The Commerce Commission (“Commission”), pursuant to section 81 of the Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998
(“EIR Act”), exempts Top Energy Limited (“Top”) from
the application of section 17 of the EIR Act in respect of the cross-involvement (as that term is defined in the EIR Act) that would be created through its investment in a geothermal generation plant, located at Ngawha Springs, Northland, through Top’s wholly owned subsidiary Ngawha Generation Limited (NGL) outlined in its application for exemption registered by the Commission on 9 November 2006.
The exemption is subject to the following conditions:
(a) A director must be appointed to the Board of NGL who must not be:
(i) a manager of Top;
(ii) an associate of Top, other than by virtue of being a director of NGL; or
(iii) involved in the business of Top.
(b) NGL and Top’s electricity lines business must comply with rules 1 to 6 and 11 to 15 of the Arms Length Rules set out in Schedule 1 of the EIR Act.
(c) Top must not be involved either directly or indirectly in the selling of electricity to any end-use customer connected to Top’s electricity network. This does not preclude the sale of electricity to an electricity retailer.
(d) This exemption does not extend to engaging in the financial hedging of risks relating to the price of electricity in New Zealand beyond the nameplate generation capacity (42MW) of the proposed expanded geothermal generation plant.
(e) This exemption is specific to the cross-involvements created through Top’s involvement in the proposed expanded geothermal generation plant at Ngawha.
It does not extend to any other interest or existing
or future cross-involvement of Top.
The Commission may vary or revoke the exemption in accordance with section 81(5) of the EIR Act.
The exemption takes effect from the date of publication of this notice in the New Zealand Gazette.