Local involvement in power important

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 433, 21 April 1992, Page 7

Local involvement in power important

The fact that six of the 10 lowest domestic electricity tariffs in the country are charged by power boards with a rural focus highlights the value of local involvement, the Parliamentary Select Committee hearing submissions on the Energy Sector Reform Bill has been told. King Country Energy, the power board with the country's lowest average domestic tariff of $58 per month, submitted that the efficiencies achieved by its operations were a direct result of the consistent personal interest by board members over many years. The trust ownership concept put forward as part of the Bill provides a mechanism, by which such excellent performance can be continued, chairperson Ken Street and general manager Peter Till told the Select Committee. King Country Energy's directors have some misgivings about

the poll the Minister of Energy can order for local areas, but agree that local people will be strongly in favour of a watch-dog over the local industry, a role able to be filled by the proposed trusts. They called for a rational approach in limiting the number of trustees, saying that in some cases boards had grown to have 12 members as a result of past mergers, and submitting there was no advantage in having a board of trustees as large. King Country Energy wants to see half of the trustees retire at each election to ensure continuity and stability in an industry which has an effect on everyone. "Surveys done over recent years to establish what the public requires from our industry have all noted that stability, particularly in the price of the product, is of paramount importance," the board submitted. Trustees could be

elected for a period of six years, because the trust will be only called upon to meet three or four times a year. The major trust decisions of approving the statement of corporate intent and disbursement of profits are annual decisions, the board noted. King Country Energy believes the required reporting clauses of the proposed Bill go too far. While it accepts there needs to be full disclosure of income, expenditure and assets of a line owning company to allow development of a contestable market, there should not be the same need for other operations, such as generation and energy saies. Meanwhile the board thinks the continued requirement of auditing of its affairs by the Audit Office should be dropped. This year the Audit Office has contracted the job out to a private accountancy firm and plans to take a fee

for providing quality control. King Country Energy believes that because the procedures adopted by the Society of Accountants satisfies all major companies in New Zealand, the same should apply for the proposed power companies.