Privatisation warning after Vector vote

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Many Aucklanders misunderstood the risk of Vector being privatised, says a newly elected member of the trust that owns the $3.1 billion power lines company.

Shale Chambers said this was shown in Friday's election results for the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust, where the centre-left ticket Powerlynk failed to wrestle control from the centre-right Citizens & Ratepayers Now ticket.

Mr Chambers was elected for a first term on the Powerlynk ticket but said he would be a lone voice for continued total community ownership of the trust on behalf of its 258,000 consumers.

Four members of C & R Now were elected to the five-person trust, including a new trustee - former National MP Warren Kyd.

Powerlynk trustees Coralie van Camp and Pauline Winter lost their seats.

Mr Chambers said he reckoned more than half the voters had supported total trust ownership. But 43 per cent voter support for C & R Now showed the public had not entirely understood the ambiguous stance of the Citizens & Ratepayers on the question of privatisation. He said that ticket had campaigned on keeping Vector in public hands. But that was not to be relied upon in view of some C & R Now members indicating they would float up to 24.9 per cent of the shares in the company if necessary.

Mr Chambers, a lawyer and company director, said he would strive to ensure C & R trustees kept the status quo and the trust had a strong influence over the Vector company.

Trust chairman Karen Sherry said C & R had always said it would keep control in public hands.

But if it were in the beneficiaries' interests to secure electricity supply and dividends, the board would look at any transaction that came along.

The board would look carefully at the suggestion of trustee Michael Buczkowski to consider borrowing or floating up to 24.9 per cent to build a power station that would generate up to 10kW, or 10 per cent of Auckland's power. Ms Sherry said such a float would maintain public control.

But defeated trustee Coralie van Camp said yesterday any float of Vector shares would be more about raising capital to artificially prop up the dividend stream than building a cost-effective power station.

The trust distributes more than 85 per cent of the company's annual profits as dividends.

Returning officer Dale Ofsoske said 21 per cent of voters took part in the postal vote, about the same as the last election three years ago.

Of the 17 trust candidates, the following were successful: John Collinge (26,049 votes), Michael Buczkowski (24,567), Karen Sherry (22,830), Warren Kyd (21,962) and Shale Chambers (20,822).