Transpower New Zealand

No, it felt like that here, too.

And, of course, we have a warning from Transpower that they might run into some issues, and yesterday actually we got another warning that, um, by the end of the week, I think they said at 8:30 in the morning, New Zealand might ex- uh, uh, expect some kind of q- crunch time in the, um, transmission network.

It is hard when it, when we have this situation to then make the case, hey, let's, um, just build a few more data centers, and of course they will be extremely power hungry.

We have to, in a way, make sure that these data centers that we would like to build have social license, and that only works if we make sure that our network as such is more stable and more reliable.

We'll see.

Because we're getting to transmission and distribution now, which is where the pinch point is, right? So the National Grid, right? So Transpower, right, so let's talk about today right now.

Transpower owns the National Grid, right? And then there's 28 regional lines companies which handle the local distribution.

Our one is, I think, Network Tasman.

Does Network Tasman cover Nelson as well? Surely.

No, no, he's an arborist, but he does a lot of, yeah.

Well, he's full-time for Transpower, and I think he hangs out at helicopters and fixes high-tension lines.

So I'd say he's relatively active.

He's active, yeah.

And supporting these data centers will require roughly about $2.5 billion in additional generation and transmission infrastructure.

While that brings commercial opportunities for grid operators like Transpower and Watercare, Simplicity, Cheap Economist, Shamobile, Equip, noted large-scale industry projects like this can deliver narrow corporate benefits alongside broader energy costs for everyday consumers if not managed carefully.

you know the end of the day i think all of this is going to create jobs all of this is going to create builders to build these things it's it's a it is a good thing yes it takes a lot of power but i think it's a good thing for people that need to run these things as well

Beyond energy, Moody's delivered a very direct warning regarding local government infrastructure funding, specifically addressing the central government's proposal to cap annual property rate increases within a 2% to 4% target range.

[laughs]

... and why Transpower New Zealand was doing things to protect the grid, and at the end of our very nice chat he said, "Thank you.

I now need to go talk to the chief scientist of New Zealand so they can-

Yeah

And he goes on to talk about he would cap lines company prices.

This is already happening with the regulation of Transpower and Vector, and he would want to extend that to the other lines companies.

He talked about metering companies, and obviously some of those have been sold to Australian entities, and he's concerned that they're not competitive enough.

He described the electricity authority as, what was it, Sam, the chocolate company? Yeah, chocolate teapot.