Twelve jobs go in Northpower cuts

Northpower said the redundancies and difficult trading market across the Tasman would not have an impact on its Northland customers. Photo / John Stone

Northpower has axed jobs throughout its entire operation as the Northland lines company reviews its costs including ways to reverse millions the business is losing in Australia.

Twelve of the 35 staff made redundant in New Zealand and Australia were based in Northland and included eight linesmen, three mechanics in Whangarei and one in Dargaville over the past six months.

West Coast Energy, Northpower's business which operates in Melbourne and Perth, made an unaudited loss of A$4 million ($4.25 million) in the 2014/15 financial year compared with a profit of A$451,000 the previous year.

Northpower said the redundancies and difficult trading market across the Tasman would not have an impact on its Northland customers because the company, as a group, was performing well and earning well over $300 million a year.

Spokesman Steve MacMillan said sometimes restructuring was needed to plan ahead.

"The nature of a contracting business is that you have to fully utilise the number of field staff you have because the cost of carrying un-utilised staff is high and impacts on business profitability."

He said the changes were relatively minor considering Northpower employed 1350 staff overall in Northland, Auckland, Melbourne and Perth.

Cost-cutting measures started six months ago to ensure Northpower was appropriately-resourced to cope with current and future workload.

Mr MacMillan said in terms of redundancies, Northpower had laid off eight linesmen and office staff based in the Whangarei office and some could be re-deployed within the company.

Three mechanics were affected by the company's garage closure in Whangarei and one in Dargaville at the end of March.

Nine linesmen were laid off in Melbourne in March while other redundancies occurred in Auckland and Wellington.

The Australian market, he said, had been tough to work because of an economic downturn and network companies withholding forecast work.

Mr MacMillan said the dynamics in the contracting market in Melbourne had changed markedly in the past 12 months. "A number of major players have suffered and or exited the market which is why we are continuing to review the Victorian operation of our Australian business," "