State-owned electricity generator Meridian Energy has been fined $17,500 by the Electricity Authority's rulings panel for eight breaches of market rules by its retail arm.The breaches, notified by Vector in 2008 and the Market Administrator in 2009, relat
State-owned electricity generator Meridian Energy has been fined $17,500 by the Electricity Authority's rulings panel for eight breaches of market rules by its retail arm.
The breaches, notified by Vector in 2008 and the Market Administrator in 2009, related to Meridian not accounting for electricity properly, not updating information on the registry and not submitting electricity volumes to the reconciliation manager.
The Electricity Commission sought compensation for affected electricity market participants and a maximum fine of $20,000. However, Meridian settled or started to settle the issues of compensation, so the penalty was the only issue ruled on by the panel.
The penalty was small in commercial terms, but sent a signal to the industry that serious rule breaches would not be tolerated.
"The panel also stated that a useful purpose of its decision would be to encourage participants to explore all options available to them before knowingly deciding to breach a rule and opt out of the reconciliation process in reliance on a different interpretation of the rules," the authority said.
The panel is an independent body appointed to consider alleged breaches of the Electricity Governance Rules 2003, and of the Electricity Industry Participation Code.
