KEY POINTS:
Contact Energy directors enjoyed an expensive dinner at one of Auckland's headline restaurants the night before facing the wrath of shareholders over plans to boost their pay packets.
As their customers fume over increased power charges, the six Contact directors and about nine senior managers spent an estimated $2000-plus at Soul restaurant on Wednesday night.
At the following day's annual meeting, small shareholders expressed disgust at the increase in the pool for directors' fees from $770,000 to $1.5 million, when the company's power prices increased 10 per cent. The public backlash, which included accusations of greed from Prime Minister Helen Clark, prompted the directors to drop the plan.
Contact's corporate affairs general manager Bruce Parkes refused to say yesterday how much the dinner cost, or confirm a tip-off to the Herald on Sunday that the group enjoyed Veuve Cliquot champagne with their meals.
The award-winning restaurant in Auckland's Viaduct prides itself on using only the finest, fresh, local ingredients. It stocks seven kinds of champagne, including Veuve at $150 a bottle.
Parkes said the meal was appropriate, given the board and staff were out of town - Contact is based in Wellington - and had just had an annual strategy day.
"Our job is to deliver value to shareholders, which we have an outstanding record of doing," said Parkes.
"There's been a 13 per cent return since listing - we are one of the performing companies in New Zealand."
Director Karen Moses, one of those at the dinner, said she had not seen the final bill. She would not comment on reports the group drank Veuve. "I wouldn't regard it as lavish. It's important for management and the board to have time together to discuss the way ahead. We'd had a long day, we were in town together, you would expect us to get together for dinner."
Revelations of the night out come as Contact Energy conceded it had lost customers to other providers, following price hikes and this week's highly criticised decision to almost double the pool for directorship fees.
However, the company was not worried and would rely on its "high level of service" to retain market share, spokeswoman Louise Griffin said yesterday.
She said the total numbers of customers switching to other companies since the announcement "wouldn't be apparent straight away." However, she confirmed the power giant had seen "limited impact" in terms of reduced custom. "It's no more than expected, considering the price changes."
Contact supplies electricity to 652,000 customers around the country.
