2016 energy consultations and reviews
Our 2016 consultations and reviews for energy-related issues.
On this page
Crown Minerals (Minerals & Petroleum) Fees Review 2016
Closed 12 August 2016
We manage the Crown’s petroleum and minerals resources under the brand New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals (NZP&M).
In July 2016, we sought feedback on increasing petroleum and minerals permit fees to recover the cost of processing and administering these activities. We received 30 submissions.
Following consultation, we increased petroleum and minerals permit fees. The new fees took affect from 1 January 2017.
Go to the consultation in Have your say.
Application of electricity legislation consultation
Closed July 2016
In July 2016 we invited submissions on a discussion paper on the application of electricity legislation to secondary networks and publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. It sought feedback to inform advice on the need for legislative change. We received 28 submissions.
Go to the consultation in Have your say.
Following consultation, we advised ministers that we did not see a need to change the definitions of works and electrical installations in the Electricity Act 1992 at that time, but would continue to assess whether changes were needed.
Outcomes of consultation
Electrical safety
Safety measures will apply to publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) regardless of whether that infrastructure is classified as a works or electrical installation. WorkSafe New Zealand is developing guidance on how the EV sector can meet best electrical safety practice for charging EVs, which will be available on WorkSafe’s website from the end of October.
Access rights
The status quo regarding access rights for the installation of EV chargers appears to be workable. We are working with the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) to develop guidelines for public charging infrastructure.
Secondary networks
In October 2016, the Government decided to address ambiguity about whether owners of secondary networks are electricity distributors for the purposes of the Electricity Industry Act 2010. This provided improved consumer and market outcomes as it provided certainty about how the electricity industry regulation applies to owners of secondary networks.
Decisions on this issue were implemented through the Energy Innovation (Electric Vehicles and Other Matters) Act 2017(external link).
View the Cabinet (CBC) paper [PDF, 54 KB]
View the Regulatory Impact Statement [PDF, 361 KB]
Energy levy consultation
Closed 7 June 2016
This consultation sought feedback on expanding the purpose of 1 or more of the existing levies on electricity, transport fuels and gas. The intention was to enable a wider range of activities that encouraged, promoted and supported energy efficiency, energy conservation and the use of renewable sources of energy to be levy funded.
We received 26 submissions.
Go to the consultation in Have your say.
The Government decided to broaden the levy
In August 2016 the Government decided to broaden EECA’s levy funding – allowing it to move beyond only promoting electricity efficiency into a wider range of renewable energy and emission reduction initiatives.
The change meant the levy, which had been collected from the electricity industry through the electricity efficiency levy, would now include funding through the Petroleum and Engine Fuels Monitoring Levy (PEFML), and the Gas Levy on piped natural gas that funds gas safety activities.
We received 26 submissions.
See the 2018/2019 energy levies on the Energy levies page
Summary of submissions report [PDF, 453 KB]
Discussion document: Options for expanding the purpose of existing energy levies [PDF, 396 KB]
Gas levy consultation
In March 2017, the Government also decided to address the issue that not all of the gas that should have been subject to the gas levy had levy paid on it. This was because there were some practical issues for levy payers in accurately applying the requirements of the legislation due to information barriers.
Go to the consultation in Have your say.
The energy levy changes (including additional changes to the gas levy) were implemented through the Energy Innovation (Electric Vehicles and Other Matters) Act 2017(external link) and 2 sets of regulations: