Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers Trust votes to retain electricity shares

Hawke's Bay Power Consumers Trust chairwoman Diana Kirton, whose trust on Friday decided to retain its 100 per cent holding of Unison. Photo / NZME

Electricity consumers will continue to get an annual dividend from their collective stake in the industry after a Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers Trust decision not sell the shares it has held on the public’s behalf for three decades.

The decision, ending a five-yearly review of the ownership, came at a Friday afternoon meeting of the trustees, with just over 20 people present - in line with the requirement that the final deliberation had to be held in public.

A review process started in March, including public consultation, calling for submissions, and a hearing last Friday of submitters who wished to speak to their submissions.

The trust considered the three options of retaining the shares (a 100 per cent ownership of Unison), disposing of a proportion, or disposal of all of the shares.

Trust chairwoman Diana Kirton, seated with fellow trustees Barbara Arnott, David Pearson, Kirsten Westwood and Jeff Farnworth, said there were 198 submissions, of which 100 supported the retention, which this year means each residential consumer receiving a dividend of $240.

She said that of the 98 who supported distribution of shares to the consumers, 66 did so via a submission template provided by Free the Funds, a group opposed to the retention model.

She was concerned that the group had provided what she said was “misleading” information in asserting that a market valuation of Unison should have been obtained in the process, and said that would have only been required in the next stage had the decision been to dispose of the shares.

The trust’s area mirrors that of the Napier and Tukituki electorates, being the area covered by the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board, which was abolished in sweeping changes in the electricity supply industry 30 years ago.

Throughout the country the assets were vested in trusts obligated to manage profit from new supply companies, such as Unison Networks, with options around how that was passed on to consumers.

In 1991, the Hawke’s Bay board had purchased the business of the city council-operated Napier Municipal Electricity Department, and other entities in Hawke’s Bay were the Wairoa Electric Power Board, the Central Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board and the Dannevirke Electric Power Board.

The Energy Companies Act 1992 enabled corporatisation of the boards, changing the ownership to shareholdings, with most around New Zealand settling to have them in trusts managing the shares on behalf of consumers.