Election for Auckland Energy Consumer Trust

Election for Auckland Energy Consumer Trust by Mike Treen

This email is directed at readers in Auckland, Manukau and the northern parts of Papakura.

It’s election time again. Not for Parliament, not for the City Council, but for the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (AECT). The AECT is the trust that is owned by us, the electricity consumers in the central and south of Auckland City. Most of us are not aware of what the Trust does or why it is important to us. AECT owns almost 75% of the Vector, the lines company which brings the electricity to our houses.. By owning Vector, the Trust makes a profit. From this profit, AECT pays a dividend each year. In 2012 each electricity account holder received $320 – that’s $100 million going straight into the Auckland economy. Now it is the time for us to vote for the Trust - but at the last election only 16% of power account holders did. If you received your AECT dividend payment of $320 in the last couple of weeks you are eligible to vote and you should receive ballot papers in the mail between now and the end of the week.

C&R has had effective control of AECT since 2003. The C&R trustees oversaw the sell-off of 25% of Vector in 2005 despite an election promise to keep Vector in full public ownership. We consider that they are paying themselves excessively high trustee fees and huge amounts on consultants. It is definitely time for a change.

Please consider voting for all five YOUR POWER TEAM candidates, Glenda Fryer, Richard Leckinger, Tim McMains, Chris Olson and David Shand. Our candidates have a very good mix of governance, management and finance, technical and public service experience and all have an alignment with working for the benefit of you, the AECT beneficiaries. You can read more about YOUR POWER TEAM candidates and policies at http://yourpowerteam.org.nz/. LIKE the team on FB to follow the campaign - facebook.com/your power team for AECT 2012.

Your vote can make all the difference. When the voting envelope comes to your house, make sure that you vote and that you vote wisely. Return your papers in the freepost envelope promptly.
Thank you.