Power chief just wants to get on with job

Ralph Craven

Ralph Craven is remarkably calm for a man at the top of an organisation going through one of the biggest storms in its 12-year history as a state-owned enterprise.

On one flank, Transpower is being attacked by Waikato farmers angry at its plans to build a line of pylons from the central North Island to South Auckland.

The Electricity Commission is in the final stages of deciding whether it will approve the 400kV pylon plan. Any rejection would be a damaging blow to the credibility of Transpower and Craven, who has led the company through its planning.

Most people, if asked a few years back, would have had little idea who the boss of Transpower was.

It has all changed now, with Craven, having been head-hunted from Australia, coming in for personal abuse and death threats from farmers.

And if that wasn't enough, price regulators at the Commerce Commission are preparing to take over the SOE and impose price control, saying it has consistently broken regulations designed to stop the abuse of monopoly power.

Yet Craven is a man who will not be distracted from the task, returning again and again to his key message - that Transpower is a vital part of the economy and work needs to be done urgently.

Before his interview with the Business Herald, Craven says he is keen to avoid the impression given in other interviews and articles - which have "tried to sheet some of this home on a personal level".

He says there are important things going on; things that should not be trivialised in such a way.

And he is a serious man, one who will turn the topic in an interview around to how absolutely crucial a national power grid is to everyone - businesses, homes and people.

"One of the things that has been difficult in terms of the debate that's been going on now for a number of years is about connecting a transmission business with how central that is in a critical infrastructure sense to the well-being of the overall economy.

"That's where Transpower sees itself and why we hold our job and the things we do so highly."

Asked if the sheer scale of the task awaiting him was apparent when he walked into the job, Craven says he thinks that such an awakening is probably not uncommon.

"That's one of those things - regardless of what job you go into - your eyes are always opened at some stage pretty soon after, when you say wow, was this a really good decision or not?

"But you work through those things. I've been in this position before and the challenge is there and skills and experience you bring to the job invariably get you through."

His outsider status as an Australian coming into the top of such a crucial SOE was not much of an impediment.

"I'd like to think I was accepted fairly readily - that was based on the fact of trust that I could do the job and do the job in the way that the environment here required it to be done and not in any other way.

"I think that within six to nine months I had come to probably a pretty healthy understanding of ways, wherefores and the processes that apply here. I'd like to think that I was sensitive to all that."

Craven's job is not one for the faint-hearted. Even without the dual headache of the commission and the farmers, being responsible for the operation of the national power grid is probably not a suitable job for a leader who is not good at handling pressure.

"It's not without its stress, there's no doubt about that, it's constant, it's 24 hours a day - there's a lot riding on what Transpower does, not only in terms of making sure the infrastructure is there in a timely manner, but in terms of our operating role which is a 24/7 activity."

Craven says his background at a range of different companies has prepared him well for the top job at Transpower.

"In previous roles, I've built up companies, I've gone through change processes, I've sold off companies, I've dealt with all those. But this one is a real combination of all of that put together. In parts, some of the most interesting challenges have been since I've been here."

Asked his thoughts of the commission taking over his job, Craven replies he will be unhappy "about any action that might impact on my ability to get on and do what needs to be done".

"As the chief executive of an SOE, I am expected to manage the funding of the company's investments in an efficient and low-cost manner, based on the credit rating ascribed to the quality of our balance sheet.

"Any form of control would impact on that, jeopardising Transpower's ability to deliver much-needed grid enhancements and raising the possibility that equity injections might be necessary from the shareholder."

But it is not all Transpower all the time.

"Family is always a good release - a particular coping mechanism. I draw a lot of strength from my family and ... I also enjoy sport and I like to think I've got a fairly good circle of friends here. I get out and about.

"I play tennis and golf, I swim a lot, so whenever I can I do those things." 


Ralph Craven

Born June 6, 1950.

Matriculated from high school in Queensland in 1967.

Married to Libby and has four daughters.

In 1971, graduated from the University of Queensland with an electrical engineering degree and joined the State Electricity Commission of Queensland. A year later, began PhD in the power systems research group at the University of New South Wales.

Work overseas followed: A year with Asea Brown Boveri in Switzerland and 18 months with Ontario Hydro in Canada.

In 1980, returned to Queensland and joined the Queensland Electricity Commission as a planning engineer. In 1991, became chief electrical engineer of the generation division of QEC.

In 1993, became QEC's representative on the Council of Australian Governments reform process leading to the competitive market reforms for electricity in Australia.

In late 1995, appointed general manager, group energy trading, responsible for security of supply matters and the wholesale electricity market in Queensland.

In 1996, made Ergon Energy's chief executive.

In mid-1997, joined Shell Coal.

After Anglo Coal bought the Australian assets of Shell Coal, moved to become executive director of NRG Asia Pacific.

Appointed a director of Hsin Yu Energy Developments in Taiwan, chairman of NRG Flinders Operating Services, NRG's representative on the Loy Yang A management committee and, in 2002, to the Board of Energy Developments. Left NRG in late 2002, after it decided to downsize its Asia-Pacific investments.

In May 2003, appointed chief executive of Transpower NZ.

In addition to technical qualifications in electrical engineering, has postgraduate qualifications in business and information processing.