Bankside barristers Rowan Butler and Sam Jeffs have achieved another positive outcome for boutique trading firm, Haast Energy Trading.  

‍

Following their successful High Court appeal earlier this year, Rowan and Sam continued to represent Haast Energy Trading in subsequent proceedings before the Electricity Authority, again ably assisted by Thomas Refoy-Butler at Holland Beckett Law.

‍

The initial appeal arose from a National Grid Emergency on 9 August 2021, where record power demand and insufficient generation led to the disconnection of 34,000 homes and the wrongful imposition of Scarcity Pricing. This mispricing amounted to $130 million across four 30-minute trading periods.

‍

In February this year, the High Court accepted Haast's argument that the imposition of Scarcity Pricing was an unlawful “Pricing Error”, as the trigger conditions in the Electricity Code had not been met.

‍

Following this ruling, the Electricity Authority took a somewhat surprising and novel approach. The Authority expressly announced that it would not be appealing the High Court judgment. 

‍

Instead, the Authority considered that the High Court judgment itself had given rise to an Undesirable Trading Situation (UTS). In other words, the Authority was attempting to use the High Court judgment as a basis for re-opening its earlier investigation.

‍

Rowan and Sam, on behalf of Haast Energy, filed submissions with the Authority, challenging the basis and scope of this new investigation.

‍

In a positive outcome for Haast, the Authority has now decided that no UTS occurred. This decision validates the arguments put forward by Haast, and brings this long-running matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

‍

An alternative outcome would only have given rise to further litigation.