Watch NZH Local Focus: KCEPT beneficiaries disappointed at return

Sandra Greenslade thought a decision by board members of King Country Electric Power Trust not to do an ownership deal with Trust Power was a victory for the average shareholder.

But the next day she noticed a social media post by King Country Energy - which is partly owned by KECPT.

The announcement read: "Great news for all Southern region KCE customers: A total of $500,000 will be distributed between you all this month. This credit on your account comes from our local consumer trust called The King Country Electric Power Trust (KCEPT) - a shareholder in KCE. Thank you KCEPT!"

But this did not impress Mrs Greensalde who says on average the 12 thousand beneficiaries would only get about $40.

Chairman of KCEPT Robert Carter says in total one million dollars is to be distributed across the Southern King Country to the lines company and King Country Energy consumers.

That's 300 thousand dollars less than the return the previous year - it works out as a return of around 1.25 percent.

Mrs Greenslade says "they're not giving us enough money it's not actually good enough, I'm saying their business decisions at this point have not been good enough."

What really riles Mrs Greenslade is the fact that none of this had been mentioned the previous day at the public meeting for shareholders.

"It sort of feels like a hollow victory doesn't it, because you think one moment they listen to us and stood up yes we listened to you, but within less than 24 hours the facts were quite different," Mrs Greenslade says.

But Chairman Robert Carter says the return to shareholders announcement was simply not on the meeting's agenda and there was no connection between the meeting and the timing of KCE's announcement later the same day.

"I did not think about it, I had a lot of other things to think about relating to the ownership review. I was concentrating on the task in front of me."

King Country Energy's Community Relations Manager, Helen Peacock, says the meeting and their Facebook post are unrelated.

The post was made to coincide with bills that were being sent out and was "absolutely a total coincidence because the trust didn't even know that we were putting it on our Facebook page."

"So we just made an announcement on our Facebook page, saying hey, thanks KCEPT, you've just distributed five-hundred-thousand to our customers and it's going to be on their power accounts in April, so that (post) was our publicity, our KCE publicity that goes out at the start of the month."

But Mrs Greenslade is not convinced.

"I don't think coincidence exists in business, people are paid a lot of money to make sure business are managed properly and to make sure announcements are made at the right time." Mrs Greenslade says.

Sandra Greenslade is vowing to continue her campaign to ensure the Trust remains focused on the needs of it beneficiaries.

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