By NAOMI LARKIN
The former chief executive of Contact Energy, Paul Anthony, was paid $6.5 million for two years' work, the company's annual report shows.
This included a $2.9 million salary package in the year to September - more than six times the pay of a chief executive of a comparable New Zealand business.
The $2.9 million followed a $3.6 million total pay package which Mr Anthony received for the same period for the previous year.
Keith Turner, the chief executive of a comparable energy company, state-owned Meridian Energy, was paid between $420,000 and $429,000 in the June 2000 year.
Contact is a privatised company.
Murray Jackson, chief executive of state-owned Genesis Power, received between $330,000 and $340,000 this year.
Contact's chairman, Phil Pryke, said yesterday that the level and type of remuneration for the chief executive was determined by the board.
"Among the most important considerations are ensuring that the structure provides a strong performance element, ensuring that the level is sufficient to attract and retain a high-calibre chief executive."
Despite the package, Contact was unable to retain Mr Anthony, who left to take up a more attractive offer. Mr Anthony left in September to work for British Gas International.
But the head of human resources consultancy Cubiks New Zealand, Kevin McBride, said Mr Anthony's payout was "way out of step" with what was being paid in similar-sized operations.
Green Party co-leader and long-time energy campaigner Jeanette Fitzsimons said electricity consumers were having to foot the bill for Mr Anthony's pay packet.
"It's quite ridiculous to put all those resources into chief executives rather than into a better service for consumers."
Mr Anthony's $2.9 million in the year to September included salary and bonus payments of $1.64 million and $375,000 for satisfactory completion of performance targets, despite Contact's profit of $97 million being 37 per cent lower than the previous year.
In comparison, the total pay packet of the chief executive of brewery giant Lion Nathan, Gordon Cairns, reached $2.2 million last year.
The latest available annual company reports show Fletcher Challenge chief Michael Andrews on $1.38 million, Warren Larsen of the Dairy Board on between $900,000 and $910,000 and Telecom head Theresa Gattung on $805,000.
In the public sector, New Zealand Post's Elmar Toime was on $620,000 and Don Brash, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, received $496,500.
The annual Boards of Directors 2000 study by Sydney-based managing consultants Korn/Ferry shows that the average remuneration for Australian chief executives was the equivalent of $NZ711,847, compared with $655,620 for their NZ peers.
The study recorded a mean of $175,000 in New Zealand for chief executives of companies with average turnovers of up to $35 million, rising to $1.325 million for those with turnovers of $1 billion.
Contact chief's pay 'way over top'
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