Editing New Zealand electricity market (section)

=== Studies ===
In 2009, the [[Commerce Commission]] released a report by [[Stanford University|Stanford]] economist Frank Wolak on the ability of the four largest electricity suppliers to exercise unilateral market power in the wholesale electricity market and the [[economic rents]] (any payment in excess of the cost of production) that may have resulted.<ref name="wolak-2009-1">
{{cite report
 | first = Frank A | last = Wolak
 | title = An assessment of the performance of the New Zealand wholesale electricity market – Public version (First half)
 | date = 19 May 2009
 | url = http://www.comcom.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1703
 | access-date = 2016-06-10
}}</ref><ref name="wolak-2009-2">
{{cite report
 | first = Frank A | last = Wolak
 | title = An assessment of the performance of the New Zealand wholesale electricity market – Public version (Second half)
 | date = 19 May 2009
 | url = http://www.comcom.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1704
 | access-date = 2016-06-10
}}</ref> Using empirical [[industrial organization]] techniques, Wolak estimates these rents to be $4.3{{nbsp}}billion over the 7 years he studied when compared with a perfectly competitive market.  The methodology he used and the results are also described in a working paper.<ref name="mcrae-and-wolak-2009">
{{cite book
 | first1 = Shaun D | last1 = McRae
 | first2 = Frank A | last2 = Wolak
 | title = How do firms exercise unilateral market power?: evidence from a bid-based wholesale electricity market — Preliminary draft, 18 March 2009
 | year = 2009
 | url = http://www.diw.de/documents/dokumentenarchiv/17/diw_01.c.99198.de/io-seminar-2009_paper-wolak.pdf
 | access-date = 2016-06-10
}}</ref> His report was criticised for aspects of its methodology, with the Electricity Technical Advisory Group (ETAG), [[Ministry of Economic Development (New Zealand)|Ministry of Economic Development]], claiming that there is no evidence of the sustained exercise of market power.<ref name="browne-etal-2012"/> The Commerce Commission decided not to act.  Rex Ahdar, [[University of Otago]], later opined that competition law in New Zealand is inherently ill-suited to tackling a network industry such as electricity.<ref name="ahdar-2010">
{{cite journal
 | first = Rex | last = Ahdar
 | title = The New Zealand electricity industry and the limits of competition law
 | year = 2010
 | journal = Utilities Law Review
 | volume = 8
 | number = 2
 | pages = 51–61
 | url = http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/utilities-lr-article.pdf
 | access-date = 2016-06-10
}}</ref>

An [[agent-based model]] (ABM) developed at [[University of Auckland|Auckland University]] was used to analyse the New Zealand wholesale electricity market.<ref name="young-etal-2012">
{{cite journal
 | first1 = David | last1 = Young
 | first2 = Stephen | last2 = Poletti
 | first3 = Oliver | last3 = Browne
 | title = Can agent-based models forecast spot prices in electricity markets? Evidence from the New Zealand electricity market 
 |journal=Energy Economics |volume=45 |year=2014 |pages=419–434 |doi=10.1016/j.eneco.2014.08.007
| bibcode = 2014EneEc..45..419Y
 }}</ref> The model suggests considerable market abuse and quantified the combined market rents for 2006 and 2008 to be $2.6{{nbsp}}billion, when compared with a perfectly competitive market as counterfactual.<ref name="browne-etal-2012"> 
{{cite journal
 | first1 = Oliver | last1 = Browne
 | first2 = Stephen | last2 = Poletti
 | first3 = David | last3 = Young
 | title = Simulating market power in the New Zealand electricity market
 | year = 2012
 | journal = New Zealand Economic Papers
 | volume = 46
 | number = 1
 | pages = 35–50
 | doi = 10.1080/00779954.2011.649566
 | url = http://motu-www.motu.org.nz/wpapers/environment/Browne.pdf
 | access-date = 2016-06-10
}}</ref>

In terms of residential electricity prices, a 2015 report found these were twice as high under retail competition.<ref name="bertam-2015">
{{cite book
 | last1 = Bertram | first1 = Geoff
 | title = Neoliberalism and energy poverty: why corporatisation, deregulation and privatisation doubled the cost of electricity for New Zealand households
 | date = 9 October 2015
 | publisher = Victoria University of Wellington (VUW)
 | location = Wellington, New Zealand
 | url = http://www.geoffbertram.com/fileadmin/publications/How%20neoliberalism%20doubled%20the%20price%20of%20electricity.pdf
 | access-date = 2018-11-08
}}
</ref>