Meridian Energy launches review of core operations

State-owned enterprise Meridian Energy is carrying out a strategic review of its core operations, as the Government looks for profit and productivity improvements from the SOEs.

Meridian communications director Alan Seay said the strategic review was similar to others done at the company previously, and had no pre-determined outcome.

The exercise would take more than a year, said Seay.

The Government's opinions on SOE performance were spelled out by State-owned Enterprises Minister Simon Power and Finance Minister Bill English when they called the chairs of the organisations to the Beehive in April.

Power said that he and English had emphasised that better performance must not be at the expense of consumers.

"We made it clear we expect SOEs to use levers other than blunt instruments like prices and jobs to achieve performance," he said.

"We expect them to be profitable and return appropriate dividends to the taxpayer -- but without ratcheting up prices."

- NZPA