Power to the council

NEW PLYMOUTH - The central North Island power industry has had a shakeup with a $100 million merger of Taranaki's Powerco and Manawatu's Centralpower.

The deal, long discussed, will boost the New Plymouth District Council's investment income by about 40 per cent a year.

The new company will be worth more than $500 million and have more than 175,000 electricity and gas customers.

It will be the country's fourth- largest network company, and one of the top 40 companies in New Zealand, with revenues of $115 million to $120 million a year.

The council's investment in the expanded Powerco will earn it an extra annual tax-paid income of about $4 million from April 1 next year.

That will swell the council's investment coffers from about $10.1 million to about $14.1 million a year - an increase of almost 40 per cent.

The deal will also see the council holding 47 per cent of the shares in the energy network company, which will stretch from Cape Egmont in the west, to Cape Turnagain in the east to Cape Palliser in the south.

- NZPA