gas distribution pricing

A gas “connection” is defined as one with 10 or less individual connections, or costs $50,000 or less to connect. Any gas connection work that falls outside of this category is a “project”.

Besides the above criteria, any gas connection work that has a manifold or includes a mains re-location will also be classed as a “project”.

A residential customer is one where the customer’s metered point of connection is for a home, not normally used for any business activity. The cost to connect to gas varies depending on the length of the service connection, site conditions and specific construction requirements.

A new residential gas connection is priced as standard or non-standard. A standard new gas connection meets the following criteria:

• The gas connection is an individual one and is not part of a subdivision.
• There is a main gas pipe directly outside the property either on the same side or opposite side of the road.
• The property is on a road that is defined by Auckland Transport as a low or moderate volume road (10,000 vehicles a day or less).

If we discover that the above criteria have not been met, then we will advise you and send you a revised quote.


Two Quote Options for New Residential Connections

We provide two quote options which are based on different construction methods. Either:

1. You provide an open trench or ducting from the street boundary to the gas meter position on your home. We will lay the gas service in the supplied ducting or trench (commonly referred to as “Pipe in Trench”), or
2. We complete all the work.

Pricing for Standard Connections
For standard connections the pricing consists of a base rate and a variable rate.

The base rate is the flat fee to connect you from the main gas pipe directly outside your property (either on the same or opposite side of the road) to your street boundary.

The variable rate is the cost per metre (m) to then connect you from the street boundary to the position of your gas meter.

 

Rate as of 17 January 2018	Prices including GST
Standard New Gas Connection
1. Base Rate, and	$499
2. Variable Rate
Standard soil conditions, or	$46 per metre
Difficult (e.g. rocky) soil conditions, or	$699 per metre
"Pipe in Trench"	First 30 metres free, $28 per metre thereafter.

Quotes Pricing for Non-Standard Connections

A connection is considered non-standard if it meets one of the following criteria: 

• an extension to a gas mains is required
• traffic management services are needed
• the connection is part of a small subdivision 

For non-standard connections, customer contribution is calculated based on the scope of work required. 

A commercial customer is defined as a non-residential customer.

The cost of all commercial new gas connections are calculated using the capital contribution model where the life of the asset is assumed to be 15 years.

In the case of developer sub-divisions, the developer pays 100% of network extension costs upfront, but is rebated a portion of the initial contribution once customers connect to the network.

Capital contributions are one way in which Vector recovers the cost of providing  electricity and gas distribution services to customers. In most cases, our capital contribution methodology applies a profitability assessment.  That is:

Capital Contributions = Revenues we expect to generate from a new connection (in present value terms) less the incremental costs arising from the new connection.

This ensures that existing customers are not financially disadvantaged as new customers connect to the network. This calculation is applied through:

• Standardised charges, for some residential electricity and gas connections¹
• Individual design and quote for non-standard residential, commercial connections, and developer sub divisions.

  ¹ The profitability of a standard connection is assessed on the average of a group of connections of similar type.