Financial transmission rights manager contract awarded

After undertaking a two-stage procurement process, the Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko has awarded a contract for the management of financial transmission rights (FTR) to Transpower New Zealand Limited’s Energy Market Service (EMS) division.

EMS commenced a three-year contract on 1 July 2024 to act as the FTR manager. EMS was the incumbent supplier for the FTR manager role, and the Authority is looking forward to building on its previous delivery of this essential service to the market.

FTRs are financial hedges that help energy purchasers and generators to manage price volatility between different locations on a transmission grid. The FTR market currently operates alongside the New Zealand electricity hedge market.

The FTR manager is responsible for:

• creating inter-island and intra-island FTRs
• allocating FTRs to industry participants via regular auctions
• managing the FTR register, in which all FTR holdings are publicly listed
• registering parties who wish to participate in FTR auctions
• undertaking other activities associated with operating, promoting and developing the FTR market.

About the FTR manager