Power boss exits with $350k

Ralph Craven. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Former Transpower boss Ralph Craven exited the job with a $350,000 golden handshake - despite questions over his performance and assurances such payments would cease under Labour.

The State-owned-enterprise yesterday defended the deal amid criticism from National that taxpayers had again been left out of pocket.

The details of Craven's exit package are disclosed in a Listener article this week which examines the "parlous state of New Zealand's electricity supply" and the resulting fallout from problems associated with the Cook Strait cable.

Documents obtained by the Listener under the Official Information Act show Craven was paid out $202,000 for the final three months of his five-year contract, which he never worked.

On top of that, the former chief executive received a $150,000 annual performance bonus, despite lingering questions over Transpower's handling of the Cook Strait cable crisis.

Transpower owns and operates New Zealand's high-voltage electricity transmission grid, providing bulk electricity to towns, cities and industries.

Last October, Craven made the bombshell announcement that half the Cook Strait cable was to be shut down because of old age, but gave assurances there was more than enough capability in the other cable to keep the market going without causing power price rises.

Since then, a combination of factors such as low hydro-electric lake levels and the closure of Contact Energy's Stratford power station for maintenance has seen an increase in wholesale electricity prices - with predictions of up to 10 per cent increases in the next few months.

National's state services spokesman Gerry Brownlee said most people would struggle with the idea of Craven receiving a golden handshake.

The payment also made an absolute joke of claims by Prime Minister Helen Clark that there would be no more gratuitous payments for state sector employees under a Labour Government, Brownlee said.

Clark could not be reached for comment last night, but in 2000 she said Labour was going to "abandon the culture of golden handshakes, negotiated in secrecy and paying people for doing nothing".

Energy Minister David Parker also declined to comment last night.

Transpower chairman Wayne Brown said while he expected he would cop flak over Craven's payment, he said he had nothing to do with the decision.

It had been in the hands of previous chairman David Gascoigne, whom Brown replaced in November.