Mercury

Company type	Public
Traded as	NZX:MCY ASX: MCY
Industry	Electric power generation
Predecessor	ECNZ, Mighty River Power
Founded	1 April 1999 (1999-04-01)
Headquarters	Auckland , New Zealand
Key people	Stew Hamilton (CEO)
Products	Electric power
Services	Electricity retailing
Revenue	NZ$2,188M (2022)[1]
Operating income	NZ$581M (2022)[1]
Net income	NZ$469M (2022)[1]
Total assets	NZ$9,660M (2022)[1]
Total equity	NZ$4,752M (2022)[1]
Owner	New Zealand Government (51.15%)
Number of employees	1335[1] (2022)
Subsidiaries	GLOBUG (prepay power)
Website	www.mercury.co.nz

Mercury NZ Limited is aNew Zealandelectricity generation and multi-product utility retailer of electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephone services. All the company's electricity generation isrenewable. Mercury has a pre-paid electricity product sub-brand GLOBUG. Mercury Energy is also the largest electricity retailer in New Zealand.

Mercury generates most of its energy from nine hydro stations on the Waikato River and five geothermal plants in the central north island as well as a number of wind farms.^[2][3] As of June 2021^[update], Mercury had generated 3,611 GWh of electricity through hydro generation and 2,594 GWh through geothermal generation.^[4]

Mercury also service industrial and wholesale market customers offering electricity and natural gas products. Since 2022 it has also offered internet fibre broadband services as a bundle for its residential electricity customers.^[5] Mercury has offices in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Wellington and Oamaru.

In the 1980s, theNew Zealand Electricity Department (NZED) (a government department) controlled and operated almost all New Zealand electricity generation and operated the electricity transmission grid. The first phase of deregulation saw the New Zealand Government corporatise the NZED and form the state-owned enterpriseElectricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ).

In 1994, Mercury NZ Limited was formed by theAuckland Energy Consumer Trust to own and operate the electricity supply business previously operated by the community-owned local authority,Auckland Electric Power Board (AEPB). That same year,Transpower New Zealand was separated from ECNZ and created as a State Owned Enterprise (SOE) to own and operate the national grid. Four years later, law changes obligated AEPB to sell the electricity retailing and generation part of the business.

In 1996,ECNZ split into two SOEs, ECNZ andContact Energy. ECNZ was further split into three companies on 1 April 1999 –Genesis Energy,Meridian Energy andMighty River Power. Mercury's electricity retailing division was sold to Mighty River Power, who continued the trading name Mercury Energy. The electricity distribution business Mercury Energy Limited changed its name toVector Limited and continued the distribution and transmission operation.

Mighty River Power took over the ownership and operation of the nine hydroelectric power stations on theWaikato River, New Zealand's longest river, and inherited assets of two largely decommissioned oil-fired power stations at Marsden Point, nearWhangārei and its share in theSouthdown Power Station (in conjunction with the Natural Gas Corporation).

In 2000, Mighty River Power acquired theRotokawa geothermal power station, to operate and maintain the station, and own the geothermal turbines in a joint venture with the Tauhara North No.2 Trust. Also, that year, Mighty River Power commissioned theMōkai geothermal power station geothermal power station in a joint venture with the Tuaropaki Trust.

In September 2002, Mighty River Power gained 100 percent ownership of theSouthdown Power Station.

In 2004, Mighty River Power announced plans to refurbish the Marsden B plant to fire it on coal to increase supply security north of Auckland. Marsden B had been mothballed since it was completed in 1978 due to rising oil prices following the 1973 oil crisis and there being cheaper alternatives available.Greenpeace staged a nine-day occupation of the site in 2005, and after the Northland Regional Council granted consent, appealed to both the Environment Court and High Court, eventually overturning the consent. Mighty River Power appealed the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal, but in March 2007 dropped the proposal.

In 2008, Mighty River Power increased its generating capacity by opening the 100 MWKawerau geothermal power station, increasing supply security to the easternBay of Plenty, a large timber processing area. In 2010, it opened the 140 MWNga Awa Purua geothermal station nearTaupō with the largest single-shaft geothermal turbine in the world. The commissioning of Nga Awa Purua increased Mighty River's geothermal capacity to 385 MW making it the nation's largest geothermal electricity generator with 52.7 percent of all installed geothermal capacity.

In 2009, Mighty River Power sold the Marsden B plant for $20 million to an Indian company, United Telecom.^[6] Resource consents for dismantling the plant were granted in June 2011, and the 20,000 tonnes of plant and equipment was dismantled later in 2011.

In Dec 2011, theNational Government announced plans to reduce its shareholding in the four state-owned energy companies, Contact Energy, Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power (Mercury) from 100 percent to 51 percent and to sell off the remaining 49 percent as part of its controversial "mixed-ownership model" plan. Mighty River Power was to be the first company to be partially sold in September 2012, pursuant to legislative changes and market conditions.^[7] However, threatened legal action and unfavourable market conditions saw the Government delay any sale until March 2013 at the earliest.^[8]

On 5 March 2012, the Government began taking registrations of interest from the public in Mighty River Power shares.^[9] More than 35,000 people tried to register in the first six hours causing the registration website to crash for much of the day.^[10] By midnight, more than 90,000 people had registered.^[11]

In April 2013, State Owned Enterprises MinisterTony Ryall, in anticipation of the sale, said director fees would be increasing from $49,000 a year to $85,000, and the chair's fees from $98,000 to $150,000, despite still being majority-owned by taxpayers.

On 2 April 2013,The Financial Markets Authority approved the sale of Mighty River Power with the IPO (Initial Public Offering) on 15 April. However, the IPO was temporarily suspended on 22 April while a supplementary disclosure was issued, after theLabour andGreen parties in opposition announced plans to reform the electricity market if elected to government at the 2014 election. At the close of the IPO on 5 May, there were 113,000 shareholders, and on 8 May the opening share price was set at $2.50, raising $1.7 billion. The Government was slightly disappointed, blaming the Labour-Green policy for putting off many more potential shareholders, with the Finance Minister indicating before the policy was announced that the price would be in the $2.70 to $2.80 range^[12] The government retained 51.78 percent of the shareholding, with another 1.02 percent owned by other Crown interests (mainly the New Zealand Superannuation Fund).^[13]

By September, shares had slumped to $2.16, well below the float price^[14] and in October the company announced it would be buying back up to $50 million in shares.^[15]

In December 2015, the gas fired Southdown Power Station, a 170 MW combined cycle power station in south Auckland was closed.

On 29 July 2016, after merging its retail and generation businesses the company changed its name to Mercury NZ Limited.^[16] The company also launched a new brand logo, moving from the Roman god Mercury, to a bee. Market research showed New Zealand had a stronger connection to the bee as a symbol.^[17]

In August 2021, Mercury acquired five operating wind farms and several wind farm development options fromTilt Renewables.^[18] At the same time, the first power from the newly built wind farm atTuritea was generated^[19] – adding to the existing portfolio of nine hydro stations^[20] on the Waikato River and five geothermal plants^[21] located in the central North Island.

In August 2021, Mercury acquired five operating wind farms and several wind farm development options.^[22] At the same time, the first power from the newly built wind farm at Turitea was generated.^[23]

In May 2022, Mercury acquired the retail business of Trustpower,^[24] including the retail customer base and Trustpower brand. The generation business of Trustpower changed its name toManawa Energy.

In June 2023, Mercury brought the two brands Mercury and Trustpower together under singular brand of Mercury.^[25]

Mercury operates 17 generation sites; 8 Hydroelectric Powerstations, 5 Geothermal, and 4 Wind Farms.

In total, the company has 2155 MW of generating capacity – 1096 MW hydroelectric, 475 MW geothermal and 584 MW wind.

In addition to its generation assets, Mercury also incorporates or has major shareholdings in:

• GLOBUG, a pre-pay electricity retailer

• Electricity sector in New Zealand
• List of power stations in New Zealand
• Starship Foundation, a charity supported by Mercury since 2001^[31]

• Data related toMercury Energy at Wikidata
• Official website

• Companies based in Auckland
• Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
• Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange
• Companies in the S&P/NZX 50 Index
• Cross-listed companies
• Electric power companies of New Zealand
• Government-owned companies of New Zealand
• 1999 establishments in New Zealand

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2022
• Use New Zealand English from April 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from June 2021
• All articles containing potentially dated statements