Our strategy and priorities

Our strategic priorities

1. Strengthening the wholesale market, working to make sure pricing is accurate, risk is well managed and competition is effective. That’s what gives investors the confidence to invest in new generation and flexibility, which ultimately helps keep supply secure and prices under pressure.
2. Strengthen system security, so the power system can consistently match supply and demand and operate safely, even as it becomes more complex and more reliant on intermittent generation.
3. Enabling flexibility, supporting things like demand response, storage, and other flexible resources that help balance the system and firm up renewables in a cost-effective way.
4. Supporting network efficiency, encouraging more consistency across distribution businesses and making sure non-network solutions can compete on an equal footing. Reducing overall system costs helps lower the cost of moving electricity. Over time, that should help bring down power bills for consumers.
5. Strong, responsive regulator, making sure we’ve got the right tools to deliver on our objectives, protect consumers, enforce the rules effectively and make better use of data and insights to guide our decisions.

Taken together, these priorities are about helping to ensure the electricity industry delivers a system that is reliable and operating at lowest cost for all New Zealanders.

Our strategic outcomes

All of the work of the Electricity Authority is anchored in two core strategic outcomes:

• Affordable – Electricity is generated and delivered at lowest cost over time for New Zealand consumers
• Reliable – Our electricity system is secure, resilient and meets consumers demand at an efficient level of reliability

These outcomes are delivered by an efficient electricity market for the long-term benefit of consumers.