Alpine Energy committee chairperson dropped
The former chairperson of Alpine Energy’s board is not the only casualty of a multimillion-dollar overcharging error, with the head of the audit and risk committee also replaced.
Alpine Energy board chairperson Melissa Clark-Reynolds, who was appointed to the role this month after Warren McNabb resigned, has confirmed changes have been made in the wake of the scandal which is under investigation by the Commerce Commission.
McNabb resigned from the role just three days before the lines company admitted it had been overcharging customers for nine years.
On Monday, Clark-Reynolds confirmed changes had been made following her appointment as chairperson.
“As is usual when there is a change in leadership, I have reallocated membership of various committees,” Clark-Reynolds said.
The changes have seen Linda Robertson, who was the chairperson of the audit and risk committee overseeing Alpine Energy’s finances, lose that position.
Clark-Reynolds said Robertson had been appointed as the chairpersopn of the people and performance committee.
Kevin Winders, who was formerly on the health and safety committee and a board member since July 2022, has been appointed to replace Robertson as chairperson of the audit and risk committee.
Karen Coutts has retained her position on that committee.
Clark-Reynolds said Rebecca Keoghan is now chairing the health and safety committee.
Robertson was appointed to the board by Alpine Energy shareholders, the Waimate and Mackenzie district councils, in 2020.
She holds other governance positions. These include being a member of the audit and risk committee and the capital markets advisory committee for the Treasury, the audit and risk committee for the Office of the Auditor General and Audit New Zealand, and the audit chairperson for the NZ Local Government Funding Agency.
Winders is the chief executive of Port Otago and a former chief operating officer for Silver Fern Farms. He is a LineTrust South Canterbury appointee to the board, as is Coutts.
Coutts and Keoghan were appointed to the board the same year as Winders, in 2022.
Clark-Reynolds and Keoghan are the two Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL) appointees.
TDHL is the major shareholder in Alpine Energy (47.5%), followed by LineTrust South Canterbury (40%), Waimate District Council (7.54%) and the Mackenzie District Council (4.96%)
On Thursday, Clark-Reynolds said compensation options were being considered for the overcharging error, but advised it would require Commerce Commission approval taking months to sort out.
That same day, TDHL chairperson Mark Rogers confirmed he had spoken to McNabb, after being made aware of the level of overcharging, and McNabb had then resigned. McNabb was one of the holdings company’s appointees to the board.
Rogers said it was appropriate that
McNabb resign.
“TDHL hold their appointees to account, while being cognisant of individual circumstances within a framework of collective responsibility,” he said.