EIL records $9.5m operating surplus

The Electricity Invercargill Limited Group has posted a before tax operating surplus of $9.5 million in the year to the end of March, 2018, its annual report says.

The surplus is up 6.7 per cent from the previous year when a before tax operating surplus of $8.9m was recorded.

The Invercargill City Council owned Electricity Invercargill Limited supplies more than 17,400 customers in the region, with 90 per cent of them residential, through its electricity network in Invercargill and Bluff.

The company’s 2018 annual report says the group’s financial result reflects a combination of improved investment returns, increased line charges and a marginal reduction in operating costs.

Also, through its investments in joint ventures, the group benefited from higher generation, higher electricity consumption and productivity gains.

The company’s three-year project to replace Invercargill’s 13 underground substations, due to safety concerns, continues, the annual report says.

Another four sites in the city were moved above ground in 2017-18 and the final four substations are due for replacement in 2018-19.

Electricity Invercargill Limited – owned by the city council through its subsidiary company, Invercargill City Holdings Limited – contracts PowerNet to manage the network on its behalf.

Invercargill City Holdings Limited has a 100 per cent ownership of Electricity Invercargill Limited and receives an annual dividend.