Electricity Authority improves visibility of competition in the over-the-counter contract market

Following two rounds of consultation, the Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko (Authority) has decided to introduce a requirement for participants to provide us with information on requests for over-the-counter (OTC) hedge contracts and the responses to those requests. The information required is detailed in the clause 2.16 notice (notice).

This notice applies to participants who request to buy or sell OTC contracts of 0.1MW or larger, including retailers and industrial participants buying electricity from the clearing manager and generators.

This notice comes into force on 30 September 2025 and applicable participants must provide their first submission of data no later than 14 October 2025, and then every quarter going forward.

We will use the data we receive in a dashboard, monitoring indicators of competition in the contract market. Published data will be non-identifiable to protect commercially sensitive information. This will increase oversight of, and transparency in, the OTC market and support informed action by the Authority to improve risk management options for participants.

Helping participants manage risk will lead to more efficient prices for consumers, which is increasingly important as the power system relies more on intermittent forms of generation.

Thank you to everyone who engaged with our consultations, the feedback we received informed our final decision. The decision paper also details the changes we have made following the first consultation.

Register now for a workshop to help applicable participants provide accurate information, online on 23 September from 2:00-2:30pm.

Useful links:

• Over-the-counter bids and offers notice
• FAQs
• Template CSV files for the data tables included in the clause 2.16 notice