Hot water load testing – Upper South Island coordination

From now until mid-April, Alpine is participating in a coordinated Upper South Island (USI) hot water load testing programme being progressed by Orion on behalf of the USI group.

We’re working alongside other lines companies and electricity retailers to carry out short weekday hot water tests as part of winter readiness planning. Tests run for a couple of hours per day, Monday to Friday, with no testing on weekends.

From a Network Operations perspective, this leverages our existing ripple control capability. Our involvement is primarily observational and learning-focused, with Control Room oversight maintained at all times. Security of supply remains the priority.

The purpose of the testing is to better understand the level of controllable load available over summer and how that flexibility could be used during winter peak periods. The insights gathered will also help assess whether coordinated load management could reduce pressure on the wider electricity system and assist Transpower in deferring an upcoming local transmission upgrade.

Externally, this is being positioned as proactive winter preparation and efficient network management. Most customers are unlikely to notice any change to their hot water supply due to the short duration of each test window.

If you receive customer queries, please direct them to Michelle Agnew – Head of External Communication, or chat with Horst for more information.