Every three years – conveniently
around the same time a $350 cheque arrives in your mailbox – the Entrust election takes place. A private trust designed to manage the region’s electricity assets controlled by Vector (a 75.1% shareholding), Entrust was formed in 1993 out of the corporatisation of our electricity network.
Nominally, the Entrust board manages its shareholding in Vector, and distributes dividends received from its shareholding to investors. If your name is on your power bill, from October 10-21, you’re officially entitled to vote in the election for the board of Entrust.
Given turnout at the last election in 2021 was a measly 9.5%, it’s apparent that voter awareness of both Entrust and its activities is low. Advertising billboards may be the only realisation some voters have that an election is occurring. Indeed, the voting papers have the appearance of a regular power bill, making it easy to simply throw away (especially if you’ve already received your dividend payment).
Nonetheless, who governs our electricity, and in whose interest, is of great importance this year.
With widespread manufacturing closures and job losses around the country driven by high energy costs, energy policy has never been more relevant. In the UK, the new Labour Government’s promotion of Great British Energy, a state-owned company designed to funnel private investment into widespread renewable energy generation, demonstrates the seriousness with which politicians and policy thinkers are taking this issue, especially with the demands placed on us in the drive to net zero emissions and decarbonisation.
David Hall of Rewiring Aotearoa has pointed out that Auckland’s slowness in the energy transition can be demonstrated through its uptake (or lack of) rooftop solar. Only Southland and the West Coast have seen lower levels.
Melbourne, a city of similar latitude, has seen some of its suburbs approach over 40% of rooftop solar adoption, compared with less than 2% for Auckland. It’s time our institutions showed initiative in ensuring our largest city helps further this transition and enables our communities to embrace renewable-powered lifestyles.
In addition to environmental concerns, the recent cost of living crisis also reinforces the need to ensure that energy generation is as abundant and renewable as possible, to ensure that working people don’t bear the brunt of scarcity and artificially high prices.
Entrust’s promotion of its dividend, a temporary sugar hit, masks the real issues at hand.
How much lower could power prices be if the dividend was reinvested in a cleaner network, ensuring greater reliability and affordability for those who always bear the brunt of rising prices?
What would a more equitable undergrounding rollout look like, where Mt Roskill and South Auckland are given the same attention and investment as Remuera and St Heliers?
These issues are being addressed by the progressive More for You, Better for Auckland ticket, challenging 30 years of Communities & Residents dominance of the board, but meaningful change will only occur with a strong public dialogue about the importance of our energy assets, who they are governed in the interests of, and how they might be reformed to encourage a greener, lower-cost future for all Aucklanders.
Why not embrace the possibilities of solar and battery farming? Utilising Vector’s ability to build at scale, alongside meaningful community involvement, we can ensure that these publicly-owned and operated assets operate in a way that ensures genuine energy security.
With the recent energy shocks generated by global conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, ensuring our energy supply becomes more resilient in the face of these supply shocks will only be achieved through a meaningful abundance of clean energy, not more coal mining and oil drilling, as the coalition Government seems to believe.
Even considering Entrust’s most obvious current benefit, the $350 annual dividend, it has seen its inflation-adjusted value reduce by 27.5% over the past 18 years, suggesting that the board is asleep at the wheel as a result of Entrust’s failure to grasp the value of innovation and renewables development, as a means of keeping costs down and generating a higher return as families across the city, especially in South Auckland, miss out the most.
So when you get your voting papers, or if they’ve already arrived, take the time to research Entrust, and the candidates who seek to govern it over the next three years.
Think about what kind of energy future you want for Auckland. Entrust has a powerful opportunity to be the key in developing a cleaner, more secure energy network for our city, but it will take engagement and a shared conversation to provide the momentum for change.
