Hancock's blog

That Bill Hogan is a Professor of Energy Policy at Harvard University and Director of the enormously influential Harvard Electricity Policy Group is impressive. Locally, however, he has particular status as the guiding mind behind the design of New Zealand's wholesale electricity market.

One of Hogan's key recommendations in the establishment of the wholesale market was that Financial Transmission Rights ("FTRs") be created alongside it. This wasn't part of the original implementation but, 16 years later, the Electricity Authority has appointed an FTR manager with the responsibility of running our first FTR auction in May 2013.

Professor Hogan hasn't worked in New Zealand since the early 2000s but was interested and pleased to hear of this new development. He kindly agreed to talk to the podcast about FTRs and why they're so important.

Last week, Conrad Edwards, who's the Senior Development Analyst at the NZ FTR Manager, outlined the Electricity Authority's recent work to bring FTRs to market in NZ, key characteristics of the product that will be auctioned in May 2013 and how they may evolve. In this final episode, Bill gives his reaction to the New Zealand proposals, and wishes us well!

That Bill Hogan is a Professor of Energy Policy at Harvard University and director of the enormously influential Harvard Electricity Policy Group is impressive. Locally, however, he has particular status as the guiding mind behind the design of New Zealand's wholesale electricity market.

One of Hogan's key recommendations in the establishment of the wholesale market was that Financial Transmission Rights ("FTRs") be created alongside it. This wasn't part of the original implementation but, 16 years later, the Electricity Authority has appointed an FTR manager with the responsibility of running our first FTR auction in May 2013.

Professor Hogan hasn't worked in New Zealand since the early 2000s but was interested and pleased to hear of this new development. He kindly agreed to talk to the podcast about FTRs and why they're so important.

Last week, Conrad Edwards, who's the senior development analyst at the NZ FTR Manager, talked us though some of the twists and turns we've taken since committing to implement FTRs in 1995. This week, Conrad outlines the Electricity Authority's recent work to bring them to market, key characteristics of the product that will be auctioned in May 2013 and offers some thoughts on how they may evolve.

Some history

We’re all about the Labour-Green’s proposals for an alternative model for the electricity market here. The UK Labour Party came up with something quite similar in mid-2013 which has put the cat amongst their pigeons so for the next couple of months I’m taking to Graham Shuttleworth who is the office head for the economic consultancy NERA in London, and one of the original authors of the UK Pool Rules – on which our own electricity market was based.

Last week, Graham got his crystal ball out to guess at the future for the UK and recognised a few things in it. In this, the final episode of the series, he offers a few thoughts on why our industry has taken the path it has over the last 20 years and some cautionary comments about our possible futures.

As with other podcasts, the opinions expressed in the interview are Graham's and do not necessarily represent the views of NERA Economic Consulting or any other NERA consultant. If you quote the podcast, you should attribute the reference to him personally rather than the firm.

Maybe it’s politics that will always win out

We’re all about the Labour-Green’s proposals for an alternative model for the electricity market here. The UK Labour Party came up with something quite similar in mid-2013 which has put the cat amongst their pigeons so for the next couple of months I’m taking to Graham Shuttleworth who is the office head for the economic consultancy NERA in London, and one of the original authors of the UK Pool Rules – on which our own electricity market was based.

Last week, Graham reflected on how the New Electricity Trading Arrangements have performed: the industry’s response and the pricing outcomes they’ve delivered. This week he takes us through what happened next, climate change and the recent return to central planning in the UK “market”.

As with other podcasts, the opinions expressed in the interview are Graham's and do not necessarily represent the views of NERA Economic Consulting or any other NERA consultant. If you quote the podcast, you should attribute the reference to him personally rather than the firm.

This podcast was recorded in 2014

... unless economics will always win out

We’re all about the Labour-Green’s proposals for an alternative model for the electricity market here. The UK Labour Party came up with something quite similar in mid-2013 which has put the cat amongst their pigeons. So for the next couple of months I’m talking to Graham Shuttleworth who is the office head for the economic consultancy NERA in London and one of the original authors of the UK Pool Rules – on which our own electricity market was based.

Last week, we looked at the UK’s move away from a spot market to a “trading paradigm” for electricity. This week, Graham reflects on how these New Electricity Trading Arrangements have performed: the industry’s response and the pricing outcomes they’ve delivered.

As with other podcasts, the opinions expressed in the interview are Graham's and do not necessarily represent the views of NERA Economic Consulting or any other NERA consultant. If you quote the podcast, you should attribute the reference to him personally rather than the firm.

This podcast was recorded in 2014