Another successful year of delivery for Aurora Energy

Lines company Aurora Energy has released its Annual Report for the financial year ended 30 June 2023, and also a summary of its second Annual Delivery Report, which outlines the achievements from the second year of its five-year, $563 million investment programme.

Chief Executive Richard Fletcher said, “We have completed a significant amount of work over the last couple of years and despite economic inflation and rising costs for labour and materials, we have delivered largely to plan.

“We have now cleared a backlog of higher-risk poles, which is a significant milestone, and continue to bundle work in the same area into larger packages. This means we can minimise the disruption for customers as well as reduce delivery costs,” he said.

Enhancing productivity and efficiency through automating workflows has also been a priority for the company.

The electricity industry is a changing and dynamic sector, partly led by New Zealand’s drive to decarbonise the economy. Aurora Energy states in its Annual Report that this has created a unique position for the company, which is taking a leading role in responding to these changes.

Mr Fletcher said Aurora Energy is looking into how the electricity network can support the increasing adoption of electric vehicles and household solar generation, as well as businesses transitioning to electricity to fuel their operations.

“We work closely with industry peers to investigate innovative solutions and non-network options outside traditional lines and poles so we can enable the future energy choices of our communities,” he said.

The Annual Delivery Report is a requirement under Aurora Energy’s customised price-quality path (CPP), to outline how they are performing against their plans, following approval from the Commerce Commission in 2021 for the five-year investment programme to undertake essential maintenance and upgrades on the network.

“We are continuing to deliver against our ambitious work programme to upgrade the network and are happy with the progress,” said Mr Fletcher.

“A robust and efficient electricity network is central to reducing carbon emissions through electrification and that’s why our investment programme is so important.”

Community drop-in events will be held later this month in Dunedin, Alexandra, Wānaka and Queenstown to share results from the Annual Delivery Report. There will be information relevant to each community and experts from Aurora Energy will be available to answer questions.

Annual Delivery Report community drop-in events will be held between 11am-1pm on the following dates:

• Queenstown, Tuesday 24 October, Crowne Plaza Queenstown, 93 Beach St
• Wānaka, Wednesday 25 October, Wānaka Community Hub, 34 McDougall St
• Alexandra, Thursday 26 October, Alexandra Community House, 14/20 Centennial Ave
• Dunedin, Friday 27 October, Dunedin Community House, 43 Princes St

The Annual Report can be found on Aurora Energy’s website here and the Annual Delivery Report summary document can be found on Aurora Energy’s website here.