Power report shows some could do better

By CHRIS DANIELS

Latest rankings of New Zealand's monopoly power lines businesses have revealed big differences in profits, revenues and returns.

Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers last week published its annual compendium of lines companies information disclosures, the first since Auckland company Vector bought the assets of UnitedNetworks.

Vector kept the United network in Auckland and Wellington, and sold its assets in the Thames/Coromandel area and central North Island to Powerco and in Rotorua and Taupo to Hawke's Bay Network, now called Unison Networks.

Vector's prices were lower than Powerco's, but both companies' charges were below the industry average.

Profitability measures show that the largest lines company, Vector, is down towards the lower levels, with a net profit after tax of 0.4c a kWh.

Powerco had a profit of 1.5c. The best performing was Westpower, which operates on the South Island's West Coast. It earned 2.6c per kWh.

Marlborough Lines, which has just under 36,000 customers and is owned by a trust, earned an 18.3 per cent return, the highest in New Zealand. The worst performer was Network Waitaki, which earned a 0.4 per cent return.

The chief executive of the Electricity Networks Association, Alan Jenkins, said many smaller, trust-owned lines companies would not be economic in any other ownership structure.