Aurora must front up
THE Commerce Commission’s decision to take Aurora to court appears to vindicate the fierce criticism the company has faced for putting profits over replacing rotting power poles and other crucial infrastructure.
The decision also highlights the importance of whistleblowers and the fourth estate.
Relentless reporting by the Otago Daily Times and other organisations forced the Dunedin City Councilowned company to act quicker than it otherwise would have.
The scale of the issues facing Aurora is huge and it will need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get its network into the state it should be.
In the meantime, residents will be forced to pay for Aurora’s mistakes through frequent power outages as the company scrambles to catchup and bring its network up to scratch. Residents will also likely face higher power prices so the company can pay for that investment.
The company’s dividends to the council are also set to continue to take a hit.
Until the company does catch up, which will take at least a decade, residents in Dunedin, Central Otago, and the Southern Lakes will have to live with an ageing network, which means unscheduled power cuts and significant network failures are more likely.
Residents outside Dunedin are set to pay the most because they did not receive any benefit from overinflated dividends provided to the DCC.
The company needs to be given credit for rolling out a massive investment programme which has started with the replacement of poles.
Progress is being made, and there is some truth to the company view issues were ‘‘historic’’.
Just how bad the backlog is might emerge from the independent review of the electricity network. Already, however, there are tricky potential conflict of interest matters to handle.
If Aurora is to regain the public’s trust, it needs to clearly acknowledge its past failures.
Too often the company has underestimated the extent of its failures, or blamed the media or whistleblower Richard Healey for the situation it has found itself in.
It also needs to be open with the public and the media about the magnitude of the issues it faces and what it means for residents living inside its network boundaries.
The Dunedin City Council also needs to own up for failing to properly hold the company to account.
Too often, when local politicians in Otago have spoken out, Mayor Dave Cull has been reluctant to criticise Aurora.
A wider lesson to be learned is the importance of investment in core infrastructure.
Investment in pipes and power poles is boring, but the mess Aurora has found itself in shows what can happen if councils, governments and businesses let these things slip.