In the spirit of following the money, let’s this week have a look at the energy retail market in NZ and try to decipher which of the various entities owns which of the various entities.
Please note that the below information, while correct at time of writing, may change from time to time.
All information was gathered from the NZ Companies Office online register and I make no representation that the register is up to date.
Where a company is held by many shareholders, rather than listing the names of the shareholders, I have simply written that the company is “Privately Held”. If you want further information you can visit the Companies Office website.
Just because a company is listed as Privately Held does not mean it is not connected to other power companies. Companies can share directorships and individuals can own shares to more than one company.
Contact Energy – Publicly Listed
– 58.16% owned by New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited
The rest owned by a range of investment companies.
Ecotricity Superceded Limited 100% owned by Airtricity Limited, which in turn is privately held by 2 individuals and Wind Farm Group W2 Limited.
Electra Energy – Privately Held
Electric Kiwi Limited owned by four shareholder allocations: Cumulus Asset Management LLP (68.41%), Julian Kardos, Sally Overton and Quay Trustee Services No.3 Limited (14.96%), Wairaka Capital Limited (12.72%) and Censeo Limited (3.91%).
Energy Online – Privately Held
Flick Energy Limited owned by 34 shareholder allocations, the largest being Eastland Energy Solutions (18.65%), Evander Management Limited (9.16%), and Angel HQ Nominee Limited (6.96%). The rest privately held by a number of individuals and investment companies.
Genesis Energy – Publicly Listed
– 51.23% owned by Her Majesty the Queen
The rest owned by a range of investment companies.
Globug 100% owned by Bosco Connect Limited which is in turn owned 100% by Mercury NZ Limited
King Country Energy Limited is owned 64.55% by King Country Energy Holdings Ltd and 19.98% owned by King Country Electric Power Board Trust and the rest privately held by a number of individuals and investment companies. King Country Energy Holdings Ltd is owned 100% by Trustpower Limited.
Mercury Energy 100% owned by Kawerau Geothermal Limited in turn owned 100% by Mercury Geothermal Limited, in turn owned 100% by Mercury NZ Limited, which in turn is held
– 51.15% owned by Her Majesty the Queen
– 21.29% owned by New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited
The rest owned by a range of investment companies.
Meridian
– 51.02% owned by Her Majesty the Queen
– 24.21% owned by New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited
The rest owned by a range of investment companies.
Nova Energy 100% owned by Todd Petroleum Mining Company Ltd which is 90% held by the Todd Corporation Limited and 10% held by Todd Central Limited.
Opunake Hydro is owned 49.4% by Karo Interests Limited Partnership and the rest Privately Held by a number of individuals and trustees of family trusts
Paua to the People Limited (previously known as ‘Giving Energy’) is 100% privately held by two shareholders.
Payless Energy – Privately Held
Powershop 100% owned by Meridian Energy Limited
Pulse Energy 100% owned by Buller Electricity Limited which is privately held
Tiny Mighty Power is owned by Bosco Connect Limited which is in turn owned 100% by Mercury NZ Limited
Trustpower – Publicly Listed
Closing Thoughts
So the energy industry appears not to be quite as incestuous as I had previously assumed.
Blast it! I was hoping for a salacious monopoly to emerge. If there is a monopoly, it’s somewhat hidden. Only four companies by my count are subsidiaries with majority shareholdings held by other competitors or suppliers in the industry.
Nonetheless, this ‘Her Majesty the Queen’ seems to have her finger in quite a lot of pies.
