Aurora review will also look at allegations on social media

AN independent review of Aurora Energy commissioned by the Dunedin City Council will also look into allegations about the lines company posted on social media.

The council yesterday announced it had commissioned Toby Stevenson, of consultancy firm Sapere, to review progress on recommendations made by Deloitte in 2016.

Deloitte was asked to investigate both Aurora and infrastructure company Delta after it was reported the councilowned companies had not maintained electricity infrastructure, leaving thousands of power poles compromised and potentially dangerous.

Twentytwo recommendations were made as a result, and a late2017 progress update suggested the majority had been implemented.

Council commercial and finance general manager Dave Tombs said he and chief executive Sue Bidrose had been talking about a followup review for the past few months.

‘‘As we were kind of talking about the scoping of all of that, and working out the timing, we became aware of these social media allegations and thought, ‘Well, we might as well roll these on to the same review’.’’

He said the allegations, posted by whistleblower Richard Healey, were copied from social media and emailed to him.

They fell into three main categories: the ‘‘unnecessary’’ replacement of poles and pole failure, the future increases in lines charges, and that some of the challenges facing the company had been ‘‘downplayed’’.

Dr Bidrose said work on the review would start early next month, and an update was expected before the end of the year.

‘‘As we are preparing induction materials for a new mayor and councillors, we want to provide them with independently verified and uptodate information about the current state of the company and its processes.

‘‘This is necessary for the council to have confidence that the company is in good shape, particularly given the future asset investment that is planned.’’

She believed the cost of the last review was about $30,000, and she expected the new one to be about the same.

‘‘It’s a little bit hard to know until he gets his teeth into it.’’

An Aurora Energy spokeswoman said the company would work with the council and consultant to support the report.