Complaint sparks power sales audit

By ELLEN READ

An independent audit of electricity sales in King Country is under way after complaints by one power company that it is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket thanks to incorrect reporting by its peers.

King Country Energy is owed $300,000 by other power companies in its region - and one is not willing to pay up, says general manager Kit Wilson.

All power companies are supposed to tell electricity market operator M-co how many units they sell. If units are unaccounted for, a region's incumbent power company is billed for the leftover. It must then ask other suppliers to pay their share of the shortfall.

Although many had agreed to settle the debt caused by the under-reporting, New Zealand's largest energy retailer, Genesis Energy, had refused to take any action, Wilson said.

The debt - caused by the other companies under-reporting how much power they have used - represents 20 per cent of the company's March-year profit.

Wilson said Genesis had admitted there was a problem but had chosen not to rectify it.

Genesis' general manager retail, Vince Hawksworth, said the company had only 115 customers of the approximately 25,000 customer base in King Country and did not believe its share of the $300,000 unreported electricity was substantial.

He acknowledged historical errors and said the company had been working to solve the problem over the past 18 months.