Senior Regulatory Economist / Advisor - Regulated Markets at Transpower New Zealand Limited, Wellington - Wairarapa

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

• Meaningful work contributing to electrification & a decarbonised Aotearoa!
• Thought leadership supporting strategic priorities and core work
• Varied role encompassing strategic advisory, modelling, board reporting, & capability development

With over $5B of nationally critical infrastructure, this is a unique opportunity to join one of New Zealand's largest infrastructure providers - the National Grid.

Whakamana i Te Mauri Hiko - Empowering our Energy Future outlines New Zealand's opportunity to accelerate electrification to help meet climate change, and sustainability goals.  Everyone who works at Transpower is passionate about the part they play in working to enable this change.

Our context

At the centre of the electricity sector in New Zealand, Transpower's position as grid owner and system operator creates a wide range of policy and regulatory activity, including rules for strategic investments, engaging in policy debates with national impact, and integrating regulatory understanding with business practices.

Our bespoke economic regulation provides several fronts for regulatory development directed towards the long-term interests of consumers.

About the team

The Regulatory Affairs team, within our Corporate Governance division, is the Hub within a Hub-and-Spoke modelling for regulatory activity cross-business.

The team helps Transpower to understand and meet its regulatory obligations, maintain relationships with key industry regulators, deliver effective advocacy (often by written submissions) and provide for central regulatory affairs oversight cross-business. They lead the delivery of Transpower's five-yearly multibillion-dollar expenditure proposal to the Commerce Commission and engage with the Commission on the application of the regulatory framework.

The team works with customers (generators, retailers, and large organisations that are directly connected to the Grid) and other industry stakeholders.

About the opportunity

Working closely with the Head of Regulation in Wellington, you will be joining a highly capable and respected team. You will provide proactive leadership both internally and externally and work to improve the regulatory framework - identifying barriers and initiatives to ensure Transpower can evolve and continuously improve to meet our strategic priorities, and ultimately a decarbonised energy sector.

Broader than most regulatory economist roles, you will be working in the context of owner and operator of the national grid, building relationships across a range of corporate, governance, and strategy functions, as well as with specialists in grid development and operations, and externally with regulators, auditors, and consultants.

You will provide advice on Transpower's economic regulation and incentive settings and help the business to interpret and understand its regulatory obligations, risks, opportunities, and incentives, whilst supporting and contributing to the development of analysts.

Over the next 12-18 months you will also play a key role in:

• Engaging internally and externally with the Commerce Commission on the Input Methodologies review. A lot of work has already been done, but the Senior Regulatory Economist will lead the implementation of the changes
• Supporting the completion of our fourth regulatory control period proposal and engage with the Commission on its review of our proposal
• Supporting our investment team with its submissions to the Commission for major capital investments
• Assisting with our submissions and engagement with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
• Engaging with our stakeholders to identify and resolve issues with our economic and electricity industry regulation

What you will bring

Significant commercial or regulator experience - ideally in a consultancy, regulated firm, or within an economic regulator.

You will have a relevant degree qualification and outstanding verbal and written communication and influencing skills to be able to clearly and confidently articulate complex subject matter to audiences of all levels.

Your CV and cover letter will demonstrate:

• Knowledge of regulatory thinking, industrial design, contract incentives, or similar
• High-quality modelling, analysis, and data distillation experience, including excel modelling expertise - ideally financial, discounted cash flow, and/or cost benefit modelling
• Commercial and strategic acuity cognisant of detailed rules and policy settings
• The ability to identify options and opportunities at a sector, organisation, and functional level
• Outstanding expectation management ability, including identifying and working with changing priorities, whilst demonstrating ownership of work outputs, such as economic models or regulatory disclosures ideally presented at Board Level

Join us at Transpower

Aotearoa is powered by the people who work here. Every home, every marae, every electric vehicle, every hospital relies on the electricity we manage and deliver. This is your opportunity to join us on a mission that affects all New Zealanders, every day and long into the future. 

You will work with collaborative, smart, humble, and supportive people and enjoy a range of employee health and wellness benefits www.transpower.co.nz/about-us/careers/benefits including on the job learning and career development over time.

With over 28 nationalities at Transpower you will engage with diverse perspectives, and people who are hardworking and technically expert in their respective fields.  You will also get great exposure to senior leaders, and a unique view across the electricity sector in New Zealand!

If this sounds like something you would like to be part of, we would love to hear from you.  Please review the position description available below/via our career's website https://www.transpower.co.nz/about-us/careers and apply without delay

Role closes 28th September 2023. However, resumes will be reviewed as received and we may contact you to discuss your application and experience prior to the closing date. 

Please note: Existing eligibility to work in New Zealand is required