Transpower plans to restart dividends in 2012

Photo / Richard Robinson

National power grid operator Transpower is expecting to restart dividend payments to the Government from the 2012/13 financial year, once the peak in its investment cycle has passed.

The state owned enterprise today said its surplus after tax and before net changes in fair value for the year ended June was $142.4 million, up $6.6m from the year before.

Transmission revenue rose, reflecting the commissioning of new investments in the grid, such as the second Otahuhu substation, as well as the refurbishment and replacement of existing assets, and enhancements to the system operator and telecommunications capabilities.

Transpower chairman Wayne Brown said that given the need to fund an extensive capital works programme, no dividend would be paid to the Government this year.

Dividend payments were expected to recommence from 2012/13, after the peak of the investment cycle has passed, said Brown.

The focus during the past year had been on delivering projects which are part of a $3.8 billion investment programme to secure the national grid.

The three major projects were now being built at a cost of nearly $2b.

Those projects are the North Island Grid Upgrade Project building a new transmission line from Whakamaru to south Auckland, increasing the capacity of the high voltage direct current (HVDC) inter-island link, and a new cable link providing an alternative electricity supply route to north Auckland and Northland.

Brown said that during the past year Transpower also secured approvals for six new projects estimated to cost more than $350m, in addition to the $203m it spent on replacement and refurbishment.

"In addition to new transmission upgrades, we also have a number of technology initiatives under way to make the grid operate more intelligently, and to enable us to get more capacity from existing assets," he said.

"Demand-side initiatives, where businesses can voluntarily reduce their electricity usage at certain times, are an important component of this, and will help us defer investment in new assets as well as providing headroom to meet demand during construction of grid upgrades."

Transpower was focused on building its workforce capability to ensure it had enough skilled and qualified engineers to build its planned projects, Brown said.

That included increasing its graduate development programme, with the recruitment of 18 graduates this year, taking the total number of graduate engineers employed to 39.

- NZPA