Revised North Auckland and Northland proposals [Closing date: 2008/06/05 17:00:00 GMT+12]

On 21 September 2007, the Commission received from Transpower an application for approval of the North Auckland and Northland Proposals.  On 9 May 2008, Transpower submitted revised versions of the proposals.

The main changes to the original proposals are:

• the amount for which approval is sought has increased from $515 million to $577 million (in $2013) for proposal 1;
  
• the amount for which approval is sought for proposal 2 has increased from $6.2 million to $12.9 million (in $2009);
• Transpower advises that the technical need date for proposal 1 is 2016 but is seeking approval for a 2013 commissioning date; 
• Transpower’s proposal 1 anticipates using the Vector tunnel between Penrose and Hobson substations as opposed to the road route option even though the costs are greater; 
• additional works have also been included, notably a new 220/110kV transformer at Penrose which will resolve an issue created by the North Island Grid Upgrade project; and
• Transpower provided further analysis of the non-transmission option (generation at Rodney).

• Details of Transpower’s revised proposals
  
• Notice inviting comment pdf [102 KB]
  

The Commission is providing designated transmission customers and parties affected by the revised proposals with an opportunity to:

• provide written comments on Transpower’s revised proposals; and
• request that the Commission consider alternatives to each of Transpower’s revised proposals.

To assist the Commission in its consideration, please supply evidence of facts and analysis to support your views wherever possible.

Comments and/or requests must be received by the Commission by 5.00 pm on Thursday 5 June 2008.

Please note that comments and/or requests received after this deadline are unlikely to be considered.

The Commission’s preference is to receive comments and/or requests in electronic form (Microsoft Word).  It is not necessary for parties to send the Commission hard copies of their comments and/or requests, unless it is not possible to do so electronically.  Comments and/or requests in electronic form should be emailed with 'Revised North Auckland and Northland proposal 1' or ‘Revised North Auckland and Northland proposal 2’ in the subject header. 
Comments and/or requests should be sent to:

info@electricitycommission.govt.nz

Maree McGregor
Electricity Commission
Level 7, ASB Bank Tower
2 Hunter Street
PO Box 10041
Wellington 6143

Tel: 04 460 8860
Fax: 04 460 8879

The Commission will acknowledge receipt of all comments and/or requests by email.  Please contact Maree McGregor at the Commission if you do not receive acknowledgement of your comments and/or requests within two business days.

To foster an informed and transparent process, the Commission intends to publish all comments and/or requests received on its website.

Please indicate any documents attached in support of your comments and/or requests in a covering letter and clearly indicate any information that is provided to the Commission on a confidential basis.  If your comments and/or requests contain confidential material, please provide the Commission with both confidential and public versions of your comments and/or requests, in both electronic and hard copy forms.  The responsibility for ensuring that confidential information is not included in a public version of comments and/or requests rests entirely with the party making the comments and/or requests.

Parties should note that the contents of comments and/or requests provided to the Commission will be among the information the Commission holds which is subject to the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).

If the Commission receives a request for the release of information contained in comments and/or requests, it will be required to consider the release of those comments and/or requests, in whole or in part, in terms of the criteria set out in the OIA.  This would be done in consultation with the party providing the comments and/or requests.  The Commission can withhold official information in certain circumstances.  The grounds for the Commission withholding official information are set out in the OIA.  Any decision by the Commission to withhold information is subject to appeal to the Ombudsman.

In order to test all information contained in comments and/or requests as fully as possible in a transparent manner, the Commission discourages requests for non-disclosure of comments and/or requests, in whole or in part.