At the annual meeting of listed electricity company TrustPower today, it called for a partial privatization of New Zealand's energy SOEs. The company specified that security of power supply ensured by a 20% float.

The meeting was addressed by Chairman Bruce Harker, who said that the company expected that the ministerial review of the New Zealand energy market, announced in April, would take a closer look at commercial accountability when it comes to power supply.

Dr Harker revealed that there was significant blunt in this accountability by the dominance of unlisted SOEs. He said that a 20% float will improve the security of supply for New Zealand.

He continued that apart from this, the company also hoped to see some steps towards ensuring that power companies fully recognized the commercial consequences of contracts for selling more power than they have supply to cover in a dry year.

Dr Harker said: "Security of supply within a market framework relies on retailers having strong commercial accountability for having sufficient supply or energy contracts to meet their sales in a dry year."

He is of the viewpoint that reinforcement can be seen in accountability via minor changes to pricing mechanisms as hydro shortages are approached.