KEY POINTS:
Public control of Auckland-based Vector is in the best interest of all the energy distributor's stakeholders, says the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust.
Trust deputy chairman Michael Buczkowski, responding to a bid led by the Auckland City Council to grab the 75 per cent of Vector's shares vested in the trust, said an NZ Institute of Economic Research report had set the debate to rest last year.
"The trust ownership option is the superior option for all," he said.
The report, published in September, analysed all potential objections to the trust, which manages Vector's assets largely for the benefit of 290,000 power users in the old Auckland Electric Power Board's catchment.
These included concerns about the corporate governance of Vector, trust and Vector minority shareholder conflicts of interest and the political nature of the trust.
The report also considered alternative ownership structures including handing over management to professional trustees or to the regional councils and creating a special purpose infrastructure investment body.
The report concluded: "Among the potential criticisms and allegations against current trust arrangements, the only one that is unequivocally valid is that [AEPB power users'] interests are not tradeable and this is inefficient."
Documents released to the Business Herald under the Official Information Act show Auckland, Manukau and Papakura councils, led by Auckland, are set to lobby the Government for a law change to unwind the AECT.
They would divvy the booty among themselves and 290,000 power consumers in their area.
Consumers could each get shares or cash worth $3000-$4000 and the councils would receive the rest of the shareholding, worth between $450 million and $750 million, depending on the payout to consumers.
Each of the three councils would have the choice of keeping their shares or selling them to invest in other infrastructure.
The documents confirm the councils have been trying to wind up the trust and get their hands on its $1.6 billion of Vector assets.
The councils, as the capital beneficiaries of the trust, are not due to receive the assets until 2073.
