Strategic reports
spending. Resourcing pressure has moderated over the year, although the labour market remains tight. Corporate cost is higher than the prior year due mainly to higher computer costs driven by an increase in digital projects that are expensed rather than capitalised. In addition accounting rule changes, and higher CPI increases, also contributed to higher costs.
data to be processed and analysed quickly and securely, to unlock customer innovation, increase renewable energy deployment, and help dynamically manage more complex networks. In Auckland, we’ve taken a number of steps to further establish the foundations for a future electricity network where customer-side services and innovations play a much larger role in efficiently managing increasing demand. In addition to electric bus smart charging infrastructure discussed earlier, we’ve continued our learning from our highly successful electric vehicle (EV) smart charging trial, and refined our modelling to set a pathway for enrolling controllable load at scales sufficient to defer costly network upgrades, using technology such as smart EV charging or smart hot- water heating. We continue to engage proactively on policy and regulatory reform to better support New Zealand’s decarbonisation journey and customer outcomes. New Zealand’s urgency to decarbonise transportation and industrial emissions provides Vector with an opportunity to support, enable and drive progress in these areas. We’ve been encouraged by the external feedback we’ve received on
the maturity of our understanding and disclosure of climate risks and opportunities. According to this feedback, our Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Report compares highly favourably with peer companies from New Zealand and is in the upper quartile globally. A strong contributor to this is our sector-leading work to develop a carbon abatement cost curve, which we’ve updated this year to include newly identified initiatives, reflect cost changes, highlight completed projects and challenges, and exclude Vector Metering. Our TCFD Report outlines the significant opportunities ahead of us, as well as the challenges, as we look to the future and consider a range of climate scenarios. We encourage you to read it. Funding appropriate investment to deliver the right outcomes We are in a critical decade for the energy sector, as demand for electricity grows strongly with electrification and as electricity networks are faced with increased demands for resilience in the face of climate change. The Commerce Commission’s draft Input Methodologies decision is hugely important to Aotearoa
LOOKING AHEAD
Leading a changing energy landscape We’ve always been deliberate about thinking ahead to the future of the energy sector, and what will be needed to move us and the wider sector forward. With our joint venture of the metering business now established with QIC, it’s worth reflecting on what continues to make Vector unique: looking outside our immediate sector and establishing globally leading partnerships for innovation, and not being afraid to challenge the status quo. We’re looking forward to what’s next. We are continuing to work with our strategic alliance partner AWS, and on our industry-leading energy data platform, Diverge. The platform will help transform the energy industry by enabling vast amounts of energy
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