Jaded customers worry industry

By CHRIS DANIELS

A cynical public, tired of being asked to save electricity, could pose a threat during any future power crisis, says a top-level industry advisory group.

The committee, known as the Winter 2002 Electricity Security Steering Group, is working on contingency plans to help better prepare for the years when water for hydro- electric generation is scarce.

Government and power companies all launched public campaigns during last year's dry winter to encourage businesses and the public to save precious water needed for hydro stations, by cutting back on electricity use.

A "contingency planning" section of the steering group outlined concern about consumer cynicism to a meeting of the whole steering group this month.

"Voluntary conservation is likely to provide a larger source of savings than other more drastic actions such as cutting feeders to residential customers for short periods," it said in a report.

"The [section] was concerned that cynicism among consumers may jeopardise these savings and sought the Steering Group's support for a research project to better understand what would motivate consumers to conserve electricity and what messages needed to be sent to them in order to gain maximum co-operation."

The group decided that the "lead time" for producing a conservation campaign needed to be identified and linked to certain "trigger points".

One of the members of the working group, Jane Tronson, said the individual power companies would be asked about methods used to encourage power savings, in the hope of identifying the best ways to achieve demand cuts.

Transpower grid operating services manager John Clarke, who is part of the "monitoring and scenario planning" section of the steering group, said modelling work was being done, looking at all the possibilities for the winter.

These models included looking at demand changes and the impact of a power station being forced to shut.

Energy Minister Pete Hodgson said last week that the whole electricity system was much better prepared this year for any winter difficulties.

He said a technical solutions work group was looking at how to reduce transmission constraints in the national grid.

Transpower was criticised by the electricity companies last winter for perceived delays in re-aligning its grid to allow more power to flow to areas in need.

The state-owned enterprise, which eventually did make such changes, said such a reconfiguration put the security of electricity supply at risk, particularly in Taranaki.

Industry leaders and Hodgson have said it is too early to say if this winter will be as cold and dry as last year's.

On Sunday, national hydro storage was 90 per cent of the average for this time of the year.

National inflows for the past seven days were 66 per cent of the average and wholesale electricity prices were down, after rising for most of the year.

A spokesman for the state-owned power company Meridian, Alan Seay, said it would not be until next month that an accurate prediction could be made about winter lake-storage levels.

Feature: Electricity

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority