Comalco faces power talks

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 27

Comalco faces power talks

PA Wellington The Electricity Corporation is seeking to negotiate a new contract with Comalco to replace three existing contracts under which power is supplied to the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter at reduced prices. Two of the existing contracts are thought to give Comalco supply at about 55 per cent of the price which South Island supply authorities pay Electricorp. Electricorp marketing general manager, Mr Drew Stein, said that negotiating a fourth contract, linked to Comalco’s decision to go ahead with a fourth potline at the smelter, was a course preferred by the corporation, ahead of forming a new company to own the Manapouri power station, with Comalco taking some shareholding in this.

The company had been proposed by Comalco and discussed with Electricorp, but was not now under consideration, Mr Stein said. A fourth potline would create jobs, earn foreign exchange for New Zealand, and use a chunk of the South Island power surplus, Because it would use electricity that would otherwise go to waste, the potline would mean lower wholesale prices to other users, Mr Stein said. , The price for supplying the fourth potline had to be"competitive” because Comalco could decide to channel its investment instead into expansion of its smelter at Boyne Island in Queensland. Mr Stein said he did not know how much extra power would be used, with Tiwai Point already taking 18 per cent of New Zealand’s electricity' production.