Through their eyes We see the world through the eyes of our customers, our people and our communities… Contents …and as one of New Zealand’s largest listed companies we believe it’s important to operate our business in a sustainable way, that considers the needs of future generations. 4 14 Q&A with Sir Ralph Contact at a glance and Dennis 8 18 Our Board Living our Tikanga 20 Focusing on what matters most 22 Delivering on our core business 30 People 36 Environment 10 41 Community This Annual Report is dated 14 August 2017 Leadership Team and is signed on behalf of the Board by: 43 Disclosures and financials 44 Governance Sir Ralph Norris Sue Sheldon 47 Remuneration Report Chairman Director 11 51 Statutory Disclosures 55 Sustainability Reporting Our Tikanga 61 Financial Statements 80 Independent Auditor’s Report 83 Corporate Directory “Our Customer business is about solving problems for customers within a fast‑paced environment.”
Sir Ralph Norris
In a rapidly changing industry, We have two distinct businesses with different We have also changed our distribution what’s Contact’s strategy? strategic drivers that are in different policy. This is to target a distribution of phases. Our Generation business continues between 80% and 90% of operating free As a Board our focus is on ensuring we have to be about the efficient production of cash flow2 on average over time once our the right capabilities within Contact to deliver electricity. As market conditions do not net debt to EBITDAF ratio is below 2.8x. on our Purpose and we work with the require us to build any new plant in the We will transition to the policy and for Leadership Team to provide clarity on what’s short term the team’s focus is on financial year 2018 will target an ordinary important so that they can focus on what continuous improvement, and looking at dividend of 32 cents per share, an really matters. I expect a high level of opportunities for innovation in order to get increase of 23% on financial year 2017. performance from Contact, but as a Board even better at what we do, to further reduce We were able to make this change after we hold ourselves to the same standards, the cost of energy and extend the life of our working with management and with the and this year we conducted a fulsome, generation assets. Our Customer business is support of respected strategy independent review of the Board’s about solving problems for customers within consultants to confirm the strategy and performance, so that we too are clear about a fast-paced environment. This requires us focus for the company. areas for improvement. to leverage new technology and be more A good mixture of people and diversity of agile in delivering a best-in-class background, gender and culture are really customer experience. important to the composition of a board and To provide greater transparency on the to the success of a company. During the year relative performance of these two Elena Trout joined the Contact Board – a businesses, both internally and externally, & Board which is now one of the most diverse Q A we altered the structure of our reporting among New Zealand listed companies and approach during the year and we are starting which has significant experience across a to see an increased focus on the key drivers wide range of key disciplines, equipping us of profitability. well to navigate times of great change and 1. EBITDAF and underlying profit are non-GAAP Sir Ralph Norris, disruption in the energy sector and deliver In terms of the broader industry, we continue profit measures. EBITDAF is earnings before net for shareholders and customers. to advocate for the right regulatory settings to interest expense, tax, depreciation, Chairman, and ensure consumers obtain the maximum amortisation, change in fair value of financial Contact’s challenge is to deliver instruments and other significant items. benefit and competitive outcomes from new Dennis Barnes, CEO, competitively priced products and services Underlying profit is statutory profit excluding and existing technologies. significant items that do not reflect the ongoing to customers that they value, ensuring we performance of the Group. The CEO monitors take us through their have the right amount of safe and reliable How has Contact delivered for EBITDAF and underlying profit as key indicators energy supply, while managing our business shareholders this year? of Contact’s performance and believes they assist investors in understanding the views on Contact’s in an environmentally and financially From a financial point of view we have performance of the core operations of the sustainable way. business. Reconciliations of EBITDAF to performance in delivered a dividend of 26 cents per share, underlying profit and from underlying profit to I have a strong belief that success starts with in line with the 26 cents per share declared Group statutory profit is provided in Note A2 the past year and best-in-class engagement – with customers, in 2016, while also reducing debt by $106 of Contact’s audited Financial Statements, on page 66. their outlook for employees and stakeholders. For any million during the year. This comes off the organisation to be successful it must back of a statutory profit of $150 million, 2. Operating free cash flow is a non-generally accepted accounting practice (non-GAAP) the company. engender strong people and customer up from a $66 million statutory loss measure of the cash-generating performance of engagement and Contact is no exception. reported last year, which contained the business and represents cash available to We must clearly communicate our key areas impairments. EBITDAF1 for the year was repay debt and to fund distributions to shareholders and growth capital expenditure. of focus and why we’ve chosen these, and $494 million, down $29 million as a result Operating free cash flow is equal to cash flows position ourselves to be agile in all we do as of unfavourable hydrology. from operating activities less stay in business a company. capital expenditure and interest costs.
5 “At Contact we have a strong focus on people
engagement, Review Chairman’s and CEO
I’m most proud of the team’s achievements What were the highlights for A focus on working together with customers and creating a in lifting employee engagement by 12 Contact’s Customer business? to find solutions to concerns raised has also culture that percentage points and improving the seen us this year record an all-time low level We continued a relentless focus on experience we provide for customers. This of customer complaints about Contact. improving our customer experience and embraces is evidenced by the 17 basis point These now only account for 15% of the value proposition, which is starting to be improvement in our customer advocacy market’s deadlocked complaints, even diversity.” evidenced in customer retention, advocacy measure – Net Promoter Score (NPS). Of though we supply over 20% of customers. and innovation in the products and rewards course, diversity in its broadest sense is we are offering to our customers. I am also key to strong performance, and so I’m excited to see customers advocating for us What were the highlights for your pleased we have introduced a diversity in greater numbers, with our Net Promoter Generation business? and inclusion policy that signals our intent, Score now at +14, up from -3 last year. This as well as adopting greater transparency Record low inflows to the South Island has been achieved off the back of a refresh in reporting relating to diversity. During the lakes towards the end of the financial year of the range of products and services we year Contact was ranked fifth out of over saw a significant reduction in our hydro offer our customers and a new digital 5,000 internationally publicly listed generation compared with prior periods, experience. We have also introduced new companies in the Thomson Reuters but also demonstrated the importance of tools and training for our teams who Diversity and Inclusion Index, making us our diverse and flexible generation communicate directly with customers and one of the most diverse and inclusive portfolio. During the final quarter of the we work with customers on the development workplaces globally. financial year our gas-powered plants ran of new offerings. We use the feedback hard in order to meet New Zealand’s customers and our employees provide electricity needs during the peak of winter every day to help us identify where to focus demand. However as a result of this our improvement efforts. increase our percentage of generation Dennis Barnes One of the success stories of the year from renewable sources fell to 80% this was the change we made to the rewards we year, our greenhouse gas emissions offer our customers. We are now proud increased and our overall cost of energy What were the key events in the members of the AA Smartfuel programme was higher. and over 50,000 customers are receiving hot water diverters, all controlled via a matter to our stakeholders and to be also saw our health and safety performance market this year? Our focus on continuous improvement has more instant rewards through this real-time mobile app. The combination of proactive and deliberate in the way we improve. While unfortunately 10 of our seen us further optimise the way we The year has seen a sudden and partnership. Every day customers tell us this technology at scale has the ability to work with them to address these, people were hurt during the year, most operate and maintain our portfolio of significant swing in hydrology with above stories of their delight with this move and to avoid the need for large capital investment considering the short-term factors of the injuries were less severe strains power stations, and progress our process average hydro storage at the beginning of date our customers have benefited from by network companies that is ultimately impacting our business as well as the or sprains. safety journey. Our Taranaki power station the year giving way to record low hydro over $500,000 worth of savings back into paid for by consumers. It will also allow longer-term intergenerational context. for example, which has been a vital asset In local communities where we operate we inflows into the key South Island lakes their pockets. consumers and retailers to be rewarded during the ‘dry winter’, is now able to run This year we created New Zealand’s first continued to invest in initiatives that culminating in a ‘dry winter’. This clearly for time-shifting electricity load, as well as Improving the experience we provide more flexibly when required by the market. corporate Green Borrowing Programme. support issues which they have told us are illustrated the value of a diverse generation offering resilience to households in the customers has also supported growth, with Our safety work has focused on This provides our investors with an important. This year we invested $346,144 portfolio, powered by a range of fuels, to event of natural disasters. We also our overall customer numbers for the year developing greater visibility and focus on opportunity to invest in certified green debt across New Zealand and our employees ensure flexibility and security of supply for continue to support the adoption of across electricity, natural gas and LPG rising our performance in process safety. We are issued by a New Zealand corporate for the contributed 1,796 volunteer hours to help our customers. electric vehicles in New Zealand through from 562,500 to 567,000, in an extremely striving for world-class performance and first time ever. community organisations. our involvement in various industry forums There was plenty of activity in the competitive market. More customers are this year have provided our expertise to and are on track to meet our target of We have a strong focus on people We will continue to operate sustainably regulatory area, with the Commerce choosing to stay with Contact, as we again other energy businesses overseas who having 30% of our fleet electric by 2019. engagement, and creating a culture that in the year ahead. A key priority is taking Commission, the Electricity Authority and recorded a level of customer switching recognise the work that we have done. embraces diversity. We are targeting the lead in decarbonisation of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and below that of the overall market, and our During the year we also conducted some employee engagement of 82% or higher, New Zealand’s energy sector and working Employment all consulting on various sales volume for the year was up slightly. How does Contact embrace research and development into uses of the AON Hewitt Best Employer level, and with industrial companies to find aspects of the regulatory framework. In the concept of sustainability in This year we also saw the results of further new technology that has the potential to this year we took another step towards our innovative ways for new technology and relation to all this activity I urge regulators its operations? to put customers at the centre of their enhancements we’ve made to the support provide Contact with sustainable new target with a 12 percentage point increase operational efficiencies to help propel this world – in my view a customer-centric view we provide to customers having difficulty revenue in the future. Work in this area We recognise the wider context we to take Contact’s overall engagement shift for their businesses and for of regulation is likely to result in the best paying their bill. Early intervention and a involved collaborating with several operate in and consider the environmental, score to 68%. New Zealand. wider range of payment options have seen network companies, technology suppliers social and economic drivers that impact market outcomes. An external audit highlighted our the average value of retail customer debt at and local authorities to trial a range of our business. Our actions are guided by continued improvement in our safety the stage of disconnection drop. solutions combining home solar our Tikanga. My personal view is that it’s culture this year. Our continued focus on generation, battery energy storage and important to truly understand what issues empowering frontline workers on safety
6 Contact Annual Report 2017 7 Our Board Board Our
Sir Ralph Norris KNZM Victoria Crone Sue Sheldon CNZM Whaimutu Dewes Elena Trout Rob McDonald Chairman and Independent Independent Non-Executive Director Independent Non-Executive Director Independent Non-Executive Director Independent Non-Executive Director Independent Non-Executive Director Non-Executive Director Term of office Term of office Term of office Term of office Term of office Term of office Appointed director 12 November 2015, Appointed director 16 March 2009, Appointed director 22 February 2010, Appointed director 3 November 2016, Appointed director 12 November 2015, Appointed director 12 November 2015, last elected 2015 annual meeting. last re-elected 2016 annual meeting. last re-elected 2016 annual meeting. last elected 2016 annual meeting. last elected 2015 annual meeting. last elected 2015 annual meeting. Board committees Board committees Board committees Board committees Board committees Board committees Member of the Health, Safety and Chairman of the Audit Committee and Chairman of the Health, Safety and Member of the Health, Safety and Member of the Audit Committee. Chairman of the Remuneration and Environment Committee and member member of the Remuneration and Environment Committee and member Environment Committee. Rob’s finance career spans over 30 years, Nominations Committee. of the Remuneration and Nominations Nominations Committee. of the Audit Committee. Elena is an experienced company director having worked overseas before joining Committee. Sir Ralph Norris has over 40 years Sue Sheldon is a professional company Whaimutu Dewes is of Ngati Porou and and a professional engineer who has held Coopers and Lybrand in the corporate of business and banking experience, Victoria has over 20 years’ experience in director. She is the chairman of Ngati Rangitihi descent and lives in a number of leadership positions in the advisory and valuations practice in 1985. having led large organisations through the communications and IT sectors. Her Freightways Limited and a director of Real Gisborne. He is the chairman of Aotearoa transport, infrastructure and energy He is currently the chief financial officer transformational change in both experience spans from start-ups to Journeys Limited. Sue has previously held Fisheries Limited and Sealord Group sectors. She has over 30 years of with Air New Zealand, a position held since New Zealand and Australia. He is the mature products across consumer, small the roles of chairman of Chorus Limited, Limited, and is a director on the Treasury experience in the management, planning 2004, prior to which he was the group chairman of Fletcher Building Limited business and enterprise sectors. She is Paymark Limited, NZ Global Women and Board. His former directorships include and delivery of large projects. She is a treasurer. He is a former board member of and RANQX Holdings Limited, along with chief executive of Callaghan Innovation the Board of Trustees of the National the Housing New Zealand Board, director of Energy Efficiency and the Institute of Finance Professionals holding directorships on the Advisory and chair of Figure.NZ. A former managing Provident Fund, deputy chairman of the Television New Zealand Limited and the Conservation Authority, Harrison Grierson New Zealand Inc. and the former vice Boards of New Zealand Treasury, Tax director of Xero New Zealand, Victoria Reserve Bank of New Zealand and AMP New Zealand Advisory Board, and he Holdings Limited and Marsden Maritime chairman of the IATA Financial Committee. Management NZ and SouthPark also held senior management roles in Christchurch International Airport Limited, was deputy chairman of Sealord Group Holdings Limited. Her former directorships Rob has a Bachelor of Commerce from Corporation. He is a former director of sales and marketing at Chorus and and director of Smiths City Group Limited. between 1992 and 2008. Whaimutu has include Electricity Authority and Auckland University and in 1999 Fonterra Limited and Origin Energy Telecom. She is a passionate Kiwi and a Prior to moving into a professional director also held senior management roles at Transpower New Zealand Limited. She is completed the Program of Management Limited. He was managing director and member of NZ Global Women. Victoria role, Sue practised as a chartered Fletcher Challenge and the Department of the immediate Past-President of the Development at Harvard Business School. chief executive of Commonwealth Bank holds a Master’s degree in Commerce and accountant. She is a former president of Maori Affairs. Whaimutu has a Master’s Institution of Professional Engineers He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants of Australia for six years until 2011, and Administration (Marketing and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered degree in public administration and New Zealand (IPENZ) with membership Australia and New Zealand. prior to that served as chief executive Management) from Victoria University. Accountants and was made a Companion degrees in arts and law. status of Fellow as well as Fellow of of Air New Zealand and ASB Bank. of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Engineers Australia, and is a chartered Sir Ralph was made a Knight Companion Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2007 for member of the Institute of Directors. Elena of the New Zealand Order of Merit in services to business. holds a Master’s of Civil Engineering 2009 and a Distinguished Companion degree from Canterbury University. of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business in 2006. In 2012 he had conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate of Business by the University of New South Wales.
8 Contact Annual Report 2017 9 Leadership Our Tikanga Team
Our Purpose is to help New Zealanders live more comfortably with energy.
What we believe in, our Tikanga, guides how we bring our Purpose to life. It’s our set of beliefs, and values expressed as a series of Principles and Commitments.
Our Principles Our Commitments
These provide guidance for making These define the sustainable outcomes that we decisions every day. always strive to achieve for our key stakeholders. Dennis Barnes Tania Palmer James Kilty Chief Executive Officer General Manager, People and Safety Chief Generation and Development Officer We conduct ourselves and our business with due Deliver market-leading performance 1 care and in accordance with relevant laws and 1 for shareholders by identifying, developing, regulations. We have an overriding duty to ensure operating and growing value-creating businesses. the health and safety of our employees, and to minimise the health, safety and environmental Create value for our customers by understanding impacts on our customers and the communities 2 their needs, and delivering relevant and in which we operate. competitive energy solutions to meet these needs, both today and into the future. We will add value to the resources that come 2 under our control. Create a rewarding workplace for our people 3 by valuing everyone’s contribution, encouraging The value we create will be distributed to personal development, recognising good 3 stakeholders, recognising the need to ensure the performance, and fostering equality of opportunity. sustainability of our business, and its impact on the environment and the communities in which Respect the rights and interests of the Catherine Thompson Graham Cockroft Venasio-Lorenzo Crawley we operate. 4 communities in which we operate by listening General Manager, External Chief Financial Officer Chief Customer Officer to them, understanding and managing the Relations and General Counsel We encourage diversity and expression of ideas environmental, economic and social impacts of 4 and opinions but require alignment with Contact’s our activities. Principles, Commitments and the policies established to implement them. Respect the rights and interests of our business 5 partners, by working collaboratively to create When faced with choices, we make decisions valued and rewarding partnerships. 5 knowing they will be subject to scrutiny. We should be able to demonstrate the soundness of our decisions to all stakeholders.
10 Contact Annual Report 2017 11 Contact at a glance
Every day New Zealanders rely on energy to do the things they care about as they live, work and play in this great country of ours.
12 Contact Annual Report 2017 13 Contact at a glance Customer connections and volume sold by energy type as at 30 June 2017 2016
Energy type Connections Volume sold Connections Volume sold Contact at a glance Electricity 423,000 7,808 (GWh)1 425,000 7,890 (GWh)
Natural gas 64,000 685 (GWh) 62,000 618 (GWh)
LPG 80,000 72,700 (Tonne) 75,500 69,617 (Tonne)
Total 567,000 562,500
1. GWh = Gigawatt hours.
Customer connections by account type as at 30 June Generation by type for the year ended 30 June
2017 2016 Generation type 2017 2016
Residential 492,000 487,500 Hydro (GWh) 3,562 4,091
Business 74,000 73,500 Geothermal (GWh) 3,233 3,297 % Other2 1,000 1,500 Thermal (GWh) 1,742 1,614 Total 567,000 562,500 Total 8,537 9,002
80 2. Includes LPG connections where data on account type was unavailable. Electricity generated from renewable sources Generation by station North Island
2017 2016 Capacity Generation Generation Name Output Commissioned Type Location (MW)3 (GWh) (GWh)
Ahuroa – 2011 Gas storage facility Taranaki Ability to store Can store up to 18 PJ4 and extract gas of gas – enough to run as conditions our Stratford peakers for require 12 months at full capacity
Ohaaki Geothermal 1989 Flash steam Waikato 50 336 337
Poihipi Geothermal 1996 Flash steam Waikato 55 403 407
Stratford Thermal 1998 Combined-cycle gas turbine Taranaki 377 1,020 334
Stratford Thermal 2011 Peaker, gas turbine Taranaki 210 495 506
Te Huka Geothermal 2010 Binary cycle Taupo 28 189 196
Te Mihi Geothermal 2014 Flash steam Taupo 166 1,184 1,282
Te Rapa Thermal 1999 Open-cycle gas turbine cogeneration Waikato 44 226 221
Wairakei Geothermal 1958, 2005 Flash steam/binary cycle Taupo 132 1,121 1,075
Whirinaki Thermal 2004 Diesel fuel, open-cycle turbine Hawke’s Bay 155 1 –
South Island Legend
Head office 2017 2016 Generation Generation Power stations Name Output Commissioned Type Location Capacity (MW)3 (GWh) (GWh) Offices Clyde Hydro 1992 Conventional Otago 432 1,999 2,289 Gas storage facility Roxburgh Hydro 1956-1962 Conventional Otago 320 1,563 1,802 LPG sales and distribution LPG franchises 3. MW = Megawatts. Lake Hawea control structure 4. PJ = Petajoules.
14 Contact Annual Report 2017 15 Our activity Our business helps us deliver on our Tikanga
Our Tikanga is all about delivering value to our broad range of stakeholders. This year we powered the homes and businesses Inputs Source Generate Wholesale Distribute Sell and serve of our 567,000 customers, We purchase goods and We source fuel for electricity We generate electricity at our We sell the electricity we Electricity is transmitted from As a retailer we sell electricity, services from more than generation. We buy gas and 11 power stations. We vary the generate on the wholesale power stations by Transpower gas and LPG products and produced 8,537 GWh of 2,000 suppliers. We purchase diesel from producers; rain and output and combination of electricity market and to regional connection points services to residential, small things like metering services, snow-melt fill hydro storage generation plants used to meet purchase the electricity and is then distributed by local business and commercial and energy, delivered $346,144 geothermal engineering and lakes; drilling extracts energy demand peaks and needed for sales to our lines companies to customers. industrial customers to drilling services, office supplies, geothermal fluid and steam. changing weather conditions. customers. We also trade Gas is sourced from producers meet their energy needs. dollars into the community and machinery. Our biggest We also have the ability to a range of financial products and transported by gas network purchase is gas which we use store and use gas from our to manage our risk and companies to customers. and employed 1,026 people. to run our thermal power Ahuroa gas storage facility. generate value. These distribution costs are stations. We also buy and passed through to our customers We have also delivered a on-sell LPG to our customers. in their bills. Contact delivers bottled LPG to customers via dividend of 26 cents per share our fleet of delivery trucks and pipeline network. to our investors.
16 Contact Annual Report 2017 17 Living our Tikanga Living our Tikanga our Living
We strive to operate in a way that balances our economic, environmental, cultural and social responsibilities and each year in this report we talk about our approach to managing these and how we’ve performed.
As an energy company that runs both a Generation and Customer business, we have a large number of stakeholders who are vital to our company’s success.
18 Contact Annual Report 2017 19 Focusing on Performance highlights what matters most DELIVERING • Customer advocacy (Net • New website, digital Promoter Score) up to +14 experience launched and To ensure that we’re reporting on the Customers Investors ON OUR CORE from - 3 AA Smartfuel customer things that our stakeholders care They’ve told us they want choice, Earnings growth, efficient capital BUSINESS rewards introduced about, we ask them what matters most. • Total customer numbers up certainty and control. Customer management, and a strong dividend are Customer experience 4,500 to 567,000 • Earnings (EBITDAF) We conduct interviews with representatives service, competitive pricing and value important to them. • More customers choosing to $494 million, down 5.5% from our key stakeholder groups, and also for money are also very important to Access to energy stay with Contact, with a lower • 26 cents per share full year hold an annual Stakeholder Council them. Reliable renewable level of switching than the dividend declared meeting. We also draw on information energy supply market obtained through our regular stakeholder • Cost of energy $258 million Employees Partners and suppliers Financial sustainability engagement and consider this alongside • 80% of electricity from global trends and research and Contact’s Our people have told us delivering on They’ve told us that maintaining positive renewable sources own strategy and risks. our promises and being valued, relationships and ensuring that they respected and safe are important. understand our evolving needs are key. What our stakeholders told us:
Communities Tangata whenua Government PEOPLE • Employee engagement – • Contact ranked 5th on up 12%, to 68% Thomson Reuters Global Our communities want us to be a good Partnership, protection and A competitive retail market, secure Culture • Safety performance Diversity and Inclusion Index neighbour, to look after our natural and participation in the management of supply of electricity at reasonable Diversity improved, with 10 people • 98% pay equity ratio shared resources, and to be an active natural resources alongside social, prices, fresh water, and delivering on hurt, 7 of which were strains between males and females part of the communities in which we cultural and economic development New Zealand’s energy and climate Safety or sprains within salary bands operate. are key issues for them. change targets are important to our government stakeholders. • Equal gender representation on our Board
We take this information and use it to identify the issues of highest While all the issues included in the graph are important, our importance to stakeholders that Contact can influence. We then focus is on those that are most important. These issues are all review it for completeness, sustainability context, materiality and covered in our 2017 Annual Report, which we believe gives you, stakeholder inclusiveness – to ensure that we are covering issues our stakeholders, a balanced view of our performance. across the economic, social, cultural and environmental spectrum.
Most important issues in 2017 ENVIRONMENT • Obtained green certification • 14,000 native trees planted for our debt portfolio creating across our sites MOST IMPORTANT Emissions New Zealand’s first Green • 15,231,064 megalitres of HIGH Access to energy Borrowing Programme Financial Water water used to generate sustainability New technology • Our emissions from electricity electricity, 99% of this is Education Resource Customer generation were up 3% on returned to rivers and management Biodiversity experience Biodiversity prior year, as a ‘dry winter’ geothermal reservoirs Jobs Emissions Water resulted in greater thermal Housing • 25% of our fleet are Diversity generation use. Overall, Land management electric vehicles Safety emissions from generation Changing workforce Public policy Local communities 1 Immigration are down 53% since 2012 Reliable, New technology Tangata whenua renewable Leadership/ energy supply 1. Restated. For more information see section 3 on page 56. Issues championship Value for money Culture Leveraging investments Technology/ IT systems Changing Nimble economic • $364,144 invested in local • 1,796 hours spent by competitors structures Customer COMMUNITY wellbeing communities employees volunteering
IMPORTANCE TO STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPORTANCE Waste Local communities • Over 5,000 people attended a in the community Noise International Data issues community open day at Clyde • Contact’s 2017 Reputation Oceans power station score (RepTrak) increased by 3.9 to 64.2 out of 100 IMPACT CONTACT HAS ON THESE ISSUES HIGH
20 Contact Annual Report 2017 21 Delivering on our core business Delivering on our core business core our on Delivering
Building great relationships with our customers, business partners and investors is crucial to our success.
A great customer experience
We deliver a world-class experience, We provide protection from these higher attract new customers and ensure wholesale market prices by offering more of our existing customers choose customers a fixed retail price as well as to remain with Contact by a choice of ways to pay. understanding their needs and expectations, offering value through Greater choice, inspired by the right products and services at a our customers competitive price, and providing best-in-class customer service. While the everyday conversations we have with customers help to inspire and shape Customer feedback, combined with a our products and services, the focus on developing and empowering our introduction of our customer panel in 2016 people to drive change and act in the best has given us the opportunity to gain interests of our customers, has customer insights on new initiatives before contributed significantly to the increased these are fully launched to market. performance across our key measures. In response to this insight, in August 2016 Our approach is to provide customers with we introduced a completely refreshed the right balance of choice, certainty and suite of electricity and gas plans based on control. The lack of rainfall near South what customers told us they value. This Island hydro generation storage lakes in included the choice of open or fixed term the winter of 2017 has increased the cost plans, a range of different rewards and of purchasing electricity for retailers like prompt payment discount options, as well Contact, but reinforced the strength of our as innovative new plans for holiday home business and the service we offer.
22 Contact Annual Report 2017 23 Delivering on our core business core our on Delivering
Improving our We also take steps to proactively ensure communication, we offered customers the enhancing the information tools and operational performance customers are on the right plans for their choice of selecting a fixed term plan after processes that help support our team usage levels. We’ve checked in with over the change, to provide greater certainty members’ conversation with customers. We’re constantly looking for ways to 27,100 customers this year to talk about of their future energy costs. As an employer the safety of our people improve the experience we offer their plans, energy usage and experiences and contractors is extremely important for customers by responsibly managing our with us to understand what more we could Empowering our people Contact. In our Customer business we costs and refining how we undertake our be doing to add value. day-to-day work. to delight customers transport and deliver 73,000 tonnes of We regularly review our pricing across the LPG bottles a year, have meter reading We know that if our team is empowered In the past 12 months we reduced the cost country to ensure that we’re competitive and service people out and about every with the right skills, support and of meter reading services by consolidating and in June 2017 we advised customers of day and a sales team driving across the information to help them undertake their to one supplier. Our bottled and piped LPG increases to the price of their electricity country. While this provides lots of roles, they’ll be best positioned to meet business has also continued to experience and natural gas on 1 August 2017. The opportunities for safety incidents, a great the needs of our customers in a more strong growth. During the year we reached changes are a result of increases to deal of focus and hard work have seen our responsive manner. an agreement to undertake bulk charges by network companies (who overall safety performance improve 23% transportation of LPG on behalf of Ongas transport power along the lines, to homes This year we have increased employee in FY17 (TRIFR Monitored) with the safety to introduce additional efficiency into this and businesses) and/or changes to the engagement within our Customer business performance of our LPG cylinder delivery part of the market and reduce costs. We energy price component that Contact by 19 percentage points to 72%. We business improving by 53% over the past remain number one in the LPG retail controls. Every customer’s electricity achieved this by focusing on career three years. market with 41% market share and annual usage is different; however the average development, coaching conversations growth in customer numbers of 7%. increase is just under $2 per week for our around our Behaviours, better residential customers. As part of the communication, and refreshing and Access to energy owners, renters or people who have positive and between launch in April and Energy is a critical service that impacts on multiple properties. This year we trialled a mid August Contact customers have the quality of life and wellbeing of all Contact broadband product with our received over $500,000 of savings as a New Zealanders. We recognise that a Net Promoter Score Loyalty and market share Reputation and trust employees and, following the success of result of our involvement in the range of issues impact on people’s ability this, are now offering it to selected programme, putting money back into their to access energy and that as an energy customer groups. We aim to expand the pockets and helping with the weekly company what we do, and how we do it, range of products we offer as we find ways budget. can influence this. Our focus on to provide customers with greater choice, constructively and efficiently resolving In June this year we introduced a new certainty and control. customer issues has seen Contact’s customer-inspired Contact website that market share of complaints to Utilities Our customers also told us they wanted a provides easier access to the most b se cus o er o Disputes that reach ‘deadlock’ fall to a more instant, transparent and generous common customer tasks, reduces the historical low of 15%. rewards programme, one that provided time taken to complete them and compelling discounts and cash back. increases the number of tasks that can be We continue to make improvements in the Responding to this feedback we completed online. Visit our website at way we support customers who are having in nci l e r on c in nci l e r e r r e e clu ing on c introduced AA Smartfuel rewards in April contact.co.nz to take a look at the new site. difficulty paying their bill. As part of our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an internationally Each year in the first quarter of the calendar year 2017, enabling our customers to choose Fresh Start initiative we have introduced used metric for customer advocacy, meaning we Our performance relative to other retailers is independent research company AMR calculates a Our market is not standing still. We are plans that offer between 10 cents and new processes which, along with a range can benchmark our performance against other shown by comparing the percentage of customers RepTrak reputation score for New Zealand’s top investing time and money in working with companies in our industry, as well as other leading who switch away from Contact each year against corporates out of 100, by asking members of the 50 cents per litre off a fuel purchase of up of flexible payment options recognising our customers to understand the benefits sectors across the globe. Measured monthly, NPS the level of switching for the industry (excluding public a set of questions about the trust, respect to 50 litres every month, regardless of the their personal situation, help customers to reflects the degree to which customers are willing Contact). On average every month in New Zealand and admiration they have for companies they are for them of new products and services. level of monthly energy spend. Customer manage their debt and get back on track. to promote our business to other people. over 30,000 residential electricity customers either somewhat or very familiar with. change their supplier. feedback has been overwhelmingly 2017 2017 Customers are advocating for us in greater 2017 Contact’s RepTrak score increased by 3.9 numbers, with our Net Promoter Score now at +14, More customers are choosing to stay with Contact this year to 64.2, placing Contact 20th among up from -3 last year. This result has been achieved as we maintain a lower level of customer switching New Zealand’s top corporates. off the back of a refresh of the range of products than the market. and services we offer our customers and a new digital experience.
24 Contact Annual Report 2017 25 Delivering on our core business core our on Delivering whether to electrical supply or to We believe that electric vehicles will, over Meeting future demands geothermal heat. Contact has a strong time, play a material role in the track record of delivering efficient, low decarbonisation of New Zealand’s We forecast future electricity demand carbon industrial energy solutions to large transport sector. Contact is a key using a range of data sources, including a industrial customers including at supporter of electric vehicle uptake. number of external forecasts. While there Fonterra’s Te Rapa dairy plant, where are inherent uncertainties in forecasts, Distributed energy resources like solar PV, Contact provides electricity, steam and there is a consensus that near-term battery storage and smart appliances are energy resilience through a cogeneration demand growth will be slow. We are well proliferating as technology costs fall, facility, and at the Tenon wood processing placed with our diverse and flexible fleet to giving customers greater choice and plant in Taupo, where Contact provides meet future demand in New Zealand. control over their energy usage. Contact’s process heat from its renewable $258m demand flexibility platform can help geothermal resource. We also have maximise the value of these distributed resource consents for the development of energy resources for the optimisation of the Tauhara geothermal field, which we Cost of energy the wider electricity system, enabling believe is New Zealand’s next most more rapid electrification of the attractive large-scale renewable New Zealand transport and industrial development. sectors. Te Mihi power station We continue to trial and learn about new The development of competitive markets technologies such as electric vehicles, is key for the efficient uptake of these new solar panels, batteries and more, which technologies – advocating for competitive are creating new markets and have the markets has been a key focus for Contact potential to transform the energy sector. through the last financial year.
Reliable renewable The first half of the financial year was Decarbonising energy energy supply marked by favourable hydrological in New Zealand conditions, low electricity use and above Contact’s diverse generation average temperatures across the country, We see decarbonising New Zealand’s portfolio delivers a high level of meaning that most of our production was energy sector as an important opportunity renewable generation backed by renewable. The flexibility in our generation for Contact and New Zealand. This is not thermal plant and stored gas that played an important role in the second half at odds with our use of thermal plant. ensures a sustainable supply of of the year, particularly in the final quarter, Thermal plant is critical to a sustainable electricity to our customers. as historical low inflows in the Clutha/ shift to a low carbon energy sector as it Mata-Au catchment required us to run our will be required to support intermittent Our generation strategy is centred thermal power plants more. renewable technologies for a long time yet. on maximising production of our The winter of 2017 is a prime example as renewable hydro and geothermal assets, We were able to generate 80% of our Contact’s thermal plant, backed by stored with our thermal generation and gas electricity from renewable sources but the gas at Ahuroa, supported New Zealand storage facility providing daily and lower hydro production in the final quarter through an exceptionally dry period. The seasonal risk management when resulted in our cost of energy increasing to challenge for New Zealand is to ensure renewable fuel sources are not available. $258 million. This is up on the prior year that thermal plant is rewarded sufficiently due to unfavourable hydrological Over the year our focus on continuous to continue to play that role while lower conditions in the final quarter of the improvement drove further efficiencies carbon technologies slowly replace it. financial year. The variability exhibited in across our renewable assets and hydro production showed once again the We are well placed with our deep increased flexibility in our thermal assets. value to New Zealand of maintaining knowledge of energy projects to support sufficient thermal plant. industrial fuel conversion activities,
26 Contact Annual Report 2017 27 Clyde power station Delivering on our core business core our on Delivering The last five years in review
For the year ended 30 June Unit 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Revenue $m 2,526 2,446 2,443 2,163 2,080
Expenses $m 1,985 1,859 1,918 1,640 1,586
EBITDAF $m 541 587 525 523 494
Profit/(loss) $m 199 234 133 (66) 150
Underlying profit $m 202 227 161 157 141
Underlying profit per share cps 27.7 31.0 21.9 21.7 19.7
Operating free cash flow $m 312 293 338 352 300
Operating free cash flow per share cps 42.7 40.0 46.6 48.5 41.9
Dividends declared 1 cps 25 26 76 26 26
Total assets $m 6,197 6,186 6,089 5,652 5,429
Total liabilities $m 2,660 2,604 2,918 2,829 2,654
Total equity $m 3,537 3,582 3,171 2,823 2,775 Members of the wholesale market trading team Gearing ratio 2 % 28 27 36 38 36
1. FY15 included a special dividend of 50 cents per share. Financial Contact has had a BBB Standard and This year we obtained certification from the 2. The gearing ratio calculation has changed from prior period to align with the gearing definition in Contact’s Deed of Negative Pledge and Guarantee. sustainability Poor’s (S&P) credit rating since 2002. Climate Bonds Initiative that enables Following a period of significant current and future investors the opportunity investment in building generation assets to invest in certified green debt instruments, We have over $2.7 billion in net assets, and updating our systems, our focus has recognising our significant level of more than 66,000 shareholders and been on reducing debt levels to ensure the renewable generation. Achieving this 3,600 bondholders around the world rating is maintained. This investment grade certification will allow green investment who rely on us to deliver sustainable credit rating provides a solid foundation funds globally to consider making financial returns now, and into the for the management of operational and investments in Contact for the first time. “We have more future. These investors include financial risks, allows an efficient capital New Zealand families, investment In August 2017 Contact’s Board approved a than 66,000 structure and ensures we can access firms, professional investors and change to our distribution policy to provide diverse and cost effective sources of superannuation funds that people are greater clarity for investors on expected future shareholders and funding markets around the world. relying on for their financial security returns. The revised policy targets distributions Consistent progress has been made on 3,600 bondholders during retirement. Delivering on the to shareholders at the level of between 80% reducing the net debt to EBITDAF ratio expectations of our investors is vital to and 90% of operating free cash flow, on 26 since its peak in our 2015 financial year. around the world our sustainability as a business. average over time once our net debt to During the year we reduced debt by a Cents per share EBITDAF ratio, as assessed by S&P, falls who rely on us to With no large-scale, capital-intensive further $106 million to bring the ratio down below 2.8x. This year the Board declared a TOTAL DIVIDEND investments planned in the short term, our to 3.14x as at 30 June 2017. full-year ordinary dividend of 26 cents per deliver sustainable business is able to focus on delivering DECLARED In February 2017 we issued $100 million of share (cps), which will be paid in September strong cash flows for the benefit of financial returns fixed rate retail bonds to replace wholesale and is unchanged from the prior period. We investors. Over the past year we have debt maturing in the period. Strong market will transition to the new distribution policy and continued to focus on improving now, and into interest from a broad range of investors for financial year 2018 will target an ordinary performance for our customers, while saw the bond offer oversubscribed with dividend of 32 cents per share, an increase of $494 the future.” seeking to unlock additional value for our the debt refinanced at lower interest rates 23% on financial year 2017. shareholders through a focus on cost and than the maturing debt. Million efficiency across all of our operations. EBITDAF
28 Contact Annual Report 2017 People People
Our people are the lifeblood of our business. Ensuring that they are engaged, happy and safe is important in driving world-class performance.
From customers to employees, Engaging our people business partners, or members of the community, people are vital to the So our people can deliver for our success of our business. customers and stakeholders, we need to build an organisational culture that keeps To deliver for our customers, shareholders our people engaged and motivated to do and communities we do our best to recruit, their very best. We strive to clearly develop and retain great people who have communicate our strategy and priorities the right skills and are passionate about so our employees feel personally helping make Contact a high performing connected to what we’re trying to achieve. organisation. Diversity and inclusion are a Team members are required to have key priority for us to ensure we have the right performance indicators and development mix of ideas, skills, thinking and plans that outline their expected perspectives within our organisation in contribution to Contact’s success. This is order to succeed. supported by regular performance conversations so people have the coaching and support needed to help them succeed.
30 Contact Annual Report 2017 31 People
Embracing diversity Leadership on this issue starts at the top Contact employee diversity and our Chief Executive, Dennis Barnes, is We want to attract and retain the best mix part of the Global Women Champions for Gender 5th of diverse-thinking employees – including Change group. And this year we have In the 2017 Maori, Asian and Pasifika people, from elected to be part of an initiative to provide Thomson Reuters Global millennials to those with decades of greater transparency through more Diversity and Inclusion experience, and the full spectrum of detailed diversity reporting by larger Index genders. We believe having diverse people organisations in New Zealand. and teams and an inclusive culture leads to diversity of thought, fosters better Contact’s Board of Directors is one of the decision making and drives improved most diverse among New Zealand listed business performance, creating a stronger companies. Our six person Board economy and better outcomes for comprises a 50% gender split, with two New Zealand. Diversity is also critical to members also of Maori descent. Contact navigating the change and disruption was ranked fifth in the Thomson Reuters affecting the energy sector. Global Diversity and Inclusion Index this le e le year. Thomson Reuters ranks over 5,000 We are committed to achieving pay equity companies, using publicly available and enabling flexible working practices to environmental, social and governance Age group help us attract talented people, retain and data to compile the index, focusing on develop our existing talent and achieve our metrics that indicate a diverse and business goals. inclusive workplace. During the year we have taken positive In the year ahead we will continue with our steps towards becoming a more diverse diversity and inclusion initiatives, educate and inclusive business. In June 2017 our our people about the benefits of diversity, Board approved a new diversity and develop inclusive leaders who have the inclusion policy that embraces our skills to lead diverse individuals and teams, Tikanga and encourages our people to and include diversity goals as a key own and lead an inclusive culture. It consideration in recruitment and encourages people to be authentic by Within the Generation & Development During the period we reviewed our Employee engagement succession planning. ‘bringing their human to work’ and to use business this year the team has focused on supporting central corporate functions, in flexible work practices. We are developing a programme supporting continuous order to enhance the efficiency of work leadership skills to manage and develop improvement in a range of areas, undertaken to support our Generation & diverse people and teams, and seeking Ethnicity empowering team members to be involved Development and Customer businesses opportunities to lead diversity and in identifying problems and creating to be successful and enable a more agile inclusion outside of Contact. Our policy is solutions, as well as progressing operational approach. available on our website. improvements. In the year ahead our efforts will continue Within our Customer business the team has to focus around our Tikanga and building o e plo ee e e focused on coaching conversations, better leadership capability to motivate, inspire Gender pay ratio by business group communication and career development, and develop our people. l e FY17 FY16 including a specific focus on developing Each year we undertake an employee engagement Corporate 97.1% 96.7% future leaders. Creating a better experience European (38.6%) Pasifika (2.0%) survey, independently facilitated by AON Hewitt, Customer 98.3% 98.5% Other inc. New Zealander (29.3%) Undisclosed (29.3%) for our people has helped them to be more to pin-point what employees believe we’re doing Maori (5.8%) African, Middle Eastern, responsive to our customers with the right well and where we need to improve. Contact’s Generation & Development 96.8% 96.7% Asian (6.1%) or Latin American (0.6%) products and services. long-term engagement target is a Best Employer Overall 98.0% 98.3% level of above 82%. We measure and track pay equity difference within salary bands using the average 2017 compa-ratio between males and females. This year we achieved a substantial 12% point increase, taking overall employee engagement at 2017 Contact to 68%. 98% of our female employees are earning the same average salary as males within the same salary band. This is a slight decrease on the prior year.
32 Contact Annual Report 2017 33 Environment
Total Recordable Injury Total Recordable Injury Injuries Frequency Rate – Controlled Frequency Rate – Monitored Improved 7 6 Number 5 safety 4 performance 3 2 onitore ontro e 1 0 Controlled Monitored Sprain or strain Laceration in n i e r in n i e r Poisoning or toxic effects Burns Bruising or crushing Puncture wound Our controlled TRIFR looks at how many people Our monitored TRIFR looks at how many people Foreign body Head injury are hurt when working for us under Contact’s HSE are hurt in activity where Contact supports the management systems, and includes contractors as safety outcomes, but the risk and management of Note: All 3 female injuries were sprains or strains. well as our own people. TRIFR is calculated by these is owned by the supplier of the service (such dividing the number of incidents that resulted in as meter reading, field services and franchises). medical treatment, restricted work or time off work TRIFR is calculated by dividing the number of by the hours worked, and multiplying this by 1 million. incidents that resulted in medical treatment, restricted work or time off work by the hours 2017 worked, and multiplying this by 1 million. Our controlled TRIFR for the year was 3.2, an improvement on 3.3 achieved in the prior period. 2017 10 people were hurt during the year (9 male, Our monitored TRIFR for the year was 12.7, 1 female). Our rate per 200,000 hours worked a significant improvement on 16.6 for the prior for 2017 is 0.64 and is included to enable period. 7 people were hurt during the year comparison with other organisations which (5 male, 2 female). calculate performance on this basis. Keeping our Another big step this year involved to build on successful work and learn simplifying our HSE management system from work that hasn’t gone according to people safe – this system describes our goals and plan. Improving how we share and embed Our Tikanga guides us, and our Health, commitments. Our people told us our learnings across the organisation is a Process safety incidents Safety and Environment (HSE) previous HSE management system was current focus. Process safety overly prescriptive, disengaging and no management system sets out our We surveyed our progress towards a Keeping our generation assets and LPG 100 longer relevant to our current approach. commitments to our people, contractors, generative safety culture again this year business safe and reliable is critical to our As a result we’ve moved to a management 80 customers, communities and the using an independent company. The HSE ongoing operations, so we constantly look system that is more aligned with our environment we operate in and how we culture report showed improvement with at ways to make our processes and 60 Tikanga, is integrated into the way our deal with risks and hazards. respect to empowerment of our people systems as robust as possible. business actually runs and provides 40 and a noticeable shift towards a ‘just Our approach to managing the health, helpful guidance rather than just being Our focus this year has been on ensuring culture’ enabled by better leadership. The 20 safety and wellbeing of our people, our words on paper. Our people have told us continued awareness of process safety, plant and the environment is more than findings highlighted that we’ve still got work while improving work procedures, such as 0 that they have a better understanding of having policies and procedures. It’s about to do but the clear message was to “keep our ‘management of change’ process to how their roles and activities fit into the ier ier ier in n i e r doing what you are doing until the changes how well we lead and how our people feel management system, as the language ensure it meets the needs of our people. – it’s broader than compliance alone. We become fully embedded”. We also record process safety incidents This graph represents the number of process connects them and the system and gives safety incidents recorded across our operations. have continued to evolve how we support them flexibility in the way they approach We are proud of what we have achieved and have a dashboard that enables We use the American Petroleum Institute’s our people in managing risks every day. their tasks. by taking a different approach to health visibility over our process safety barriers. Recommended Practice 754 as the basis of our process to identify and then classify process Our aspiration of a generative safety and safety. Our people and our This year we have seen a drop in recorded We’ve been building on the previous years’ safety incidents. Any incidents resulting in harm to culture continues to progress through contractors see the benefits first hand and process safety incidents. This is due to people are also recorded. success with learning teams, where we empowering our frontline workers to solve we’ve also come to the attention of the increased awareness and active moved away from traditional incident 2017 problems and work safely, simplifying wider health and safety community – management of process safety issues to In 2017 we saw a drop in Tier 3 process safety investigation processes that focused on guidance and procedures and trusting our collaborating and participating in a much address barriers before an incident occurs. incidents across our Generation and LPG business. finding fault to a more collaborative This is a result of embedded awareness of process people to make the right decisions for the larger discussion, and sharing our stories approach focused on how to improve. This safety, which has led to early identification and right reasons. We have used this approach and learnings with many other management of issues. In LPG, for example, most of year we engaged with a broad group of over the past year to refine many of our organisations and industry groups. our Tier 3 incidents are third parties digging up and/or procedures for high risk activities such as people across the business to help evolve damaging our gas pipes. This was reduced over the learning teams – they are now using these year as our teams proactively worked with industry Safe Working at Height and Lift and Load. peers to address these issues before they occurred.
34 Contact Annual Report 2017 35 Environment Environment
We rely on natural resources to generate electricity, so in line with our Tikanga we aim to be good stewards of these resources.
In harnessing energy from natural Risks and opportunities In New Zealand we have the Emissions resources, our activities impact on the Trading Scheme (ETS), which requires environment around our operational Climate-related risks and opportunities participants like Contact to purchase sites. While our resource consents are considered through our annual carbon emission units and surrender units guide us in reducing and mitigating strategy process, which involves a based on our calendar year emissions. many of these impacts, we aim to be thorough analysis of the external Prices on greenhouse gas emissions, proactive in our stewardship of the environment in which Contact operates. implemented through the ETS, affect the resources that we rely on, to ensure This analysis identifies trends, risks and cost of supplying electricity, which creates they remain for generations to come. opportunities across a range of risk for new and existing thermal environmental, economic and social areas. generation but also creates opportunities Scenarios of what the future could look for new and existing renewable generation. Climate change like are then created and used by management and the Board to guide We also see a number of opportunities in Climate change is a significant global decision making. the low carbon transition. Using our deep issue which has the potential to adversely experience of renewable generation we impact the environment, communities We have identified a number of can assist other businesses to transition to and the economy. Contact is planning to climate-related risks including changes in lower carbon fuels. The transition may also continue to play a big role in decarbonising demand for energy, cost of supplying drive an increase in electricity demand, for energy use and production in New Zealand. energy, and fuel availability for electricity which we are well positioned with options In line with this we also obtained green generation. High levels of adoption of new to develop the consented Tauhara certification for a proportion of our debt technologies and/or energy efficient geothermal power station if an increase in portfolio recognising the sustainable low products could impact the demand for demand or the opportunity to replace carbon nature of our geothermal assets. energy from Contact’s customers. Climate existing thermal generation presents itself. We have significantly reduced our own change may also impact on natural The Tauhara geothermal resource also emissions over the last six years and we resources that Contact uses to generate provides an opportunity for a low carbon are now looking at supporting industry, electricity; for example changes in rainfall source of heat for industry, of which a vehicle fleets, and the generation market patterns may affect Contact’s ability to significant portion is currently fuelled by to transition to lower carbon fuels. generate electricity from hydro resources fossil fuels. and costs to supply electricity to our customers when they need it.
36 Contact Annual Report 2017 37 Left: Contact branded electric vehicle loaned to commercial and industrial customers. Below: Te Mihi geothermal power station.
Water
We use water in a wide variety of ways in The Wairakei bioreactor our business. At our geothermal and thermal plants we use fresh water for cooling and air emissions reduction. Hydro power stations on the Clutha/Mata-Au generate renewable electricity from river At our geothermal and thermal power To support our sustainable management and stored water at Lake Hawea. stations we have some impacts on water of freshwater resources, we created a Over the year the link between water use quality, which we manage in accordance water dashboard that makes it easier to and emissions was very clearly illustrated with our resource consents. At our monitor water use across our operations. with the first half of the year marked by Wairakei power station, where we We used 15,231,064 megalitres of water favourable hydrological conditions, lower discharge some geothermal water to the over this financial year. 99% of this was electricity use and above average Waikato river, we have a bioreactor which water was not consumed, but returned to temperatures across the country. This biologically treats and removes most of either rivers or geothermal reservoirs. The meant we could make the most of our the dissolved Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) remainder was discharged in line with renewable generation options and reduce from our cooling water before the water is resource consents. returned to the river. In August 2016 our thermal operations. The second half of the Our Water Commitment, developed in consent limit for the discharge of H S to financial year, and in particular the final 2 2015, positions us proactively on issues the river reduced from 2,800 kilograms quarter, was characterised by historically that matter to stakeholders such as per week to 630 kilograms per week. This low inflows in the Clutha/Mata-Au access, quality, quantity and ownership of was completed successfully by ensuring catchment. This required us to run our water. We also participate in local and that all cooling water is treated by the Our emissions This is because our thermal generation vehicle fleet will be electric by 2019. As at gas-fired thermal power plants more, national stakeholder forums, such as bioreactor before being discharged. Since continues to play an important role in 30 June 2017 the proportion of EVs in our resulting in a higher cost of energy and regional plan processes and Our geothermal and thermal operations these changes were made, our average ensuring a reliable supply of electricity at fleet sits at 25%. increased greenhouse gas emissions New Zealand’s Land and Water Forum to and vehicle use produce greenhouse gas weekly discharge is less than half the times of high demand or when renewable output during this period. ensure that the community and policy emissions. We also buy and sell LPG and allowable limit. sources of electricity are unavailable. But makers are aware of our interests and the natural gas. We monitor these emissions Emissions from we believe that every bit counts. And so we role we will play in ensuring this precious and other discharges to air in line with electricity generation continue to seek emissions reductions resource remains for generations to come. resource consents and reporting across our business by maximising the Water usage for year ended 30 June 2017 requirements under the ETS. We also output of our renewable assets; operating Our belief is that water is for all voluntarily report our vehicle emissions in New Zealanders to share, and our thermal plant efficiently; seeking energy Source / Water use Withdrawal (ML)1 Discharge (ML)
our Annual Reports. mi ion e access to this resource is a privilege efficiencies in our offices; electrifying our Geothermal reservoir 103,547 that comes with responsibilities that vehicle fleet; and investigating new This year our emissions from electricity t define our use. We will maximise the generation increased by 3% on the prior technologies that support our goals and River and surface water 3,201 efficiency of our water use, enhance water year as a result of the historically low those of our customers. Water from third parties 316 quality, and play our part in ensuring inflows into the Clutha/Mata-Au We offer an energy solutions service to our sustainable access to water for cultural, catchment in winter, requiring us to run our Council 2 53 commercial and industrial customers to recreational and economic uses. We seek thermal power stations more in order to identify energy efficiency opportunities in n i e r Discharge from all sources 21,823 to ensure that every decision we make in maintain a reliable supply of energy to that then help them to reduce both their relation to water is in accordance with the market. energy costs and emissions from This graph shows the total emissions Grand total 107,117 21,823 from our power stations in tonnes of carbon this Commitment. Over the last six years, however, Contact’s electricity use. We are also using dioxide equivalents. distributed generation and energy storage investment into building a renewable and 2017 Non-consumptive water usage3 (ML) flexible generation fleet has enabled us to in a number of new technology trials to Our emissions from electricity generation develop and test innovative products for increased by 3% on the prior year due to a dry final significantly reduce our emissions, and Clutha/Mata-Au river water4 14,647,193 our customers. Electric vehicles (EVs), for quarter of the financial year which saw us running since 2012 we have reduced emissions by our gas-fired power stations hard in order to meet 53%1. Our ability to make further emissions example, hold the potential to significantly New Zealand’s electricity needs. Geothermal reservoir 66,236 reduce New Zealand’s carbon footprint. reductions from our generation fleet Geothermal cooling water 410,518 without increasing market risks is limited. We have set a target that 30% of our Grand total 15,123,947
1. Megalitres 1. Restated. For more information see section 3 on page 56. 2. Council water usage is estimated based on a per-person flow allowance. 3. Non-consumptive use refers to water that flows through our dams, or is returned to river or the reservoir that it has been drawn from. 4. Clutha/Mata-Au River water flows through both the Roxburgh and Clyde dams.
38 Contact Annual Report 2017 39 Community Community
Biodiversity Geothermal Hydro During the year we brought together a Our geothermal operations are The construction of our hydro operations diverse range of stakeholders to help us undertaken on land we own or occupy and in the 1980s had significant impacts on the formulate a broader response to has been largely cleared of native aquatic habitat of the Clutha/Mata-Au. We biodiversity issues. Their input ultimately vegetation. The use of geothermal have a Native Fish Management Plan as guided us towards growing our green resources can contribute to a decrease in part of our consent conditions, the business credentials by seeking green surface heat patterns, which in turn affects implementation of which has been agreed certification for our debt portfolio and the availability of habitat for thermotolerant with the Department of Conservation. sharing our progress on environmental species. In addition, our discharges can The plan implements projects such as issues; developing a biodiversity work negatively affect water quality. longfin eel (tuna) and lamprey (kanakana) surveys, whitebait (inanga) population programme which includes ‘hands-on’ This year we completed fencing to keep monitoring and habitat enhancement, activities to address our biodiversity stock away from all permanently flowing We work within and fish passage work. We also carry impacts; and adopting practices that watercourses on Contact owned or leased out work under our Sports Fish enable us to show we are good stewards land relating to our geothermal operations. Management Plan to maintain and communities across of the resources that future generations This helps protect freshwater resources improve recreational fishing. will inherit. from contamination by animals and New Zealand and aim The diverse nature of our operations supports the Waikato Regional Council’s This year we undertook planting, fencing means that our impacts differ across each implementation of its Healthy Rivers Plan. and pest control as part of our Hawea of our sites. As such we’ve adopted local We undertook thermotolerant vegetation Foreshore and Landscape Plan, and to be a good neighbour, responses to local biodiversity issues. surveys to monitor our impacts, fenced planted a further 2,000 trees around the Additionally we set ourselves a target of areas around these species, and Lower Clutha/Mata-Au . We also a supportive member planting 10,000 native trees during the undertook pest plant removal work. We supported the Untouched World financial year. We have exceeded this, with also completed maintenance works at the Charitable Trust’s Waterwise programme, over 14,000 trees planted across our sites Torepatutahi wetland (replanting and which builds students’ understanding of the community with the support of our local communities. clearing of pest species across 28ha), of water issues including its uses, which is an ‘offset’ site for impacts availability, quality and economic issues. associated with our Ohaaki power station. It also exposes them to a range of and a trusted steward This work is assessed by an independent water users from industry to farming, assurer every two years to ensure the cultural and recreational users to of resources. work is carried out to a high standard. support their understanding of sustainable water management. In partnership with Greening Taupo and our local community we also planted more than 10,000 native trees around our sites Thermal resource consents we also work hard to We have regional partnerships around in Taupo. We’re the proud sponsor of Kids Supporting local At our thermal power stations our impacts ensure that we’re proactively participating our generation sites, which have enabled Greening Taupo, which helps build the on biodiversity relate to emissions and the communities in our local communities. us to support some significant outcomes next generation of eco-champions in the for our communities. In Taupo, for management of the land we own. We We live and work in communities This year we invested $346,144 into our region. We’ve also partnered with The Kiwi example, we’ve been partnering with undertake pest control work in line with throughout the country and we know that communities through sponsorships, Trust, to help them nurture kiwi at the Swim Well for seven years, and over that the Taranaki Regional Council’s pest our every action impacts on the people partnerships and donations. In Levin, neighbouring Wairakei Golf Sanctuary and time we’ve helped teach 24,672 kids to management plan. We undertook riparian and the environment around us. So being a Ohaaki and Taupo we have community rehabilitate them back into the wild. swim, and delivered 173,452 swimming planting along the Kahouri Stream and good neighbour and a good corporate engagement plans to guide our activities. Patea Rivers, planting 2,000 trees, and citizen is an important part of how we lessons. In Otago, where we have the removed pest species (both plant and operate. It’s also about living our Tikanga, In most places, however, our focus is on Clyde and Roxburgh dams, we’re animals including stoats, possums, and and ensuring that we demonstrate to our supporting our local teams to build celebrating 13 years as principal partner of willow trees) from these areas. stakeholders that we care about community relationships and lead our the Contact Alexandra Blossom Festival, New Zealand and its people. investment in their region through our site and 10 years backing the Contact Epic sponsorship programme. Some examples Mountain Bike Challenge around Our approach to community engagement of initiatives supported through this Lake Hawea. is truly local. We focus on building programme include Reporoa College’s Through ‘Community Contact’, our long-term relationships based on trust leadership programme, CACTUS; Lake employee volunteer programme, we with community stakeholders who live and Hawea Community Centre’s purchase of an enable our people to draw on a pool of work around our sites. While at times our emergency generator; and Cromwell-based Ohaaki wetlands, near Contact’s a maximum of 8,000 hours to spend engagement is driven by operational Mokihi Trust’s native planting programme. geothermal generation facilities. supporting community initiatives.
40 Contact Annual Report 2017 41 Left: Dorothy Raroa (Ngati Tahu, Ngati Whaoa, Ngati Wahiao, Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Porou) meets students of RAPland School in Kenya. Governance, Below: Swimming instructor takes a lesson as part of the Contact Swim Well Taupo initiative. Remuneration Report, Statutory Disclosures & Sustainability Reporting
Employees across the country this year plans on specific operational issues when programme, now in its third year, which 44 spent 1,796 hours giving their time and and if required. We also rely on our values saw us support four interns this year in Governance expertise to community organisations. – our Tikanga - and our overarching partnership with our iwi/hapu partners and philosophy to be “the neighbour you’d Waikato University. Our internships are We’re always looking for new ways to want” to guide our decision making to aimed at fostering Maori development, engage with communities. This year we ensure we are balancing the needs of our while supporting Contact’s endeavour to held a community open day at the iconic stakeholders. For example, we have had build stronger relationships with tangata Clyde Dam for the first time since it began complaints of noise from our Te Mihi whenua. We have also provided operating in 1992. It was a huge success power station. While the noise is within opportunities for employees to develop with a turnout of more than 5,000 people. consented levels, and we believe that their Te Reo Maori skills and have actively As part of the day our local team we’ve delivered beyond our compliance worked on improving our relationships and partnered with the Lake Dunstan Lions requirements, we also want to be a good communication with tangata whenua 47 Club to guide the visitors around the site in neighbour and so over the last year have around our operational sites. Remuneration Report return for donations. The initiative raised worked with those neighbours affected to over $6,000 which will be used to develop This year in partnership with Ngati Tahu, find solutions to ensure that we are walking a public barbecue area on the lakeshore who own the land the Ohaaki power station the talk on our Tikanga and being a good near the dam. sits on, Contact participated in an neighbour. exchange programme funded by the In June 2017 this year we also held a family United States Energy Association to day at Wairakei for our people, contractors Tangata whenua support community engagement with an and business partners. Our teams put on a We recognise the special relationship that energy company in Kenya. We were wide range of activities to showcase the hapu and iwi (indigenous communities) humbled to be asked to participate by the 51 work that goes into producing geothermal have with the land and environment iwi, and to share our learnings on how to Statutory Disclosures energy. This was attended by more than around our operations. We aim to be build positive and empowering 250 close friends and family, and was a respectful, open and supportive of tangata relationships with tangata whenua. We great opportunity for our families to see whenua aspirations and we work hard to were also pleased to contribute to, and what we do, and for our people to build positive long-term relationships. learn from, other power companies and demonstrate their world-class geothermal indigenous communities to support skills and knowledge to the community. We have a number of hapu and iwi community empowerment both here at agreements in place supported by an The nature of our operations means that home and globally. overarching tangata whenua strategy. As a our relationships can be tested at times. result of this strategy we have established We keep a register of community issues 55 programmes such as our Maori internship and develop community engagement Sustainability Reporting
43 Governance Governance
At Contact we believe that good corporate One-third of our directors is required by our constitution to retire by Attendance at Board and committee meetings Our Diversity and Inclusion Policy, which was approved by the Board in governance is important as it protects the rotation at each annual meeting and is eligible to stand for re-election June 2017, provides the framework for diversity and inclusion initiatives interests of investors and creates and enhances by shareholders. That means each director is up for re-election at least Remuneration Health, Safety at Contact. Our diversity objectives are set by the Board. Each year the every three years. Information about candidates for election or Audit and Nominations and Environment Board reviews the objectives with management and assesses our value over the short and long term. We regularly Director Board Committee Committee Committee review our corporate governance systems and re-election is included in the notice of meeting to assist shareholders’ progress towards meeting them. Although it is too early for us to decision as to whether or not to elect or re-elect the candidate. Number of meetings 10 4 4 3 provide a full evaluation of performance against our Diversity and are always looking for opportunities to improve Inclusion Policy, information about our diversity progress this year is set the way we do things. The Board considers all of the current directors to be independent in Sir Ralph Norris 10 2* 4 3* that they are not executives of the company and do not have a direct or out on page 33. Victoria Crone 10 4 3 indirect interest or relationship that could reasonably influence, in a Health and Safety Whaimutu Dewes 10 4 3 We welcome NZX’s recent publication of its Corporate Governance material way, their decisions in relation to Contact. Our commitment to health and safety is outlined in our Health, Safety Rob McDonald** 10 4 2 Code (the NZX Code), which sets clear standards for effective corpo- Board performance and Environment Policy. Under this policy, health and safety risk is rate governance for New Zealand issuers. Although reporting against Sue Sheldon 10 4 4 2* managed through effective leadership and by engaging our people in the NZX Code is not mandatory this year, we have chosen to do so We recognise the value of professional development and the need for directors to remain current in relation to both industry and corporate Elena Trout*** 8 2* 2 health and safety activities. We work with our people to develop robust to provide transparency on how our corporate governance practices processes and procedures that lay the foundation for safe and measure up against what NZX sees as best practice. governance matters. Contact assists directors with their professional * The relevant director is not a member of the committee, but attended as an development in a number of ways, including an induction programme observer. sustainable work. By focusing on learning and improving, and Our full reporting against the NZX Code is set out in our Corporate for new directors and briefings to upskill the Board on new ** Rob McDonald ceased to be a member of Health, Safety and Environment empowering workers at the front line to actively manage safety Governance Statement, which is available on our website at Committee on 1 April 2017. developments, such as changes to relevant law. outcomes, we continually strengthen our capacity to fail safely and www.contact.co.nz/AboutUs/Investor-Centre/Governance. A *** Elena Trout was appointed to the Board on 3 October 2016 and to the Health, reduce our environmental impact. summary of our corporate governance practices is set out in this Reviews of the performance of the Board and individual directors are Safety and Environment Committee on 1 April 2017. carried out regularly to ensure the Board as a whole and individual More information about our health and safety performance is on section of the Annual Report. We comply with the corporate pages 34-35. governance policies, practices and processes of the NZX Code except directors are performing to a high standard. This financial year, the OUR CORPORATE POLICIES as noted otherwise in our Corporate Governance Statement. Board commissioned Propero Consulting Limited (Propero) to conduct an independent review. The Board received a report including Unless stated otherwise all of the information in this section is current Code of Conduct REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE recommendations, and each director received a personalised as at 30 June 2017. We are guided by our Tikanga – our set of beliefs, comprising our Continuous disclosure feedback report on their performance, and a coaching session with purpose, commitments, principles and behaviours. These beliefs guide We are committed to ensuring that all of our investors have timely Propero. The Board has reviewed the outcome of the evaluation by the actions we take, both as individuals and as an organisation, our access to full and accurate material information about Contact. Our CONTACT’S BOARD Propero and collectively discussed and agreed actions. These will be decision making and the way we treat each other and our customers, Market Disclosure Policy sets out procedures that are in place to make monitored and progress assessed at set milestones. shareholders and the communities we are part of. The Board’s role and responsibilities sure all material information is identified, reported for review and, Our Board is elected by our shareholders and is accountable to them Board committees Our Code of Conduct outlines how Contact people are expected to where required, disclosed in a timely manner. It also describes the for the performance of Contact. The Board’s primary role is to ensure The Board has established Board committees to perform work and behave. It applies equally to our directors, employees and contingent procedures that have been adopted to prevent the selective disclosure the long-term prosperity of Contact. Specific responsibilities include: provide specialist advice in particular areas. We have three standing workers (such as contractors). Our Tikanga sits at the heart of our of material, non-public information. Code of Conduct. • setting and approving the strategic direction of Contact committees: the Audit Committee; the Remuneration and Nominations Under the policy, Leadership Team members and other executives are Committee; and the Health, Safety and Environment Committee. Contact people are encouraged to report breaches, or suspected • monitoring financial performance required to escalate any potential ‘material information’ matters to the Members are chosen for the skills, experience and other qualities they breaches, of the Code of Conduct to their manager, a Leadership CEO, CFO and general counsel (the Disclosure Group). The • ensuring appropriate systems are established to manage risk bring to the relevant committee. Team member or a representative from People and Safety. Breaches Disclosure Group is ultimately responsible for approving the form and • reviewing and approving our compliance systems The current members of the committees are: of the Code of Conduct or other serious wrongdoing may also be content of material information that is disclosed. The company • overseeing our commitment to our values, sustainable reported via the ‘whistleblowing’ procedures of our Protected secretary then coordinates disclosure to the market. We also monitor development, the community and environment, and the health and Disclosures (Whistleblowing) Policy, which includes an option for information in the market about Contact and will release information to safety of our people. Committee Members people to report an issue or potential issue through an independent the extent necessary to prevent development of a false market for reporting service. Audit Sue Sheldon (chair) Contact shares. Board composition Whaimutu Dewes, Rob McDonald Securities Trading Our Board consists of six directors, with a wide range of skills, Financial reporting Remuneration and Nominations Sir Ralph Norris (chair) Our Securities Trading Policy sets out Contact’s expectations and experience and points of view. The Contact Board is one of the most Victoria Crone and Sue Sheldon The Audit Committee oversees the preparation of our financial diverse in the top 50 New Zealand listed companies, with 50% female requirements for all our people, including directors, when buying, selling statements, including materiality guidance and setting policy to ensure Health, Safety and Environment Whaimutu Dewes (chair) representation and two directors with Maori heritage. Profiles of each or otherwise dealing with Contact shares or bonds. the information presented is useful for investors and other Victoria Crone and Elena Trout director, including length of service, are set out on pages 8-9. In addition to the prohibition on insider trading, Contact people must stakeholders. We make our financial statements easy to read by using The Board has developed a skills matrix, which sets out the skills that not buy or sell Contact securities during ‘blackout periods’. These clear, plain language, and structure them so that key information is the Board believes are necessary for Contact’s success and measures Each committee operates under a written charter, which is available on blackout periods occur twice per year, before each of the half and presented at the beginning. In addition to the full-year audit, our the key skills of each director against the desired skills. It is not our website. Detailed information about the role and responsibilities of full-year results. Certain individuals within Contact, including the auditors complete a review of the half-year financial statements and we expected that every director will be an expert in every area, but all each committee is available in our Corporate Governance Statement. directors, all members of the Leadership Team and some others undertake an internal certification process to ensure the information skills should be represented in the Board as a whole. Candidates for (‘restricted persons’) must obtain the written consent of the company presented is accurate, balanced and objective. appointment are assessed against the skills matrix with a focus on areas before buying or selling Contact securities (which can only occur Non-financial reporting of competence the Board is looking to acquire with any new appointments. outside of blackout periods). We offer our people training on insider trading law and Contact As part of our commitment to providing our investors and other procedures. Anyone who, from time to time, may be in possession of stakeholders with access to all relevant information about Contact, we material information about Contact is required to complete this training report on material environmental, social and governance factors and every year. Through our share registrar, Link Market Services (Link), we practices in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) actively monitor trading in Contact shares by our restricted persons. guidelines in our Annual Report. We’ve chosen to use GRI because it is an internationally recognised framework under which we can present Diversity and Inclusion information on the particular matters that are significant for Contact We believe a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture lead to diversity and our stakeholders. While we do not have a policy on the assurance of thought and better decision making, drive stronger business of non-financial or sustainability data, our sustainability reporting data performance, and create a stronger economy and a better world. is independently reviewed by Deloitte.
44 Contact Annual Report 2017 45 Remuneration Report Remuneration Report Report Remuneration
RISK MANAGEMENT AND ASSURANCE INVESTOR RELATIONS Contact is committed to ensuring that the remuneration of Board Directors, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Leadership Team and all of our Risk management Investor relations programme people at Contact is transparent, fair and reasonable. Our Board has established a robust risk management framework We have designed and implemented an investor relations programme across the business, which is aligned to the International Standard ISO to facilitate effective two-way communication with investors. The DIRECTORS’ REMUNERATION 31000, Risk Management – Principles and Guidelines. Our framework investor relations programme provides the context in which The total directors’ fee pool is $1,500,000 per annum. It has not been increased since it was approved by shareholders in 2008. Actual fees paid ensures that there are appropriate systems in place to identify the shareholders and potential investors can make an informed judgement to directors are determined by the Board on the recommendation of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee. material risks Contact faces. We make sure that we understand the about the fair value of Contact’s shares consistently over time. potential impact of identified risks and that, where applicable, The remuneration scale for directors at 30 June 2017 is set out below. Between FY16 and FY17, the fees increased by between 2.8% and 4.3%, A primary aim of our investor relations programme is to allow investors with no increase to the Board Chairman’s fees. The overall increase was 2.2%. appropriate tolerance limits are set by the Board. Our framework and other financial market participants to gain a greater understanding ensures that responsibilities are assigned to individuals to manage of Contact’s business, governance, financial performance and identified risks and that any material changes to Contact’s risk profile prospects. It also provides an opportunity for investors and other FY17 are monitored. financial market participants to express their views on matters of Chairman Member concern or interest to them, and for those views to then be distilled and per annum per annum Assurance communicated to our Board. Board of Directors1 $300,000 $130,000 Our Business Assurance team fulfils our internal audit function and Audit Committee $60,000 $32,500 provides objective assurance of the effectiveness of our internal Investor communication and information Health, Safety and Environment Committee $24,500 $12,500 control framework. The team is based in-house, but draws on external The investor section of our website is regularly updated. It contains expertise where required. brief biographies of directors, the CEO and Leadership Team; financial Remuneration and Nominations Committee $24,500 $12,500 The team helps us to achieve our objectives by bringing a disciplined and operational information (including copies of annual reports and 1. No additional fees are paid to the Board Chairman for committee roles. approach to evaluating and improving the effectiveness of risk financial statements); details of previous annual shareholder meetings; management, internal controls and governance processes. We use a key governance documents; and copies of NZX/ASX announcements. Directors’ fees exclude GST, where appropriate. In addition, Board members are reimbursed for costs directly associated with carrying out their risk-based assurance approach driven from our risk management To ensure that our investors and the market are kept up-to-date, we duties, such as travel costs. system. The Business Assurance team also assists external audits by release a regular operating report that sets out key information about Details of the total remuneration received by each Contact director for FY17 are as follows: making findings from the internal assurance process available for the Contact’s performance. These reports are also available on our external auditor to consider when providing their opinion on the website. Health, Safety Remuneration financial statements. The team has unrestricted access to all other Audit and Environment and Nominations Total departments, records and systems of Contact, and to the external Annual shareholder meeting Directors Board fees Committee Committee Committee remuneration auditor and other third parties as it deems necessary. Our annual shareholder meeting is held around October each year. We Sir Ralph Norris (Chairman)1 $300,000 $0 $300,000 hold it in a location and at a time that enables a number of shareholders (Chair) to attend. There were 167 shareholders at our 2016 meeting in AUDITORS Auckland (117 shareholders in Wellington in 2015). A webcast of the Victoria Crone $130,000 $12,500 $12,500 $155,000 We recognise that the role of our external auditor is critical for the meeting is made available on our website for those shareholders who Whaimutu Dewes $130,000 $32,500 $24,500 $187,000 integrity of our financial reporting. KPMG is our external auditor and our are unable to attend. Our directors, CEO and members of our (Chair) audit partner is David Gates. David has been our audit partner for two Leadership Team attend the meeting and really enjoy the opportunity Rob McDonald2 $130,000 $32,500 $9,375 $171,875 financial years. to meet and talk with our shareholders. Sue Sheldon $130,000 $60,000 $12,500 $202,500 Our External Audit Independence Policy sets out the framework under Our notice of meeting is sent to all of our shareholders and posted on (Chair) which we ensure the independence of the external auditors is our website. Voting at our annual shareholder meeting in October 2016 Elena Trout3 $97,50 0 $3,125 $100,625 maintained and that their ability to carry out their statutory audit role is was by poll (i.e. one vote per share) and we will continue this practice at Total $917,500 $125,000 $49,500 $25,000 $1,117,000 not impaired. Under this policy, the external auditor may not undertake our shareholder meeting in 2017. any work for Contact that compromises, or is seen to compromise, the 1. Inclusive of committee fees. independence and objectivity of the external audit process. In addition, 2. Ceased to be a member of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee effective 1 April 2017. 3. Appointed to the Board on 3 October 2016 and member of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee effective 1 April 2017. KPMG confirms their continuing independent status to the Board every six months. Before KPMG undertakes any non-audit work for Contact, specific approval must be given by the Audit Committee or the Audit Committee chairman. Approval will only be given where the performance of such work does not compromise KPMG’s independence. Representatives from KPMG attend Contact’s annual shareholder meeting each year, where they are available to answer any questions from shareholders in relation to the audit.
For more detailed information about our corporate governance practices see our Corporate Governance Statement at: www.contact.co.nz/AboutUs/Investor-Centre/Governance
46 Contact Annual Report 2017 47 Remuneration Report Report Remuneration
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER REMUNERATION The scenario chart below demonstrates the elements of the CEO remuneration design for the year ended 30 June 2017. The CEO’s remuneration is approved by the Board on the recommendation of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee. The remuneration reflects the breadth and complexity of the role; references market remuneration data benchmarks; is linked to the achievement of performance goals; CEO remuneration and aligns with the creation of sustainable shareholder value in the long term. The total remuneration paid includes a fixed remuneration component comprising cash salary and other employment benefits, and pay for performance remuneration comprising short-term incentives (cash and equity 3,000
awarded through deferred share rights) and long-term incentives (equity awarded through share options and performance share rights). $000s 2,500 CEO remuneration for performance periods ended 30 June 2016 and 30 June 2017 2,000 1,500 TOTAL FIXED REMUNERATION PAY FOR PERFORMANCE REMUNERATION REMUNERATION 1,000 Salary paid Benefits 1 Subtotal Cash STI Equity STI Equity LTI Subtotal 500 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0 3 5 7 FY17 939,834 42,026 981,860 471,200 157,381 471,200 1,099,781 2,081,641 Fixed On-plan Maximum remuneration remuneration potential FY16 814,223 2 40,096 854,319 417,825 4 139,5546 464,2508 1,021,629 1,875,948 remuneration
1. Benefits include 3% KiwiSaver contribution and Health Insurance. Base salary and benefits Short-term incentive – equity Short-term incentive – cash Long-term incentive – equity 2. Payment for partial period as appointed permanently to Contact in August 2015. Figure excludes one-off lump sum of $200,000 for the benefits relinquished as a result of leaving Origin Energy. 3. STI for FY17 period, paid in FY18. Five year CEO remuneration summary 4. STI for FY16 period, paid in FY17. 5. Equity – based on face value allocation, performance hurdles tested 2019, if met will be paid in shares. 6. Equity – based on face value allocation, performance hurdles tested 2018, if met will be paid in shares. Percentage Cash Percentage vested Percentage vested 7. Equity – based on face value allocation, performance hurdles tested 2020 and 2021, if met will be paid in shares. Total STI awarded Equity STI Span of Equity Equity LTI Span of Equity 8. Equity – based on face value allocation, performance hurdles tested 2019 and 2020, if met will be paid in shares. remuneration paid1 against maximum against maximum STI performance against maximum LTI performance $ % % period % period Pay for performance CEO remuneration breakdown for the year ended 30 June 2017 FY17 2,081,641 50% 0 % n/a 0 % n/a FY16 1,875,948 45% 100%2 2014-2016 100% 2010-2013 Scheme Description Performance measure Percentage awarded % 2011-2014 Cash STI Cash STI is a discretionary scheme 60% based on Corporate shared KPIs: 50% (payable in September 2017) 2012-2015 based on achievement of KPIs. 2013-2016 • 60% Free cash flow 2014-2017 Maximum potential set at 100% of base • 30% Earnings per share FY15 1,210,145 3 35% 0% n/a 0% n/a salary. • 10% Total recordable injury frequency rate FY14 1,463,316 3 69% 0% n/a 0% n/a 40% based on individual KPIs being FY13 1,582,924 3 72% 0% n/a 0% n/a costs, engagement, customer advocacy and strategy 1. Total remuneration paid includes salary, benefits, Cash STI, and Equity STI and LTI face values which have been allocated but awards are subject to achievement of Equity STI Equity STI allows the CEO to acquire The CEO’s performance influences the 16.7% (to be granted 1 October 2017 performance hurdles. (awarded as deferred shares at a $0 exercise price subject to Equity STI awarded by the Board. and tested October 2019) 2. 100% of Equity STI and LTI vested in August 2015 as a result of Origin selling its shareholding in Contact triggering vesting of equity due to the change of control. share rights) the time-bound exercise hurdle being 3. Dennis Barnes was seconded to the role of CEO by his employer Origin Energy Limited from April 2011 until August 2015. During the term of the secondment achieved. The exercise hurdle to receive these is remuneration paid by Contact to Dennis Barnes was processed by Contact reimbursing Origin Energy for his costs. The figures provided confirm his base salary level to remain employed by Contact 2 years and Cash STI for the periods. Maximum potential set at 33.4% of from the grant date. base salary. Three year summary TSR performance Equity LTI Equity LTI allows the CEO to acquire The CEO’s performance influences 50% (to be granted 1 October 2017
(awarded as options shares at the specified exercise price the Equity LTI awarded by the Board. and tested October 2020 and 2021) and performance subject to the exercise hurdle being The exercise hurdle to receive these share rights) achieved. is Contact’s relative total shareholder return (TSR) ranking within a peer group Maximum potential set at 66.6% of of other New Zealand NZX50 listed base salary. utilities companies. Tested twice over a 4 year period at year 3 and year 4. 50% vesting at 50th percentile and 100% at 75th percentile; pro-rata vesting in between.