New Zealand’s electrical industry sales up 22 pct in Q2

WELLINGTON, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) — The sales for the electricity, gas, waste, and water services industry in New Zealand rose to 7.9 billion NZ dollars in the June 2024 quarter, up 22 percent in the March 2024 quarter, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Tuesday.
“The rise in electricity industry sales and purchases can likely be attributed to a combination of factors such as gas shortages and low hydro generation, Stats NZ said, adding the impacts have mainly been expressed in the higher wholesale price of electricity.
“It wasn’t just difficulty in electricity generation contributing to the shift we are seeing, the national demand for electricity was much higher this quarter,” Stats NZ business financial statistics manager Ricky Ho said, citing the study showing the month of May as being New Zealand’s coldest May in 15 years.
In actual terms, industry sales increased by 2.1 billion NZ dollars, or 36 percent, in the June 2024 quarter compared with the June 2023 quarter, which was the largest value increase since the beginning of the statistics series in June 2016. Purchases for this industry also rose significantly by 2.2 billion NZ dollars over the same period, statistics show.
The producer price index for electricity and gas supply inputs, or costs, rose 49 percent while the outputs, or revenue, rose 32 percent in the June 2024 quarter compared with the June 2023 quarter, Ho said, adding the electricity, gas, waste, and water services industry values are primarily comprised of electricity generation, distribution, and gas supply businesses. (1 NZ dollar equals 0.61 U.S. dollar) ■