MEPT Newsletter

June 2026

Welcome to the latest update of what’s happening at the Marlborough Electric Power Trust (MEPT).

New Trustee

Khalid Suleiman was elected in the bi-annual trust elections in March which also saw Domenic Romano and Lynette Rayner returned. Khalid replaces former chair Ian Martella who retired after 10+ years service to our trust. Thanks Ian.

A Chartered Professional Engineer, Khalid moved to Marlborough in 1984 from Southland before representing our region in several sports. He has extensive knowledge of Marlborough’s varying engineering environments. His board experience includes chairing Witherlea School’s board and serving on the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce and Marlborough Girls College BOTs.

Khalid was welcomed to his first Trust meeting in May which also saw Domenic Romano returned as Chair and Lynette Rayner as Deputy Chair

Energy Trusts NZ Conference

All six trustees attended the Energy Trusts NZ Wellington conference and some also went to a day’s workshop.

ETNZ Chair Richard Allison opened with a summary of that first day’s workshop. Electricity is our biggest machine; if there’s not enough, it breaks. Despite a lot of current investment in wind and solar (including by Marlborough Lines) New Zealand delivered its highest percentage of renewably-sourced electricity in 1980 – 91%. In the past 15 years there has been no new net generation – i.e enough to more than meet new levels of demand.

Richard also reminded trusts that 18 out of 20 of the lines companies we oversee retain our own contractors to do the work, compared to only 1 of 8 non-trust owned lines companies.

Currently, consultants’ advice to the Government says lines companies need to look at merging into 6-8 companies instead of maintaining the existing 27. MEPT and other trusts say that any decisions on local ownership should be decided by our consumers – not by the Government.

We were reminded of the importance of having local staff and ownership by PowerNet CEO Paul Blue who led his trio of Southland/Otago lines companies through the horrendous wind event last October. He lost all but one of 35 substations and power to thousands of homes, mostly caused by trees blowing onto lines.

He credited his local trust as one of the important channels to communicate to anxious residents and farmers, some of whom lost power for days, as lines crews battled to restore networks.

Good ongoing communication is the key in such a crisis; otherwise, people rely on often erroneous social media for information.

We also heard from Nigel Barbour who is chair of Electricity Networks Aotearoa which represents lines companies. He says data centres are driving American power demand to double every year. Our own demand for electricity (not yet driven by data centres) is also rising strongly, in part because gas supply is running out and getting expensive. Some North Island companies wanting to switch to electricity to keep running are having to join a queue to wait for the conversion.

Nigel, who’s CEO of Christchurch’s Orion, reminded us that electricity networks are also facing huge expenditures in renewing infrastructure, particularly poles. He believes the cost of putting in a new power feed may be ten times its historic cost in real terms. That huge increase is due to a range of things – including traffic management rules, the need to address climate change, seismic risks, having bigger and better machinery and infrastructure. Even so, lines charges are lower today in real terms than ten years ago but they are now rising.

The Electricity Authority (which is the system’s watchdog) told us lines charges make up half to two-thirds of an average 8% increase in power prices this year. However it says with generation increasing, the forward trajectory for retail prices is reducing.

 It also advised that time-varying price power plans were being required from all large electricity retailers from June for both consumption and generation of electricity. So, watch out for these, especially if you have solar panels.

There was also discussion at the conference about the national grid operator Transpower pricing increases for transmission costs, which in Marlborough increased by over $1.6m or 23% in the 2025/2026 year. Rising costs to maintain the network and investment to support growth areas are reasons for the cost increases, but it is not easily transparent as to what these benefits are to our top of the south region.

Our conference had engagement with representatives from New Zealand First, Labour, Greens, The Opportunity Party and ACT all putting their various positions on energy policy. We also had former National Party leader Simon Bridges address us.

As CEO of Auckland’s Chamber of Commerce, he says energy is New Zealand’s No.1 issue with current pricing causing de-industrialisation. He is a strong advocate of breaking up the current gentailers.

Marlborough Lines discount

The Annual Discount Payment from Marlborough Lines was applied to consumer accounts through May.

The amount of discount payment is dependent on the type of connection you have, number of days connected and electricity consumption across the year, with the average eligible residential electricity consumer connected for the full year receiving $283 (including GST).

Payments are made to your electricity retailer, which then credits your power account.

Your Trust and Marlborough Lines are both very conscious that when cost of living is front of mind for most people, we need to do all we can to hold back power price increases as much as we possibly can.

Trust Secretary role

This month we are recruiting for a new proactive and community-minded individual to join us as our new Trust Secretary due to the retirement of long serving Brenda Munro. Whilst Brenda’s retirement is well earned, she will provide a strong hand-over in transition to the successful candidate.

In this vital role, the secretary ensure our Trust operates smoothly by managing board meeting administration, statutory compliance, financial oversight, and governance documentation.

If you have strong administrative skills, an eye for detail, and a passion for supporting our local community's energy future, we want to hear from you. The position offers a unique opportunity to work closely with our trustees.

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