Genesis posts 'record' result as it takes third coal-fired turbine out of storage

Thursday, 25 February 2021

Genesis Energy once planned to shut the coal and gas Huntly power station in 2018, but is instead adding to its coal-burning capacity.

Genesis Energy has quadrupled its interim profit to $53 million and upgraded its full year earnings guidance on the back of higher retail profit margins and lower fossil fuel costs.

The company reported an operating profit of $217m for the six months to the end of December which it said was its “strongest first half performance since listing in 2014”.

It upgraded its operating profit forecast for the full year to $415m to $425m, from its previous forecast of $395m to $415m.

* Genesis may revive plan for $1.6 billion wind farm at Castle Hill

* Genesis Energy pledges to ditch coal and gas twice as fast

The company announced earlier this month that it would bring a third coal-fired turbine out of storage to add its Huntly power station in anticipation of more demand for coal generation, in anticipation of a dry summer and constraints in gas supplies.

However, it has also signalled its intention to bring to market an additional 1350 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity by 2024, in addition to the completion of its Waipipi Wind Farm next month.

Chief executive Marc England said its retail business had delivered “improved efficiencies without compromising on our vision to be ‘customer’s first choice for energy management’”.

“The last six months has also seen a reduction in disconnections and bad debt, largely due to measures implemented by the business as part of its response to the customer impact of Covid,” he said.