input into an overall policy framework on consumer involvement in load management. To further this objective, CEO or senior management representation was sought for the conference.

In particular, the conference explored institutional, ownership or regulatory barriers to efficient investment in technologies that will enable:

• consumers of all sizes to choose their level of involvement in responding to pricing;
• the supply side of the market to develop innovative products that will meet consumers’ needs while continuing to meet other existing institutional requirements (notably common quality, real time security and the cost of transmission); and
• participants within the electricity value chain to understand what drives the value of load management, how that value is spread through the chain, and what the value of demand side response is.

The workshop involved participants in exploring the issues raised by the speakers and others to arrive at a clear picture of what can be achieved with improved load and demand management.  In particular, it considered the potential opportunities offered by advanced metering and load management equipment, barriers to investment in new technology and how these barriers could be removed.

The outcomes are expected to include identification of changes that could or should occur to better align the incentives on stakeholders and reduce barriers so that load management is used more efficiently, (improved net public benefit), and demand is more responsive to price. These may take the form of potential work streams aimed at securing quick wins or projects which would result in greater opportunities for load management and consumer involvement.

Draft outline for Conference/Workshop

• Introduction by Roy Hemmingway (Chair – Electricity Commission);
• Presentations from:
  • Keith Tempest (Chief Executive – TrustPower)
  • Owen Coppage (General Manager, Energy Services – NGC)
  • Rob Jamieson (General Manager, Commercial – Orion)
  • David Russell (Chief Executive – Consumers’ Institute)
• Participant workshops;
• General discussion and feedback session;
• Summary of outcomes and key actions.

This page is related to: Retail and Wholesale Market.

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