‘Out of touch’: Call for explanation over amount paid to Alpine Energy CEO

Saturday, 6 September 2025

A Timaru District mayoral candidate is calling for an explanation after it was revealed the chief executive of Alpine Energy was paid more than $600,000 last year, but the newly appointed board chairperson says a large chunk was back pay.

Stu Piddington issued a media release taking aim at parts of the company’s Annual Report including the amount paid to the CEO, the very low customer satisfaction levels, the possibility of further line charge increases and a board dominated by out-of-towners.

“The 2025 Alpine Energy annual report shows the chief executive’s salary and benefits increased by $200,000 from 2024.”

That amount accounted for the new combined organisation after Alpine Energy and Netcon were joined and included back pay, which had been processed in FY25, according to the Annual Report.

Piddington said while he realised Netcon had been amalgamated back into Alpine Energy, which reported a $12.1 million loss for the past financial year, the amount CEO Caroline Ovenstone was paid was an “extraordinary number”.

“The community needs an explanation,” he said.

“I don’t know of anyone getting anywhere near double figures pay increases in this economic environment, and by comparison the Government is offering many of its workers a 1% increase.”

Piddington also questioned whether it had been performance based, and said if it was he challenged the board to show him the improvements that warranted it.

“For me to have confidence in the board, they will need to come up with a really good explanation.”

Board chairperson Tony King said the CEO’s remuneration had been approved by the board after consideration, which included independent market advice.

“Alpine reviews market data each year to ensure pay levels remain in line with other companies of our size and type across the industry,” King said.

Giving a breakdown for the $200,000 increase, King said the salary increased 6% and the rest was “attributable to back pay”.

“The 2023/24 comparison, therefore, does not reflect the level of remuneration that should have applied across that year,” he said.

Asked for an explanation for the increase, and whether it was performance-based, King said when Alpine and Netcon merged, the number of senior executives was reduced, creating a larger single company led by one management team.

“The chief executive role was formally resized in 2024 to reflect the wider responsibilities of the merged organisation, and backpay was processed at that time.”

Piddington said the increase came on the back of a decision by Alpine Energy not to pay a $1m dividend to the Timaru District Council through its financial entity Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL), which has a 47.5% stake in the lines company.

The Waimate District Council (7.54%), the Mackenzie District Council (4.96%) and LineTrust South Canterbury (40%) are the other shareholders.

The company announced it would not pay any shareholder dividends for at least two years in the wake of a long-running error, which saw customers overcharged for more than nine years.

King said the decision not to pay a divided had been a “difficult one”, but staff salaries were treated separately.

“Pay reviews are considered separately, with independent advice, to ensure the company can attract and retain the capability it needs to deliver safe, reliable services and long term value,” he said.

In April, the Commerce Commission confirmed Alpine Energy would not be charged over the accounting error, but it was issued a warning and told to refund customers $16.9m.

The company was also ordered to spend at least $1.5m to support access to electricity in the South Canterbury community within two years.

Although the error was discovered and reported in August 2023, the company did not inform its customers until more than eight months later, in April 2024.

The lines company had also cut its community sponsorship, and in May it was revealed the company had told the council it was no longer willing to hang Timaru’s Christmas decorations.

“It’s no surprise to me that the customer satisfaction survey is at 17% for ‘overall image and reputation’ and at 20% for ‘line charges being good value’. I guess that means 80% are unsatisfied customers,” Piddington said.

Piddington said there had also been “backlash when the board proposed to send the CEO” to the United States for a conference in May.

Ovenstone pulled out of the conference in New Orleans the week before she was due to travel due to “personal reasons”, a move met by appreciation from Alpine Energy’s biggest shareholder TDHL, at the time.

Asked if the board was concerned about customer satisfaction, and if the executive leadership had been tasked to take any action to improve it, King said: “There is a programme of work endorsed by the board to progressively improve customer satisfaction levels that both the board and management agree need improving.”

Piddington was concerned there could be “more bad news coming” with Alpine Energy signalling a gap between the default path priceway, which sets how much it can charge, and its forecast level of expenditure.

“Basically it means they are looking at ways to increase line charges outside what the Commerce Commission thinks is reasonable for line companies to charge its customers.”

However, King said the company was not looking to do this and line charges must comply with the Commerce Act.

Piddington also raised concerns about the board being “made up of ‘out-of-town’ directors” who were “out of touch with the community”.

“… if they are signing off on those sorts of numbers. They don’t have to walk around Timaru or Temuka and take the flak.’’

King said all directors had wide experience in community-owned organisations, and one (Kevin Winders) was a resident of Twizel.

The board and the executive leadership team had both undergone major changes since the admission of the error.

Following former chairperson Melissa Clark-Reynolds’ departure last month, and the resignations of board members Karen Coutts and Rebecca Keoghan this year, just Winders remained.

Wellington-based Coutts resigned on July 28, and Keoghan left earlier this year.

King, of Wellington, was appointed in November, along with Christchurch-based Stephen Lewis and Albert Brantley, and Cambridge-based director Aaron Bethune was appointed in January.

And the executive leadership team had seen a similar level of change.

Former chief regulatory officer Marisca MacKenzie, chief assets and operations officer Damien Whiffen, chief digital officer Matthew Ireland, and chief financial officer Murray Chamberlain are all gone.

Chief customer and strategy officer Andrew Kerr, and chief people and safety officer Susan Lowe remain.

The new-look leadership team now includes Clive Smith as chief financial officer, Chirag Desai as chief assets officer, John Campbell as chief network delivery officer, and Jessica McDonald as chief information officer.

Ovenstone said while the number of changes to the board was “notable, boards do from time-to-time have considerable change in a short period”.

Speaking about changes to the executive leadership team, Ovenstone said following the merger of Alpine Energy and Netcon, the company required “new capabilities to lead it”.

King said as the new chairperson, he was focused on achieving long-term sustainable profitability, with a reliable and resilient network to meet the needs of the community for affordable and available electricity.