Solid Energy's $4 million redundancy payout

Photo / File

Solid Energy shelled out $4 million for redundancies between July and December last year, mostly for workers from the Stockton opencast mine.

Solid Energy put off 135 Stockton workers last year. Another 50 jobs went among mine contractors.

Solid Energy's written answers to questions from Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Committee reveal the company made 149 redundancy payments in the six months to December 31, the period when the Stockton redundancies flowed through.

The highest payment was between $160,000 and $170,000. More than 100 redundant employees received between $10,000 and $30,000.

At the end of December, Solid Energy employed 453 people on the West Coast - 304 fewer than five years ago. Over the same period Solid Energy's Christchurch staff numbers dropped 120, to 59.

The figures reveal that interim chief executive Garry Diack received an incentive payment of $50,000 when he completed his contract at the end of the 2013/14 year. The highest-paid Solid Energy employee, presumably Mr Diack, received an annualised base salary of between $650,000 and $659,000.

Solid Energy paid 205 of its 863 staff more than $100,000 in the year to June 30. By the end of December staff numbers had fallen to 690 - 533 fewer than in June 2010. Solid Energy now has just one public relations/communications employee, compared to nine in 2011/12 when it shelled out $993,067 for their wages.

The company would not publicly provide the latest PR wage for privacy reasons.
It said it undertook no public relations campaigns during the year and spent nothing on PR material.

Five years ago it spent $319,146 on PR, statutory publications and advertising.
Last year it spent $109,892 on statutory publications and advertising. It had not paid for any external communications, media or public relations advice or services since 2012/13.

Solid Energy employed 14 people on three- to six-month contracts last financial year - at least twice as many as in each of the preceding four years. It attributed the increase to restructuring which didn't allow permanent recruitment.

The number of people on contracts of fewer than three months dropped from 33 in 2012 to just three last year because Solid Energy no longer employs tertiary students over the university summer holidays.

The answers to the select committee reveal a host of cost cutting measures last financial year including:

• Operating costs down $141m;
• Personnel costs down $53.9m;
• Redundancy costs down $22.9m;
• Contractor costs down $32.6m;
• Repairs and maintenance down $33.8m;
• Direct and indirect exploration costs down $25m.