Tens of thousands of households will see their gas prices hiked by an average of 17% as Contact Energy says the decline in production has hit faster and harder than expected.

“We work hard to ensure our customers are on a competitive gas rate,” Contact’s chief retail officer Carolyn Luey said.

“We are balancing the need for energy security with a constrained gas supply as the country transitions to a renewable energy future.”

Contact has “committed more than $2 billion on building the critical energy infrastructure New Zealand needs”, Luey said.

“In the past financial year, our entire net profit – and some – was invested in developing renewable energy projects.

“The more power stations we build, the faster prices will come down over time. And this will help ensure New Zealand has a secure, sustainable renewable energy supply for households and businesses.”

A letter to one affected customer in Wellington said their prices would rise more than 20% on December 1, the Post reported.

Contact has “committed more than $2 billion on building the critical energy infrastructure New Zealand needs”, retail officer Carolyn Luey says. Photo / 123rf

One of Contact’s energy plans will see prices increased to 14.9 cents per kilowatt hour, excluding GST or prompt-payment discounts, the Post said.

It would see each gigajoule (GJ) of gas priced around $41.40, excluding GST, the Post said.

The latest spot price for gas today was $13.12, Transpower-owned EMS Tradepoint showed. The average price for the quarter was listed today as $15.98.

Statistics NZ last week revealed September price figures.

Gas was 17% more expensive than a year ago and 1.4% more expensive than the month before, the data showed.

The Post reported the country’s largest gas user, methanol producer Methanex, was believed to pay $6/GJ. Other businesses are paying $25 or more per GJ, a BusinessNZ survey from August found.

Contact Energy chief executive Mike Fuge told the Herald in August: “No one foresaw the collapse on the upstream gas market, and how rapid it was going to be.

“The answer is to get off base load gas [for continuous power generation], as we’ve done, and to build more renewables as we’re doing.

“And the answer is to actually keep going.”

Contact earlier reported a net profit of $331 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments (ebitdaf) of $872m for the 2025 financial year.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.