Alpine Energy loses two senior leaders, gains three new directors
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
There has been a shake up at Alpine Energy with two of the lines company’s executive leadership team resigning and three new directors appointed to the board.
Alpine Energy chief executive officer, Caroline Ovenstone, confirmed the resignations of two of the five-person executive leadership team.
“Alpine Energy can confirm that two of our leadership team have resigned recently — these are the chief financial officer and chief digital officer.
“Alpine will be looking to fill these roles in coming months and in the interim Alpine has appointed an acting CFO.”
The Timaru Herald asked Alpine Energy a number of questions about the resignations, including when they were received and when the roles were vacated, if the resignations were unexpected and if any reasons had been given for them.
However, no response was given to any of those questions.
Chief financial officer Murray Chamberlain started in the role this year and was welcomed in the 2024 Annual Report, and chief digital officer Matthew Ireland was welcomed into his role in the Annual Report in 2023.
Alpine Energy chief customer and strategy officer, Andrew Kerr, said he could confirm the appointment of two new executive leaders who would be starting in January — one as chief assets officer and the other as chief service delivery officer.
Board changes follow April reshuffle
As well as the staffing changes, three new directors have been appointed to the board of Alpine Energy.
Board chairperson Melissa Clark-Reynolds said the shareholders had jointly interviewed a shortlist of “very qualified applicants” for the directorships.
“They chose three South Island-based men with solid backgrounds in the sector, and all with qualifications in engineering.”
Stephen Lewis, Anthony King and Albert Brantley were added as directors on November 20, joining Clark-Reynolds, Kevin Winders, Karen Coutts and Rebecca Keoghan.
Clark-Reynolds said Brantley was most recently CE of Genesis Energy, and had worked in the energy sector for more than 40 years.
King, chairperson of MainPower Lines Company, had more than 30 years experience in the sector and Lewis, was also on the MainPower Board, as well as those of two other South Island lines companies. She said Lewis also had a multi-decade background in electricity.
“After suspending all board committees because we just didn’t have enough people to be on them all, we are about to reconstitute them.”
Clark-Reynolds said there had also been some changes to the make-up of those committees and to the structure of one committee.
“I’ve split risk out from finance. Quite a lot of companies are doing this now, especially as external issues such as climate impacts, the volatility in the economy and changing technologies are becoming more important to track and understand.”
Winders would chair the Finance Committee, Brantley the People and Culture Committee, and King would oversee the new Risk Committee, she said.
It was the second major shake-up of the board and committee positions this year, after changes were made following the resignation of former chairperson Warren McNabb, in the wake of the historic overcharging saga.
Timaru District Holdings Limited (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%)
McNabb, who was one of two TDHL appointees to the board, resigned in April.
His resignation came just three days before the lines company admitted it had been overcharging customers for nine years
McNabb was not the only board casualty of the multi-million dollar overcharging error, with the former head of the audit and risk committee, Linda Robertson, also replaced.
At the time, Clark-Reynolds confirmed the reallocation of roles on various committees.
Robertson was moved to chair the people and performance committee and Winders replaced her on the audit and risk committee.
Karen Coutts retained her position on that committee and Rebecca Keoghan was appointed to chair the health and safety committee.
Robertson, who was appointed to the board by Alpine Energy shareholders, the Waimate and Mackenzie district councils in 2020, was removed as a director just a month later.
When asked about the staffing changes at the company, Clark-Reynolds said it was not her policy to comment on the employment of individuals.
“Organisations are always dynamic, and people’s lives are also changing. As a board we back the CE and her team, and have a policy of not commenting on individual employment arrangements.”
Commerce Commission report due
The Commerce Commission was expected to release its findings following an investigation into the lines company’s historic pricing error, which saw it overcharge customers to the tune of about $19 million over a 9-year period.
In August, Commerce Commission general manager of infrastructure regulation, Andy Burgess, said its investigation was a “matter of priority” and the outcome would be made public in “due course”.
The Commission had been asked for an update on when it might be in a position to do so.
Kerr said they had no update on the investigation when asked on Monday.
A letter, released by the Commission at the time, criticised the company, saying it had “failed to invest sufficiently in maintaining or replacing overhead lines assets that it had identified as being old, below specification, or prone to failure in adverse weather”.