Peter Meecham/Stuff The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter had hoped as late as last week that lake levels would recover before it had to cut production. The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has agreed to reduce its electricity usage by about 11 megawatts by cutting its production in return for compensation from Meridian, amid fresh warnings over the continuing power market squeeze. The cut comes on top of an earlier 6MW cut and will reduce its energy consumption to 555MW. The smelter is the latest in a line of industrial power users that have curbed production amid what threatens to be a slowly unfolding power crisis triggered by low rainfall, gas production problems, and a long period of relatively low investment in new power generation.