Residential price change trends

Report notes

1. All series are by default indexed to 2010 Q3 = 100. The base date parameter can be used to select an alternative period as the base.

2. The retail cost index was first estimated for the Authority by NZIER in 2014. The index is designed to represent the price at which a new entrant retailer without a generation portfolio could enter the market and sell to residential customers. In 2020, the Authority's market monitoring team made several modifications to the methodology and data sources used to derive the index. The original documentation supplied by NZIER detailing the construction of the index and its data sources and input assumptions, as well as the market monitoring team’s 2020 updates are described here.
   The energy component of the retail cost index is based on the settlement price of ASX baseload quarterly futures contracts.

3. The MBIE QSDEP is the Quarterly Survey of Domestic Electricity Prices prepared by MBIE and is available at www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-statistics-and-modelling/energy-statistics/energy-prices/electricity-cost-and-price-monitoring.

4. The MBIE annual residential electricity cost is available as part of the quarterly residential sales survey (QRSS) prepared by MBIE and is available at www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-statistics-and-modelling/energy-statistics/energy-prices/electricity-cost-and-price-monitoring.. We’ve used the annual series, which is available when the base date is set to Q1, to avoid needing to adjust for volume differences between quarters.

5. The CPI electricity component is the contribution of electricity to changes in the quarterly Consumer Price Index published by Statistics New Zealand and is available at www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/consumers-price-index-cpi.