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The full fuel excise duty returned on 1 July 2023, which provisionally added 28.5c/L to the domestic price of regular petrol. However, the price of regular petrol was still 53c/L lower than this time last year, as the substantial decline in fuel prices since July 2022 means prices are sharply down even though the fuel tax is no longer discounted.

Electricity distributors have published new forecasts of expenditure on capital and network maintenance. These forecasts have resulted in a 33% increase to overall electricity distribution investment over the forecast period compared to prior expectations, worth nearly $4b over the next eight years.

The recent announcement by Saudi Arabia, a major oil producing nation, of further cuts to production at a recent OPEC+ meeting have raised expectations that crude oil prices might rise in response.

Demand for rental cars dried up over the COVID-19 pandemic, as tourist arrivals plummeted. With reduced demand, there was a swift decline in the size of the rental car fleet.

Infometrics has recently conducted further analysis into planned spending on new electricity generation assets as part of our recent update to the Infometrics Infrastructure Pipeline Profile (IPP).

Between April and December last year, Clean Car Discount fees totalled $105m and rebates totalled $203m, which means the scheme distributed nearly double the revenue it brought in. The Discount scheme was designed to be self-funding, so the gap between fees and rebates needs to be addressed. To close the funding gap, the most straightforward approach would be to either lower the level of rebates, increase the level of fees, or a combination of the two.

Over the last two years, consumers have experienced high inflation across a wide range of goods and services. Car owners, and prospective buyers, are no exception, as vehicle-related prices have risen strongly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyclone Gabrielle has wreaked havoc across Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, leading to the deaths of 11 people and resulting in a huge cost to the economy.

Infometrics recently published the 2022 Regional Economic Profile, which provides an in-depth description of the structure and performance of regional and local economies.

In March 2022, the government implemented a reduction in the tax it charges on fuel, discounting the fuel excise duty (FED) by $0.25/L. This “temporary” measure has been repeatedly extended over the last year and is currently set to finish at the end of June 2023. With an election in October 2023, and our outlook for fuel suggesting that prices will remain elevated over the next five years, we find it unlikely that the reduction will simply end mid-year.