The Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko (Authority) is seeking to improve the transparency of, and competition in, the over-the-counter (OTC) hedge market to drive greater retail and wholesale competition. Improved competition increases downward pressure on electricity prices and provides more choice to consumers. 

To deliver on this outcome, the Authority is seeking stakeholder views and feedback on its preferred option to require all retailers (including gentailers) and large industrials (who buy electricity from the clearing manager) to regularly provide the Authority with information on OTC requests for buying contracts and responses to those requests.

We intend to use the proposed data collection, and data disclosed under the Hedge Disclosure Obligations in the Code, to monitor competition and provide better information to industry participants about the OTC market to increase transparency.

We plan to publish aggregated (or non-identifiable) information such as offer rates, the proportion of requests that resulted in a trade, and offered prices and volumes.

We welcome feedback on the proposed approach, including on the scope of the proposed collection, ie, which participants data is collected from. Your input is valuable as we work to enhance transparency and competition in the OTC market.