The Hawke's Bay Power Consumers' Trust ownership model is up for discussion. Photo / Warren Buckland
The Hawke's Bay Power Consumers' Trust ownership model is up for discussion. Photo / Warren Buckland
A simple financial question for Hawke’s Bay: Would you rather get $240 every year, or would you rather get $12,000 this year, a one-time-only offer?
It’s the question the Free The Funds group is asking as a review looms for the structure of ownership of the Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’Trust.
The trust holds the shares in lines company Unison Networks Limited, on behalf of all consumers connected to the network.
There are approximately 61,000 Hawke’s Bay households connected to the Unison network, whose reward is currently the annual dividend. Last year it was $240.
But Free The Funds, a group of interested power consumers, isn’t sure that’s adequate.
They point to the trust deed, which entitles the beneficiaries of the trust - who are the 61,000 - to dispose of all shares, should they wish.
In that event, Free The Funds calculate each consumer’s current share in Unison if it were a publicly listed company would be worth in the vicinity of $12,000.
“There is no downside to it that I can see,” Free The Funds member Brian Anderson said.
Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust holds its annual public meeting in Hastings on July 26.
Trust chairwoman Diana Kirton said public discussions about ownership options ahead of the meeting would muddy the waters.
But she did provide a timeline of how things will unfold between now and November 17.
Hawke's Bay Power Consumers Trust chair Diana Kirton.
The trust requested a review into ownership options from Unison’s directors in March. That will be presented to the trust by the directors in September.
The report will then become available to the public, who will have the opportunity to make submissions.
Anderson says that sounds good in theory, but doubts many of the 61,000 people with skin in the game quite understand the rules or the extent of their options.
“People are obviously aware of the dividend they get, they’re happy to receive that and they think that’s it. What those people don’t realise is they paid for the dividend in the first place,” said Anderson.
A statement on the lobby’s website claims now is the right time.
“All Hawke’s Bay consumers have been impacted by the cyclone and many are in desperate need of financial support ... this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for significant funds to be injected into the Hawke’s Bay economy.”
The Free The Funds model would mean the end of the trust, with consumers owning the shares themselves.
Anderson says those shares would then be listed on the stock exchange, with consumers having the right to sell or retain them as they please.
He says Free The Funds is not trying to make people’s minds up for them or demanding the trust be dismantled.
The intention is simply to arm consumers with more information about what they are potentially entitled to.
The trust was one of 29 formed nationally, in a restructure of the electricity industry in 1993. Some were eventually sold, such as those in Taupō and Rotorua, which were bought by Unison.
Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.
