Hydroelectricity Generation Down in September Q.

New Zealand Energy Statistics: September 2001 quarter

Hydroelectricity Generation Down in September Quarter

Electricity generation decreased 3.2 per cent in the September 2001 quarter compared with the June 2001 quarter, after adjusting for seasonal variations, according to Statistics New Zealand. Although the trend shows a decrease in the September 2001 quarter, this follows a two-year period of slow increase.

Hydroelectricity generation was 26.8 per cent lower in the September 2001 quarter than in the September 2000 quarter. Hydro generation supplied 51 per cent of the electricity generated in the September 2001 quarter. This compares with a September quarter average of 68 per cent over the last 10 years.

Thermal generation was 60.4 per cent higher in the September 2001 quarter than in the same quarter last year. In August 2001, thermal electricity generation exceeded hydro generation for the first time since the months of June and July 1992.

In the year ended September 2001, total electricity generation was 35,000 gigawatt hours, a rise of 2.4 per cent. Although the September quarter is generally the high point of the annual demand for electricity, generation in the September 2001 quarter was 0.4 per cent lower than in the September 2000 quarter.

Commercial electricity users experienced a price rise of 3.2 per cent in the September 2001 quarter compared with the June 2001 quarter, while prices for household consumers were unchanged.

Gas production in the September 2001 quarter was 73,000 terajoules, 11.9 per cent more than in the September 2000 quarter. Production in the year ended September 2001 was 6.4 per cent higher than in the year ended September 2000. Gas is the leading source of thermal energy for electricity generation.

The volume of crude petroleum produced in the year ended September 2001 was 1.22 million tonnes, a rise of 0.9 per cent compared with the year ended September 2000. Production was, however, still 16.3 per cent lower than in the September 1999 year. There has generally been a pattern of declining crude petroleum production since 1994.

The price of bulk petrol fell 4.0 per cent, while the price of bulk diesel rose 1.5 per cent in the September 2001 quarter. Retail petrol prices fell 4.1 per cent.

Brian Pink Government Statistician END

© Scoop Media