Brickbats for power service

By CHRIS DANIELS energy writer

State-owned power companies have been cleared of profiteering charges by a parliamentary committee, but have been rapped over the knuckles for their customer service.

The Commerce Committee, chaired by MP David Cunliffe, made a detailed review of the 2001 performance of the three state owned enterprise power companies, Genesis, Meridian and Mighty River Power.

Alongside financial measurements, the committee also looked at levels of service and a perceived lack of retail competition.

The committee found that in financial terms the performance of Genesis exceeded its statement of corporate intent guidelines, when it earned a net profit of $59.9 million.

Meridian had "performed strongly" with a net profit of $125.1 million. Mighty River's results "compare more favourably on most measures" with the other state owned enterprise generators "despite its poor hydrology". This refers to last year's very dry winter, which meant Mighty River's generation was cut 16 per cent compared with 2000.

In the six months to last December, it earned $14 million, compared with $30.4 million earned in the same period the year before.

The report criticised Meridian for the way it treated some of its biggest customers earlier this year, when it told them it no longer wanted to supply them with electricity at a fixed rate.

Varying ways of measuring and reporting customer satisfaction were also of concern to the committee.

The attitude of the three state owned enterprises to the development of an electricity industry self-governance structure also drew criticism from the committee.

"We are not satisfied with the information provided to the committee in relation to industry self-governance costs by the state-owned generators.

"We are concerned that they have not kept detailed records of costs incurred to date and with the apparent lack of any precise costing for future commitments."