Entrust beneficiaries urged to check details to qualify for hundreds of dollars

Entrust wants payout recipients to check details are correct. Photo / NZME

Hundreds of thousands of Auckland power consumers in line for hundreds of dollars in dividends later this year are being urged to check their details so they can get paid.

Entrust will in September pay a dividend to eligible consumers. Last year they got $303
but that included a special payment of $20.

In 2019 they got $375 in total. The final payment is determined by how much lines company Vector pays as a dividend from its profits and how many consumers are in the Entrust area - the old Auckland Electric Power Board boundaries.

The exact amount will be set later in the year when Vector's full-year dividend is determined but the company was earlier this year tracking closely to last year. Its interim dividend of 8.25c set in February this year was the same as in 2021.

Last year, 346,000 households and businesses received $283 plus an extra $20 from Vector, injecting over $97 million into the Auckland economy.

Entrust payment preference forms are being sent out this week to those in its district - central, east, and south Auckland.

"Not many of us really enjoy filling out forms, but you will be well rewarded for the few minutes it takes to check your payment details are correct on this form. For most people, it will be as simple as making sure their details haven't changed from last year," said Entrust chairman William Carins.

Those receiving the forms get to choose whether they want the dividend payment credited to their bank account or used as a credit on their power account.

For those who are not sure if they are eligible for this payment, there is a map and list of eligibility criteria along with answers to commonly asked questions at www.entrustnz.co.nz.

Whether the form arrives by email or in the post, Entrust will need to receive any updated payment details by no later than Friday August 5.

The Entrust dividend is New Zealand's largest dividend payout, with over $2 billion paid out to Aucklanders since 1994.

Cairns said it had been ''heart-warming'' to read the messages of thanks from those who have previously received the cash payment into their bank account or as a credit on their power account.

''They tell us how the payments have made their lives just a little bit easier – helping cover the costs of basics such as petrol, school uniforms and groceries, or even a treat like taking the family out to dinner and the movies."

The payout goes to the person who is the account holder and whose name is on the power bill. In multi-tenant flats, the dividend will be sent to whichever name or names are on the power bill. Flatmates will have to decide how to split the payout.

Entrust (formerly called the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust), is a trust that owns the 75.1 per cent of Vector on behalf of its beneficiaries.

Entrust was established in 1993 to take care of the assets in the old Auckland Electric Power Board as part of the power reforms of the 1990s.

At that time, all power boards had to make changes to the way they were set up. In the Auckland Electric Power board area it was decided to set up a consumer trust, to hold the assets of the power board on behalf of consumers. This has resulted in consumers in the Entrust District receiving a dividend every year from Entrust.