infographicOn 31 March 2021, we announced a CPP that will allow Aurora to recover from consumers up to $563.4 million over five years towards this work. It also set the minimum level of reliability that consumers should expect to receive, measured by the number and length of power cuts that consumers are likely to experience across the network.

Without a CPP, Aurora’s network would have continued to deteriorate, safety incidents would increase, and its customers would experience more, longer, outages. The amount Aurora can recover for this work is less than Aurora asked for in its CPP application, but we believe it is sufficient to fund the investment needed to bring the network up to the standard consumers deserve, while ensuring they face lower bill increases than originally proposed by Aurora.

Because we recognised that the scale of increases was still significant and could cause financial difficulties for consumers, we smoothed the impact of this over time to lessen the immediate effect. This included capping Aurora’s annual revenue increases at approximately 10% per year.

The CPP provides for a level of accountability, and the additional information disclosure requirements we announced on 31 August 2021 will provide additional information to enable Aurora’s consumers and other stakeholders, and the Commission, to assess how Aurora is performing and whether it is doing what it said it will do under its CPP. These requirements are in addition to the standard information disclosure requirements for all electricity distribution businesses (EDBs).

A summary of the information consumers and other stakeholders can expect to see from Aurora and when is in this infographic. We will also be providing summary analysis of some of the information that Aurora discloses. Aurora is also required to commission an independent expert mid-way through the CPP period to assess and report on its progress, including how it is doing with its information disclosure requirements.

All documents related to Aurora’s CPP and enhanced information disclosure requirements, including those related to the full consultation process leading up to final decisions, are available below by clicking on the 'Documents’ tab.

About Aurora

Aurora Energy owns and operates the poles, lines and other equipment that distribute electricity from Transpower’s national grid to 90,000 homes, farms and businesses in Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes. Aurora is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dunedin City Holdings Limited, owned by Dunedin City Council. Aurora’s charges are built into power bills and are something its consumers are required to pay no matter which power company they are with. Typically, electricity distribution charges make up about a quarter of an average residential consumer’s power bill.

Contact us

If you have any feedback related to Aurora’s performance under its CPP or its delivery of information disclosure requirements, or would otherwise like to get in contact with us, please email us at regulation.branch@comcom.govt.nz

This view shows the latest stage in the project. Click on the circled dates to see details. Navigate to other months, or scroll down, to see all stages.

Note: these dates are indicative only and are subject to change.

  • 01 Mar 2023

    Completed

    Amendment to CPP for Aurora Energy Limited (Compliance statement due date)

    See documents

  • 31 Aug 2021
  • 31 May 2021

    Completed

    Cross-submissions on technical drafting of the draft determination due

  • 24 May 2021

    Completed

    Submissions on the technical drafting of the draft determination due

    See documents

  • 24 May 2021

    Completed

    Cross-submissions on Aurora ID draft decision due

    See documents

  • 10 May 2021

    Completed

    Submissions on Aurora ID draft decision due

    See documents

  • 03 May 2021

    Completed

    Information clarification meeting between Aurora Energy and Commerce Commission

    See documents

  • 31 Mar 2021
  • 31 Mar 2021
  • 18 Feb 2021

    Completed

    Submissions on technical consultation due

    See documents

  • 04 Feb 2021

    Completed

    Technical consultation on two changes to Aurora's CPP determination

    See documents

  • 18 Jan 2021

    Completed

    Cross-submissions on draft decision due

    See documents

  • 22 Dec 2020
  • 18 Dec 2020
  • 30 Nov 2020
  • 26 Nov 2020

    Completed

    Strata Energy Consulting – report on Aurora Energy’s CPP application

    See documents

  • 12 Nov 2020
  • 17 Sep 2020

    Completed

    Cross-submissions on process and issues paper due

    See documents

  • 27 Aug 2020

    Completed

    Submissions on process and issues paper due

    See documents

  • 07 Aug 2020

    Completed

    Notice that Aurora’s CPP application has been accepted as complete and IM compliant issued

    See documents

  • 06 Aug 2020

    Completed

    Aurora public drop-in session presentation

    See documents

  • 30 Jul 2020
  • 30 Jul 2020

    Completed

    Process and issues paper due

  • 12 Jun 2020

    Completed

    Aurora Energy's CPP application published

    See documents

  • 19 May 2020

    Completed

    Introductory paper about Aurora Energy’s upcoming investment proposal

    See documents

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