Opposition's single-buyer model misses target, Business NZ-sponsored probe finds.

Editorial: The real reason for the asset sales, all along, has been to put all four of the big electricity generating companies on the same competitive footing.

NZ shares were mixed yesterday as investors cast forward to next month's earnings season, and as regional markets mulled this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Feel you're paying too much for electricity? Not according to a new report, which says consumers never actually paid the full cost of building NZ's power stations.

Shares in lightbulb maker Energy Mad surged after it announced it had begun selling its energy-efficient products online in the United States through internet retail giant Amazon.

A ''rapid response'' team of up to 260 people has been set up to take to the water to hinder Anadarko's deep-sea drilling operations.

Global demand for solar panels is expected to hit a three-year high this year and a local company says falling prices are set to spark "explosive growth in solar energy"".

Greenpeace has opened its case against the Environmental Protection Agency and Texan oil giant Anadarko in the High Court at Wellington.

Indigestion triggered by the size of the Govt's power company floats and investors wanting to take profits are being blamed for a fall in NZ's benchmark index.

Meridian Energy's instalment receipts traded at another post-float low today after a number of factors - including regulatory risk - combined to work against the stock.

Government efforts to entice major global oil and gas producers to New Zealand has borne fruit, with Norway's state-owned Statoil and Australian heavyweight Woodside Petroleum winning exploration licences in the latest permit awards.

The Govt has revised the estimate of how much it expects to receive from its partial asset sales down to between $4.6 to $5b.

The Environmental Protection Agency is confident of defending their decision to allow off-shore oil drilling in the Taranaki basin, Prime Minister John Key said today.

The offshore protest against Anadarko's deep sea oil exploration will come to an end today as Greenpeace takes the battle to court.

Deep sea exploration oil drilling off the Waikato coast by Texas-based oil company Anadarko began early today.

Veteran New Zealand oilman Rob Jager says he can understand concern over deep water drilling off New Zealand's coast.

The decade-long surge in big wind farm building in New Zealand is nearing an end with no new projects in the pipeline as the sector booms around the world.

Voting begins today in a citizens-initiated referendum on whether the Government should sell part of its stake in power companies and Air New Zealand.

Meridian Energy's instalment receipts fell below their issue price - in early afternoon trading today.

Bill English has thrown the Opposition a curve-ball as they ready themselves for their unofficial three-week campaign to maximise the "no" vote in the referendum on partial asset sales.

Inland Revenue has lost a High Court fight with NZX-listed Trustpower over whether $17 million the electricity company spent on resource consents was tax deductible.