Source: Greenpeace
Greenpeace is labelling the big four power companies ‘vampires’, for an expected record payout of $1.4 billion to their shareholders. Mercury, Contact and Genesis have already announced an increase to their shareholder payouts in their annual results. The final gentailer, Meridian, is expected to confirm its increased shareholder payouts today and bring the total to $1.4 bn.
Stats NZ confirmed electricity prices jumped 4.9% in the June quarter, the steepest rise in over a decade, with prices increasing 10.4% in the year ended June. Consumer NZ found 20% of people have had difficulty paying their power bill in the past year – up from 18% last year.
“Families and businesses are being slammed by record high power bills, all so that the big four power companies can siphon off an expected $1.4 billion for their shareholders,” says Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner Gen Toop
“This is corporate blood-sucking at its most brutal”.
“Instead of re-investing their revenue into building more clean, cheap renewables that would bring power bills down, these corporate vampires are bleeding households and the economy dry to fund their record shareholder payout. And the Government is just letting them do it.”
This year Contact Energy increased its total payout to $384 million, Mercury paid $202 million despite its profits collapsing to just $1m, and Genesis Energy handed out $157 million, even as it hiked household bills by 7.6% and corporate bills by 10.6%.
