Chris Dever (standing in for President Rhonda) opened the meeting.
Birthdays: Michele Beaton, Glenn Dougal, Pat Taylor has a wedding anniversary coming up.
Guests: Nathan Capper and Paul Fawcett, and Wayne Werder (speaker).
- Trust Treasurer: a replacement is sought for Neville Whitworth as Trust Treasurer. The role involves taking oversight of the Trust finances and attending Board meetings.
- Bulletin: due to a few departures from the club we need some volunteers to go on the roster for preparation of the weekly Bulletin. This role involves taking notes at the meeting, preparing the text for the Bulletin, and sending it to Dave Woodhouse who prepares and distributes the Bulletin each week.
- About $2000 was raised on Waitangi Day – thanks to Buddy and the collectors.
- Bob’s Barbecue: if you wish to attend please say so now, and make the payment.
- Michelle Crook, a former club member who would have been known to club members as Michelle Whitmore, has beenen awarded the NZOM in the New Years Honours List.
Our speaker was Wayne Werder, General Manager of TECT, with Bill Holland in a
supporting role.
Wayne’s topic was the recently announced proposal by TrustPower for the sale of its
retail business, and the impact this will have on TECT. Wayne started by noting that
TECT’s proposals for restructuring have not yet been publicly announced and are
therefore be kept confidential meantime – the announcement will be made next
Thursday.
TECT arose out of the restructuring of the Tauranga Electric Power Board in 1993.
The Board was turned into a company. Half the shares were given to consumers,
and the other half were given to a new consumer trust, called TECT. So at the outset
100% of the electricity consumers in the old Power Board area were beneficiaries of
TECT. Since then that proportion has dropped to about 59%. TECT owns 26.8% of TrustPower.
51% is owned by Infratil, which therefore effectively controls TrustPower. All decisions about a
sale of TrustPower’s retail business will be made by
the directors of the company. TECT has no influence on that decision. About 80% of
TrustPower’s earnings come from generation, with the remaining 20% coming from the retail
operation.
Due to the structure of TECT the proposed sale of TrustPower’s retail operation means that TECT needs to be restructured. Wayne talked briefly about the restructuring proposal noting that details will be announced publicly next Thursday. The TECT Trustees have
been advised that they cannot delegate their decisions about the restructuring. The proposals will therefore be out for
consultation, rather than for a consumer vote. The Trustees want to receive submissions from anyone with an interest in
what was to happen next, including from anyone who supports their proposal.
Speaker thanks was delivered by Kevin Atkinson.
The Raffle was won by Steve Read.
Sergeant Session
Steve Dorrington (who had chosen the formality of a necktie for the occasion)
started by noting that trying to say that something is “a little bit confidential”
in this room may or may not be reliable.
Steve also noted having seen in a newspaper that COVID has “spread to every corner of
the globe”.
Steve then ran through a number of fines for misdemeanours by various members,
ending with a photograph of Greg Brownless sound asleep in a chair at the club.
Parting Thought came from Barry Fredheim who is due to make a speech at his
daughter’s wedding this weekend and is being advised to keep his speech short and
interesting.
DUTIES FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS
