Brent Layton
Dr Brent Layton
Electricity Authority, New Zealand
Brent Layton - Chair, Electricity Authority, New Zealand Dr Layton is a former senior fellow and chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER).
He has been a director or chair of organisations in sectors as diverse as banking and finance, health, scientific research, electricity, food processing, sport, transport and information technology.
As a consultant prior to joining the Authority, Dr Layton's work has spanned macro and microeconomics and corporate finance. Much of his work has involved regulatory economics and responses to regulatory change.
In 2009, Dr Layton chaired the Ministerial Review of the governance and performance of the electricity market, which recommended increased focus on competition and reforms to improve reliability in dry years and overall efficiency. He has been chair of the Authority since it was established in 2010. His second five year term expires at the end of October this year and he will retire.
Over the last decade or so, renewables as a share of generation have increased from less than 70% to 85%. Given developments underway, the share is expected to go to 95% over the next few years. Prices for households and other consumers have not risen in real terms and with increased energy efficiency average expenditure per household on electricity has declined. There have also been no "dry year” problems. In the 2000’s these regularly affected the reliability of the hydro-based system, which has limited storage fed by variable rain and snowfall.
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