Top Energy wins two more industry awards

Top Energy has won a number of awards over recent years, and last week it added two more to its collection in the form of the Electricity Engineers' Association (EEA) 2012 awards for engineering excellence and employee safety. It was also a finalist in a third category.

Top Energy shared the engineering excellence award with Transpower for the work the two companies have done to improve the reliability and security of the region's electricity supply by putting aside traditional asset ownership boundaries.

Top Energy is taking ownership of most of Transpower's assets in the Far North, a move that it says will result in savings and efficiencies worth $10 million and will help keep power bills down in the long-term.

The assets include Transpower's substations at Kaitaia and Kaikohe, and 90 kilometres of 110kV line that connect them. It will be Top Energy's largest network asset acquisition yet, and will see the lines network operator upgrade the existing 110kV transmission line and substations at Kaikohe and Kaitaia to deliver a reliable and secure supply of electricity.

"This is a substantial project and the logistics involved are significant," Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said.

"It was the engineering aspect of the whole thing, coupled with the spirit of co-operation between Top Energy and Transpower, which won us the award. It's a regional project of national significance, and we're delighted with the recognition it's gained.

The employee safety award was won jointly with the NZ Amalgamated Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union (EPMU), Northpower, Transpower and electrical industry contractor Electrix, for the drug and alcohol awareness DVD 'Only You Have the Power to Change,' designed to highlight the damage caused by drugs and alcohol both at home and at work, featuring staff from across the businesses, including Top Energy linesmen from Kaitaia and Puketona.

"The fact that we used real staff members to get the message across helped make this a hard-hitting and impactful piece of communication," Mr Shawsaid.

"Hats off to our guys who so bravely agreed to be the face of the message. They copped a lot of jokes from their colleagues, but in the end the points they were making hit home. That's what counts, and that's what we got the award for."

The company was also a finalist in the public safety category of the awards, which were presented by the Minister of Energy, Hon Phil Heatley MP, at the Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland.

Last year Top Energy won the employee safety award, and in 2010 it won the public safety category.