NZ First questions high salaries at Transpower

Winston Peters

The Government should ask state-owned power grid operator Transpower to explain the excessively high salaries of its staff, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said today.

Of Transpower's 390 employees, 141 earn more than $100,000 a year, 14 earn over $250,000, and chief executive Ralph Craven's salary was about $520,000 in 2003-2004 -- the last year for which figures are publicly available, The Press reported today.

The number of staff earning more than $100,000 leapt more than a quarter between 2002-2003 and 2003-2004.

Mr Peters said today such figures were an outrage when power prices had risen by up to 50 per cent in some areas over the past five years.

"The Government ministers responsible need to call them in and ask what the hell is going on," he told NZPA.

He said the elderly had been particularly hard hit by power price increases, of which line charges were a component.

"They are on fixed incomes and they cannot do anything about it. They are shut up in their homes, sheltering under blankets to save power."

At the same time Transpower was returning a smaller dividend to the Government because of its excessive payroll, Mr Peters said.

Mr Peters said NZ First's energy policy included a pledge to review Transpower's performance and accountability.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Michael Cullen, one of two shareholding ministers, said he would expect Transpower to pay market rates for staff.

He would only be concerned if the company was paying over and above that.

Transpower spokesman Wayne Eagleson told The Press the salaries reflected market rates.

The market for engineers and technically qualified people was tight and Transpower had to attract people to both manage its day to day business and implement a programme of major grid investment, he said.

In comparison, state-owned power generator and retail company Meridian Energy had 94 staff earning more than $100,000 a year, while listed generator and retailer Contact Energy had 60, the newspaper reported.

- NZPA