Watchdog bites Todd subsidiary

By CHRIS DANIELS

The Commerce Commission has charged Todd Energy subsidiary Bay of Plenty Electricity with using anti-competitive tactics to shut out rivals.

The commission yesterday began court action against the firm, which it says has abused its market dominance.

Its policy of refusing to enter into metering services agreements and grant meter access to other retailers is anti-competitive, the commission says, because it unfairly deters new entrants to the market.

The action has been filed in the High Court at Wellington, and documents have been served on Bay of Plenty Electricity.

Todd Energy managing director Richard Tweedie said Bay of Plenty Electricity, charged "a couple of hundred dollars" for the meter to any rival company wanting to supply power to one of its customers.

This was not anti-competitive, he said, and one competitor, power retailer Genesis Energy, had agreed to pay for meters.

"The customer is not affected at all because the customer is not involved in the process," Mr Tweedie said.

"We have not seen that as a barrier to customer switching. All the new retailer has to do is pay an amount of money, which is quite reasonable, for the meter."

He said it was more cost-effective and simple for Bay of Plenty Electricity that the new retailer acquired the meter.

Though many protocols relating to retail competition have been developed over the past few years, the issue of meter ownership and access has never been fully resolved.

In some areas, meters are owned by the local monopoly lines company, such as Vector or UnitedNetworks. In others, they are owned by the retailers, or third parties.

The Government wants the issue sorted out.