Support for Trust to own power company at 99.5%

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 650, 20 August 1996, Page 1

Support for Trust to own power company at 99.5%

Public submissions on the future of King Coun try Energy overwhelmingly support the own ership of the company being retained by the King Country Electric Power Trust. Chairman of the Trust, Ian Strachan, said last week that they had received 178 public submissions before they closed on 29 July. "Of those submissions 177 were in favour of retained Trust ownership and only one was opposed," Mr Strachan said. The submissions were made as part of the Trust' s ownership review which it is conducting this year in accordance with the terms of the Trust Deed. Mr Strachan said the trust was very pleased with the public response shown by the quantity of submissions received. "The fact that 178 people have gone to the trouble of making their views known indicates a high level of interest in the company' s future ownership by the Community." . Mr Strachan said that a number of the submissions "expressed very strong views" about the need to retain community ownership of the company through the elected trust rather than the other alternatives available. The Trust completed its own Ownership Review Report, which favours retained Trust ownership of King Country Energy as being in the best interests of the community at this time. Mr Strachan said the ownership review was a comprehensive and thorough analysis which had been undertaken to determine which ownership structure of the company was best for the community. Mr Strachan also said the Trustees were confident that their report accurately reflected community views, "but even we were surprised by the strength and unanimity of them." Mr Strachan said that when the community consultation process has been completed a public meeting would be called at which the Trustees would make their final decision on the ownership of the company. A new review will be undertaken in five years' time.