The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and financial instruments (ebitdaf) came to $525 million in the June year.
A Bloomberg consensus of market forecasts had ebitdaf at $558 million for 2016.
"The market was looking for a pick-up from $525 million to $558 million, which is growth of 6.2 per cent, which almost ties up with the quantum of what the share price has done," Lister said.
Contact's share price has lagged over the last 12 months, dropping by about 11 per cent, while those of its peers - Meridian, Mighty River Power, Genesis and Trustpower - have all gained.
In its monthly report, Contact still expected an increase in operating cash flow for the 2016 financial year.
The company is scheduled to hold its annual meeting in Wellington tomorrow, where its longest-standing director, acting chairman Phil Pryke, will step down.
Contact's former cornerstone investor, Australia's Origin Energy, sold out in August.
In its operational report, Contact said its commercial and industrial sales volumes for November were lower than the prior year, at 315 gigawatt hours (GWh) compared with 380GWh in November 2014.
Wholesale contract sales volume was not enough to fully offset the shortfall, the company said.
Tariffs were lower than expected for mass market customers as competition remains strong, though sales volumes were in line with 2014, falling 4 per cent to 283GWh.
"The lower tariffs were expected to be offset by cost reductions," Contact said. "While progress has been made, costs primarily related to bad debt and those associated with the separation from Origin Energy are higher than expected."
Contact showed a loss of 1000 electricity customers between October and November, to 422,000, which was 11,500 lower than a year ago. Gas customers were unchanged from the same month a year ago at 61,000.
November performance was affected by low hydro inflows and an extended outage at Te Mihi geothermal power station in Taupo, the company said.
Te Mihi is Contact's newest geothermal power station, which was integrated into Contact's operations in May 2014 and generated 1159GWh of electricity for the 2015 financial year - nearly 30 per cent of Contact's total hours generated that year.
Former cornerstone shareholder Origin sold its 53 per cent stake in August as the ASX-listed company came under pressure to strengthen its balance sheet due to cost over-runs and slumping gas prices affecting its A$25 billion ($27.3 billion) liquefied natural gas project in Queensland.
Later that month, Contact reported a 29 per cent drop in underlying earnings in what chief executive Dennis Barnes described as a "disappointing" financial performance.
Power down
• Commercial and industrial sales volumes for November lower than prior year.
• Wholesale contract sales volume not enough to fully offset the shortfall.
• Tariffs lower than expected for mass market customers amid strong competition.
• Costs related to bad debt and the separation from Origin Energy higher than expected.
• Loss of 1000 electricity customers between October and November, to 422,000.
- Additional reporting BusinessDesk
