As predicted —Aurora Energy delivery stuffed on pole replacement

I T ● W A S ● N E V E R ● G O I N G ● T O ● H A P P E N

Aurora Energy board chair Steve Thompson should shuffle back under his rock.
DCHL chairman Graham Crombie, mowing lawns at Clyde, has nothing to say.
The largest risk to the Otago Community continues to be Aurora itself.

At Facebook:

### ODT Online Mon, 24 Apr 2017
Aurora sets new date to ‘remove risk’
By Vaughan Elder
Aurora Energy has abandoned a target to have all condition-zero poles replaced by the end of this month, saying it was now on track to “remove the risk” of 2910 poles by the end of this year. […] An Aurora spokesman said it had abandoned its original plan to replace all 1181 condition-zero poles, which are the worst-rated poles on its network, by the end of this month.
“Our target is to remove the risk around 2910 priority poles by the end of the year and we are on track to achieve that. That’s the target we are working towards. The April target was an initial working target before detailed programme planning had been completed.” After being given more than two weeks to respond, the spokesman did not say how many new condition-one and zero poles had been discovered during its fast-track programme, saying: “We don’t have these figures to hand today”.
Read more

The article also says: “Aurora had stepped up customer service support and communication so its customers were informed when power needed to be cut.” As far as we know this support and communication has been seriously deficient in many instances.

█ Customers should check the Aurora website on outage days for cancellations.
http://www.auroraenergy.co.nz/outages/

****

At Facebook:

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Related Posts and Comments:
21.4.17 Why would DCC shaft its own company instead of investing in its change and development ?!
14.4.17 Dunedin homes face power blackout #Delta #Aurora
11.3.17 How Safe Are We/Our Businesses with the Corporate Disaster that’s Aurora, owned by DCC ? #reliability

█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *grady*, *godfrey*, *poles*, *asset management plan*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *epicpolefail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Aurora Energy at ODT 24.2.17 follows #LGOIMA

Broad spectrum (?!) LGOIMA request from earlier this week and interim acknowledgement:

From: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Monday, 20 February 2017 7:24 PM
To: Grady Cameron
Cc: Elizabeth Kerr
Subject: Aurora Energy Ltd – Official Information Request (LGOIMA)

Attention Grady Cameron
Chief Executive, Aurora Energy Ltd

Dear Grady

How is Aurora Energy Ltd funding the $30million pole replacement programme you speak about – from capex (capital expenditure), opex (operational expenditure), a combination of the two? or by other means? (please state)

Will Aurora Energy Ltd attempt to raise line charges for Otago power consumers, to achieve the number of (dangerous) pole replacements required in the next 3-5 years – how soon will line charges increase and by how much given regulatory scrutiny by the Commerce Commission?*

Is Aurora Energy Ltd solvent at this time? Explain.

Please provide any financial detail(s) salient to these matters.

Sincerely

Elizabeth Kerr
Dunedin

*emphasis added 24.2.17

—————————————-

From: Grady Cameron
Sent: Wednesday, 22 February 2017 1:02 p.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Subject: Aurora Energy Ltd – Official Information Request (LGOIMA)

Dear Elizabeth

Thank you for your enquiry. We acknowledge receipt of your official information request received by us on 21 February regarding Aurora Energy (our reference 0945).

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 21 March, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

Kind regards,
Glenda

****

Received.
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 at 1:58 a.m.

[click to enlarge]

ODT 24.2.17 (page 4)

ODT 24.2.17 (page 5)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicPowerFail 10 : Grady Cameron : The Counterfeit Comet

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 at 12:15 a.m.

Dear Readers

Local cyberspace has run hot tonight with the news that Grady Cameron has finally taken Richard Healey’s advice and fallen on one of his many splintered power poles, tendering his resignation. But just like a funhouse hall of mirrors, nothing at Aurora/Delta is as it seems. Mr Cameron is leaving later not sooner. It should be sooner, much sooner, like now.

As pointed out several times by Jarrod Stewart and Richard Healey, Grady is entirely the wrong individual to “oversee the transition process, along with the accelerated pole programme now under way”, which was the vague treacle proffered by Gary Gyroscope Johnson and Mr Thompson as an excuse for Mr Cameron to cling on for another year.

What the somewhat dim Mr Thompson does not know is that most of Delta already know what provision for early termination is in Grady’s package, and it is….12 months’ salary. (Hard to keep anything secret at Delta these days, Mr Thompson!) Go on, refute that “unfounded speculation”, Mr Gyroscope!

Therefore Mr Thompson had the two terminally unattractive options of 1) Paying Grady $600,000 to do nothing or 2) Paying Grady $600,000 to hang around and pretend that his help is “appreciated”. Chairman Thompson knew he would be sacked if he agreed to pay Grady $600,000 to do nothing, because What if? Dunedin and many others would find out in short order, and it would be curtains for Mr Thompson – sooner rather than later. However, Mr Thompson has made an elementary error. When you sack someone, get them gone. This is not Personnel Management 101, it’s 001. Despite $600,000 being a lot of cash, it was still the right thing to do because Grady’s other great failure as CEO was to preside over the accelerated decline of the staff at Delta.

It is past the tipping point and on its way to collapse, and if Grady stays another year collapse it will. At this stage in your correspondent’s post, the Greek chorus begins, accompanied by the rattling cups of Choysa : Evidence, evidence, give us the factual evidence!

Very well readers, have the Gaviscon ready, here are some stomach turning informational nuggets to show the appalling state of the Delta engineering department, the essential core of the organisation. Desk executive types like Grady and Matt Ballard can come and go, but the engineers make the place run.

While Mr Gyroscope and Mr Thompson trumpeted the two new external appointments today, they failed to mention that there are 45 vacancies – yes 45, that is 4 lots of 10 plus 5, Steve, at Delta.

Your correspondent understands these are in the main technical positions that any reputable company will have trouble filling, let alone a basket case like Delta.

Very recently, a capable senior design engineer was asked by either Matt Ballard or Grady “What would it take to get you to stay?”, as they had been alerted that the engineer was about to vote with his feet. “Nothing could convince me to stay” was the response and the engineer who was in the prime of his career and had worked for Delta for 6-7 years, departed to the North Island.

Next fact: There are now fewer than 10 design engineers left at Delta. There will be one less tomorrow because another resigned today but hadn’t advised The Management.

Alarming fact : Your correspondent is advised that of those left, at least three already have plans in place to leave that are not negotiable.

Strange but true : A design engineer recently resigned. Mule-like, Mr Cameron and his cohorts “refused to acknowledge his resignation”. This would appear to be code for “we will pay you absolutely anything you want because we know we will get no applicants for your position”, much like the example above. We can conclude from the example with Derek Todd quoted in #EpicPowerFail 9 that the practical limit is a tripling in salary.

There’s more : After deducting out those engineers, there are others actively looking to leave also. We can know this with confidence as a Wellington power company advertised a position for a design engineer recently. The recruiter called a contact at Delta and asked “What the heck is going on down there – we have had 4 applications and 3 of them are from Delta !!”

Grady’s response to this is to hire engineers from around the world, and try and fill engineering positions with “Project Managers” (Godfrey Brosnan is just the latest example). This is not to denigrate those with overseas qualifications or from a different culture but as Richard Healey notes, this is a dangerous high risk industry and ‘culture’ is important. Experienced local engineers with institutional knowledge and memory are priceless – and absolutely essential. The legacy of Grady and successive incompetent boards is that Delta and Aurora, are very likely to be left with somewhere between very few and almost none.

Your correspondent is given to understand that there is a funereal level of staff morale. Many staff around all departments have the view that (Delta)Aurora is only a few more key resignations away from being unable to function as a lines company. Richard Healey may be able to comment further on this.

The common theme from departed staff is that they would not work any longer under the management regime.

Normally your correspondent likes to finish with what he fondly imagines to be a witty riposte, but after surveying the decayed remnants of Aurora, humour is not appropriate. 

Since 2009, Grady Cameron has blazed across our power line landscape like a counterfeit comet. Grady’s disastrous tenure has created a giant financial crater for the city that will have to be made good by ratepayers for around twenty years – most of a generation.  

While not solely responsible, he encouraged a culture of cynical disinterest in the long-term health of the company he was charged with protecting, to flourish.

There is no wit to be had here, but justifiable anger. 

[ends]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: ODT 16.2.17 Cameron will not seek new role page 3 detail tweaks by whatifdunedin

Delta’s Mumbai recruitment drive

Received.
Wed, 8 Feb 2017 at 9:17 p.m.

The answer to Delta’s accelerated delayed stalled pole replacement program.

[webpage screenshot]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicPowerFail 9 —The Curious Case of Godfrey Brosnan and Jarrod Stewart

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Mon, 6 Feb 2017 at 8:27 p.m.

Dear readers, your correspondent was fascinated to learn of the appointment of Godfrey Brosnan as Aurora’s new saviour (Program Director for the Pole Replacement project), about a month ago, on 29 December 2016. One cannot escape the conclusion that the announcement was timed for maximum concealment. There was no shouting from the rooftops about the appointment of Mr Brosnan, but merely the witless Mr Cameron in full euphemism mode, stating that Mr Brosnan was “An experienced project manager with a background in complex capital works”. Grady, this is a waste of space, just like yourself. What precisely are the “complex capital works” that Mr Brosnan has experience of ? Are they power industry projects ? What does “experienced” mean ? The only experience that is relevant is power industry experience, and we can assume from your vague dissembling, that Mr Brosnan is a novice to the power industry.

Now Dunedin is a small town, and it is not hard to find someone who knows Mr Brosnan. The good news is that in a revolutionary new development, Delta and Aurora have employed someone with integrity to the executive tea room. (Hope you like madeira cake, Godfrey). The bad news is that Mr Brosnan is not experienced in the power industry. Mr Brosnan’s most recent role was involvement in a peripheral capacity on the $445M Christchurch Hospital Acute Services Building project. This building is right in the middle of construction, and will not be finished for at least 18 months, so there we have the first clue about Mr Brosnan : Why was he willing to leave a major project that was barely even half-way completed ? The answer is not that Mr Brosnan had a passion or the right experience to lead the pole replacement project, but merely wanted a job in Dunedin because his school-age family lives here. The position was sweetened no doubt, by the eye-watering amount of money on offer. Reputedly with incentives, the pole replacement director is up around Grady’s fantastical package of $600,000. Mr Brosnan’s lack of experience suits Delta and Aurora : he can be manipulated by being given a flood of fakery by the duplicitous remnants of the original executive team. Mr Godrey’s integrity compounds the profound problem of his lack of experience : People with integrity generally assume a similar level of integrity in their colleagues, which in the case of Delta/Aurora, is going to lead to a disastrous outcome, most likely for Mr Brosnan.

Richard Healey has recently outlined the enormity of the problem facing the pole replacement targets : It is madeira cake to margarine sandwiches that Mr Brosnan was not made aware of the full extent of the problems that are now his.

Readers, as you wash down the Tim Tams with a cup or two of Bell’s, I can hear you thinking – is this just the fevered imagination of CD at work again ? In the words of Walter Mondale, where’s the beef ?

Your correspondent offers as evidence the curious case of the short-lived previous pole replacement director, a Mr Jarrod Stewart. Mr Stewart, a lawyer by background, has achieved fame within Delta by appearing to achieve the impossible : three separate payouts by Delta in the space of a year. Let us count the ways :

1. Delta last year cancelled Mr Stewart’s two-year contract, which he was compensated for.

2. No sooner was the ink dry on that settlement then Delta realised that they did, after all, need Mr Stewart and offered him the position of Pole Replacement Program Director, with a contract package with incentives worth around $600,000.

3. Mr Stewart, not long after accepting the $3,000 per day position, then had misgivings that he might have been subject to a further flood of fakery from Mr Cameron and his cohorts. Mr Stewart then employed a colleague from the mining industry to do a risk analysis of the pole replacement programme and his liability as director of the programme. The risk analysis concluded that Mr Stewart should …, ahem … Get the hell out of there ! The “programme” (if such an ad hoc on-the-fly chaos can be called a programme), was destined to fail, likely with some serious safety consequences, and consequent liability to the head of the project, being of course Mr Stewart at that time. It is understood that Mr Stewart is seeking some form of compensation for misrepresentation that induced him to sign up.

4. Now readers, hold those cups tight : The following is not made up : After Mr Stewart made his dissatisfaction with the pole replacement project known, a Delta senior manager – an Indian gentleman called Mr Kewal Bagal, we understand – on instruction from the highest levels, no doubt – actually broke into Mr Stewart’s office to attempt to find incriminating evidence about Mr Stewart. Mr Stewart is now taking a personal grievance action seeking further damages for this latest act of extreme Delta stupidity.

****

We should be grateful to Mr Stewart that he went public with his concerns in December. Had Mr Stewart wanted to maximise his income and minimise his integrity, he could have emulated one Mr Derek Todd, a senior engineer in Asset Management, and a flawed accomplice of Mr Matt Ballard, the chief propagandist of Asset Management. Mr Todd was the one who told staff that “every extra dollar you spend is a dollar less for the Council”. Mr Todd was implicated in the revelations of deceptions and dishonesty perpetrated by Asset Management in October and November, and unsurprisingly, resigned late last year due to “ill–health”. However, Mr Todd has had an amazing Lazarus-like resurrection to full health over the Christmas break, and is now employed as a “consultant” to Delta at the simply unbelievable figures of between $4,000 – $6,000 per day. That is somewhere north of $1,000,000 per year. Your correspondent understands that the “arrangement” will only extend to March 31, and is for a maximum number of days. It has the look, the structure, and the smell of a hush money payment. Mr Todd likely has damaging information that Delta do not want to see the light of day. Delta also have no money to shut him up. Solution : employ him as a “consultant” in the pole replacement program and book the cost there.

It is hard to fathom how Delta and Aurora and their boards are permitted to stagger onwards by their owners. Aurora is the leper of the New Zealand lines industry. Your correspondent understands that it is not uncommon for no applications to be received for recent positions at Delta and Aurora. Mr Steve Thompson may spout about it being an exciting place to work but the industry has voted with its feet. Delta/Aurora is a place where careers are ended, not made.

One final nugget of information : We must hold our nose about Board chair Thompson’s shady past for a few months, as it is understood that he has been instructed to make life as difficult as possible for Grady Cameron, with the aim of having Grady resign prior to June. Mr Thompson is the enforcer, the Richard Loe of the boardroom. (A role he is familiar with and will relish). Welcome to the bottom of the ruck Grady…watch your eyes.

[ends]

****

Note: Personnel profile according to Aurora Energy’s website:
Kewal Bagal
General Manager Energy and Communication
Kewal (BEE) joined Delta in November 2010. He is responsible for Delta’s delivery of infrastructure services to the energy and communications sectors, including electricity and gas distribution, transmission and generation, retailer services and next generation fibre optic networks. Kewal has experience in leading and managing infrastructure services businesses in both the telecommunications and energy sectors in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia with Transpower, Powermark, Alstom, Telecom and Downer. He leads a highly skilled team of 300 people. [Source: Aurora Energy – Delta ELT]

Related Post and Comments:
19.1.17 Jarrod Stewart is EXACTLY RIGHT [what would Steve Thompson know]

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *jarrod*, *steve thompson*, *dchl*, *epicpowerfail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: dishmaps.com – madeira

Aurora with yet another headache

At Facebook:

****

****

Note this particular meat from Richard Healey’s Facebook post:
[my emphasis]

“If you have a property where the lines were built before 2001, then Aurora owns everything up to the house. The only exceptions are where the lines have been brought up to standard and a letter has been sent to the property owner transferring ownership of the lines or a prior agreement is in place. That has almost never happened in Dunedin. If you think that you have been billed, and shouldn’t have been, write to Aurora. If you don’t get redress file a claim.
If you would like to read the appropriate legislation, look up the electricity act 1992 and search for the definition of “point of supply”.
What does that mean? It means that it’s probable that thousands of Dunedin residents have been charged for maintenance to lines and poles that they do not own.”

█ Electricity Act 1992
Reprint as at 18 October 2016
http://www.legislation.co.nz/act/public/1992/0122/latest/DLM281858.html

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Letter of opinion draws wide support, view not shared by deathly DCHL

ODT 9.1.16 (page 6)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Otago’s dangerous electricity network —Aurora’s INCONSPICUOUS and INEFFECTIVE public safety messaging

[smartphone screenshot 2017-01-08]

The advertisement (safety message!) appears at ODT Online.
Blink and you miss it!

This is what Aurora Energy puts out for You to access Public Safety information. A yellow box with some branding, lost amongst news stories within a plethora of webpages.

Did anybody read ODT Online this summer ?
Did anyone see the ad ?
Did anyone notice the weblink ?
Did anybody click on the link ?
Did anyone do up their seat belt or wear a life jacket ?
How do you stay SAFE around a dangerous power network ?
What do you look out for ?
What do you avoid ?
In an emergency, what do you do ?
What sort of emergency ?
Clear guidelines ?

Or, read as ‘So what’ from the DCC-owned company.

****

How extensive is Aurora’s public safety messaging across all available media these holidays —and typically, across a year ?

Is Aurora’s public safety messaging evolving to provide clear informational content to keep the public SAFE around the DANGEROUS and DEGRADED electricity network ?

****

The adverteaser, and the related web information (reproduced below) is at the very low end of public safety information required to prevent personal injury or death. There is little informational value beyond the obvious.

Real life scenarios you should guard against, what are they ?

Other lines companies create graphics, audio and short videos that clearly explain what to do and what NOT to do around electrical facilities and in emergency situations involving live electricity.

Not so Aurora.

This YELLOW-BLOCK commercial branding exercise is cheap, casualised, determinedly ineffective and fully irresponsible. Further, it merely links to what has been up at the Aurora website for some time, which is basic and untelling.

Here’s the Aurora Energy link and their bland factless webpage content:

█ http://www.auroraenergy.co.nz/safety/

Aurora Energy puts your safety first. We want all our customers, employees, contractors and the wider community to be safe around electricity. Always keep a safe distance from electrical equipment and take extra care when working around electricity.

You can take some simple steps to make sure that you, and others around you, know how to keep yourself safe when around electricity.
● Treat all electricity as live and never touch electrical equipment
● Report electricity faults to your electricity retailer via their faults number
● Phone 111 immediately if there is an injury or risk of a fire
● Follow safe work practice near electrical equipment
● If you see a tree that is growing near or into a power line, contact Delta to arrange pruning services
● Inform others around you of the dangers of electricity
● Be prepared in the event of a natural disaster or extended power outage.
 
Read our free guide to working safely around Aurora Energy’s electricity network (PDF) before working near our electricity network. We’re here to help and can provide you information and services to help you stay safe.
 
Our Public Safety Management System controls hazards that present significant risk of serious harm or major property damage. The System complies with the requirement of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. To report a potential hazard, please complete the Report a Hazard form or contact Delta.

****

If Aurora has conducted a full PUBLIC SAFETY CAMPAIGN IN OTAGO
across all available media – including dailies, community newspapers, schools, public libraries, council service centres, magazines, online noticeboards, radio, television, instant text messaging, flyers, billboard posters etc
—we have missed it.

It’s not ‘just’ dangerous poles and lines – it’s the condition of the other dangerous and degraded network assets (including conductors, transformers, cast iron potheads, cables, oil-filled switchgear, airbrakes etc) that the public needs to be concerned about.

Aurora Energy is NOT telling you about these : the condition of other network assets after 20-30 years of Dunedin City Council-owned companies’ inept management and criminal neglect of Otago’s power supply.

What would make the best Public Safety Campaign ?

****

The Aurora report by Deloitte made public on 12 December 2016 says:

Refer page 8 (1.5.9 Summary of Recommendations | Health & Safety), and page 31 (4.6. Health & Safety recommendations) – bolding by whatifdunedin:

The Board and management of Aurora need to adopt a more transparent approach with staff and the public. There needs to be acknowledgement of the state of the network along with detailed plans on how these issues are going to be rectified.

****

ODT 13.12.16
– “The Deloitte report did not include a detailed investigation of health and safety issues, but said risk had been increased by a lack of investment. “It is inevitable that this increases the level of risk inherent in the network that could have implications for staff and/or members of the public,” it said.”
– “Mr Cull also refrained from saying the network was unsafe, instead saying: “I don’t think it is as safe as it should be.”
– “[Richard] Healey said he was satisfied for the most part with the report, but not with the response from Mr Cull, DCHL chairman Graham Crombie and Mr [Steve]Thompson, who he said were all still trying to minimise the extent of the problem.”

ODT 21.12.16
– Grady Cameron: ““The accelerated programme uses additional internal and external resources to get the job done quicker. What won’t change are the safety, risk management and work practice measures we have for the safety of workers, contractors and the public.” The programme would prioritise the removal or repair of condition-zero poles close to schools, camping sites and other “high social” areas.”

ODT 24.12.16 ‘Poles spared as condition reassessed’
– “[Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult] asked Aurora to stabilise or replace condition-zero poles in the Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown central business areas before Christmas.”

It’s not just about the poles.

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Related Posts and Comments:
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
30.12.16 Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta
6.1.17 Message to Aurora/Delta : Upper Clutha dangerous poles DON’T MIX with Holiday Campers

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Message to Aurora/Delta : Upper Clutha dangerous poles DON’T MIX with Holiday Campers

Four “condition zero” poles identified in Upper Clutha as needing to be replaced or reinforced before busy holiday period.

Other poles inside camping grounds identified as needing to be checked regularly by Delta staff during same period.

### ODT Online Fri, 6 Jan 2017
Problem power poles getting regular checks
By Tim Miller
Potentially dangerous power poles in Upper Clutha camping grounds are being checked regularly by lines company staff over the holidays. Before Christmas, Aurora Energy identified and checked the condition of poles in what were considered high-traffic holiday areas, such as camping grounds and parks in Upper Clutha. The company consulted the Queenstown Lakes District Council to identify the high traffic areas.
Read more

█ All 1181 condition zero poles in Otago expected to be replaced by April 2017.

****

At Facebook:

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Related Posts and Comments:
1.1.17 A successful Lines company….
30.12.16 Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta
28.12.16 Just beginning…. inquiries into council company rogues
27.12.16 Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview… #RNZ
25.12.16 The very idea
22.12.16 What GIVES : Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC…Energy Safety…ComCom ??
20.12.16 Aurora/Delta : RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan with Rod Oram
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
16.12.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code…
15.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling
14.12.16 Bev Butler queries invoices for Delta hospitality at Stadium #LGOIMA
14.12.16 Aurora/Delta : Richard Healey on the [SOON departing] CEO
13.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta ‘PR fashion statements’ fb DCC rates increases
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
9.12.16 Deloitte report pending —Public Notice at ODT | Facebook entry
7.12.16 Delta/Aurora : Nobody’s willing to call it after misrepresentations
7.12.16 Audit and Review, Deloitte
3.12.16 Delta/Aurora : The Dirty Twist —EXTREME Misrepresentation…
1.12.16 Oi Grady— “It’s Us, Delta’s Electrical Workforce, unanimously!”
30.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 7 : Kyle Cameron —The Money or the Bag?

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta

ODT 30.12.16 (page 12)

Aurora – Safety webpage (detail) 30.12.16

WorkSafe New Zealand
Contact WorkSafe 0800 030 040
█ http://www.worksafe.govt.nz/worksafe

Energy Safety
Part of WorkSafe New Zealand, Energy Safety acts as the regulator for ensuring the safe supply and use of electricity and gas in New Zealand. Energy Safety is responsible for providing an effective investigation, compliance, enforcement, and conformance regime for achieving electrical and gas safety outcomes.
█ http://www.energysafety.govt.nz/

Note: On Monday 4 April 2016, the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) came into effect. HSWA repeals the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, with immediate effect.

‘Delta’ bovver boys by Douglas Field 29.11.16 (detail)

On 19 October 2016 former Delta manager Richard Healey went public about workplace and public safety concerns at Dunedin and across Otago via TV3’s Story (newshub.co.nz).

From 19 October through November posts and comments at What if? Dunedin, including those by Richard Healey, focused on the dangerous network, and poor governance within the council owned companies Aurora/Delta, within the council’s holding company DCHL, and within the duly elected Dunedin City Council itself [relevant trimesters].

The full extent of the dangerous and deliberately degraded network is attributable to criminal negligence and extreme mismanagement of financial resources (public funds).

The young inexperienced chief executive of the companies Aurora/Delta, Grady Cameron, has personally resisted taking any blame for the dangerous network – note, the findings and advice of the 2010 report by LineTech Consulting, commissioned shortly after Cameron’s appointment, have failed to flow into various Asset Management Plans drafted by Aurora, subsequently.

As a result of Richard Healey’s revelations three investigations were to take place:

1. Deloitte report for DCHL (released 12 Dec 2016)
2. Energy Safety (WorkSafe) investigation (no date given for release)
3. Commerce Commission investigation – industry regulator (no date given)

The courts await.

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I N ● J U S T ● O N E ● M O N T H

Related Posts and Comments:
28.12.16 Just beginning…. inquiries into council company rogues
27.12.16 Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview… #RNZ
25.12.16 The very idea
22.12.16 What GIVES : Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC…Energy Safety…ComCom ??
20.12.16 Aurora/Delta : RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan with Rod Oram
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
16.12.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code…
15.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling
14.12.16 Bev Butler queries invoices for Delta hospitality at Stadium #LGOIMA
14.12.16 Aurora/Delta : Richard Healey on the [SOON departing] CEO
13.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta ‘PR fashion statements’ fb DCC rates increases
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
9.12.16 Deloitte report pending —Public Notice at ODT | Facebook entry
7.12.16 Delta/Aurora : Nobody’s willing to call it after misrepresentations
7.12.16 Audit and Review, Deloitte
3.12.16 Delta/Aurora : The Dirty Twist —EXTREME Misrepresentation…
1.12.16 Oi Grady— “It’s Us, Delta’s Electrical Workforce, unanimously!”
30.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 7 : Kyle Cameron —The Money or the Bag?

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

Mobile substation Willis St, Harbourside 12.11.16 [photo: Christchurch Driver]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code brown and farting in church

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Fri, 16 Dec 2016 at 1:04 a.m.

Your correspondent has been spending some time in airport bookstores recently, and it is hard to escape the plethora of get-a-plan-and-get-your-life-in-order books that seem to breed like unwanted spawn in such places.

While your correspondent has no truck with such boilerplate muck, he will admit to a quiet sense of satisfaction this week of some goals achieved. It is a good thing to have a goal, and a plan to get there. This year, your correspondent was disgusted by the arrogant lawlessness and simply fantastic level of self interest and waste of public funds by DCC and DCHL directors at the Noble subdivision, Yaldhurst. He made it a goal to put his shoulder to directorial posteriors and assist in the push of the dismal Delta directors into the Delta wood chipper (leased of course). Aided by some insider knowledge (what? – reveal my sources – never !) and plenty of tangential side trips, your correspondent is proud to think he has helped (in some small way) What if? and the majestic Richard Healey achieve a clean out at Aurora and Delta.

This week’s dismissal of Parton and McLauchlan is the start, and more will follow.

Mr McLauchlan’s risible statements in the ODT yesterday show your correspondent was 100% correct when he predicted that blame would be sheeted home to That Bad Man, John Walsh.

Mr McLauchlan’s arrogance was in full view with his claims that his decision to step down was unrelated to the billion dollar problem he has co-authored. Mr McLauchlan cannot admit what all of Dunedin knows – he troughed literally while lines exploded, and failed as a director. To do so would jeopardise his other sinecures, and Mr McLauchlan is nothing but self interest. Mr McLauchlan had absolutely nothing to offer the DCC, Delta or DCHL, and we should be at least grateful to Mayor Cull that the scales appear to have finally have fallen from his eyes and he sees Mr McLauchlan for what he is.

Let us not forget the most telling example of Mr McLauchlan’s invertebratedness : In the 2007 directorial decision to waste $8-9M at Luggate Mr McLauchlan’s sole contribution was : “If the other directors agree the I agree”. Not forgetting also that in the case of the Scenic Circle Dunedin City legal dispute with the JV partner, Mr McLauchlan was found by the Court to be an unreliable witness.

Mr McLauchlan is so toxic he doesn’t just need to be signposted, he is a walking talking accounting contamination.

On the subject of contamination, Kyle Cameron – stand up and take a bow, Kyle Cameron! – has made it very sure that Grady Cameron will never lead either of Delta or Aurora, by recommending that they need separate CEOs. As Mr Healey has said, the board will do to Grady what he has done to many others – disestablished their positions, creating new roles, and of course Grady will not quite have the “most appropriate skill sets” for either role. Sorry about that old chap, terribly close call of course, better luck next time– (in another continent please).
Grady, you have just been right-sized.

Another right-sizing would be to appoint Kyle Cameron to the Aurora board, and remove former ORFU/Highlanders director Mr Thompson with links to the $5M ORFU pokies scandal. Mr Thompson is tight with Mr McLauchlan of course, Mr McLauchlan being the Chairman of the Highlanders at the time the South Auckland pokies scandal was in full swing. McLauchlan – scandal – bees – honey.

Not right-sized, of course, is the matter of the Aurora replacement budget. We all know – now – that Aurora were going to spend $443M in deferred maintenance over 10 years (yes, stop dissembling Grady, it’s $443M, not $417M, but what they haven’t set out is where the money is coming from. Lines charges are fixed, and in very, very broad terms if we, the ratepayers, have to spend $443M to basically maintain what we have – then the very big question is – what is the depreciated, deteriorated asset worth …right now?

[An alarming example that comes to mind is the DCC purchase of the Dunedin Railway Station in the early 1990s. A wonderful asset now (pity about the decks) after a number of millions have gone into its restoration and upkeep over a 10-12 year period ….but what did the DCC pay ? ….the answer ? precisely one dollar.]

Now the Aurora 2016 Annual Report says in its headline “Trend Summary” (aka the good news feel-good piece early in the report at page 12) is that the ratepayers have equity of $183M in Aurora, and equity to assets is 42.1%, but unsurprisingly (this is Grady and the gyroscope we are dealing with here) the very bad news – the debt is $253M and is not going away – doesn’t quite make it into the good news piece.

So if we are charitable and assume that only say $250M of the $443M is actually for direct Dunedin infrastructure renewal and the balance being for actual expanded capacity then, then $250M of shareholder equity is needed for the upgrade. But wait Batman ! We only have $185M of equity. Holy exploding potheads Batman !! What do we do ? Batman: Elementary, my dear Doctor Parton —In the immortal words of Christine Fletcher, mayor of Auckland in 1986 when asked the same question by Fletcher Construction (of the cost to finish the Aotea Centre), “That’s what the ratepayers are for.”

Readers, you might well be thinking at this stage, CD has it wrong again – when I put in a new kitchen and bathroom in my villa in Belleknowes, it was worth more, so it didn’t matter that there was more debt ….because the asset was worth more. However, the value of power networks is determined by the Commerce Commission, who regulate what amounts each network can charge ….based on the value of the asset. Your correspondent surmises that the next scandal to unfold at Aurora is that resident Delta toxicologist, Matt Ballard of Capability and Risk, has overseen a massive overstating of the present value of the network. The bottom line is : with $250 – $400M of work needed FOR MAINTENANCE, ie NOT GENERATING EXTRA CAPACITY, it is worth nowhere near $436M right now. What does that mean? It means, readers, that the “jewel in the crown” of the DCHL, our cash cow HAS NO SHAREHOLDER EQUITY and has 100% debt to equity. Hilary Calvert is correct – if this were DC Ross, or any other private company, the receivers would have been called in long ago. However, accountants like the caustic Mr McLauchlan prefer companies with no shareholder equity because the returns on equity are out of this world…. until something happens.

Readers, what dissembling Mayor Cull will never tell you is that just like in Central Otago, as helpfully described by Nick Loughnan in the ODT a few weeks ago, you are about to experience in your future either some eye watering rates increases or, if the Commerce Commission allows, some similar exponential line charge increases. It’s one or the other. There is no other way.

Mayor Cull is aware of the consequences set out above : he said at the outset of Mr Healey’s crusade that he did not want public confidence shaken.

The questions or scenarios above are not pleasant – as the biblical line goes, these are hard questions, who can answer them ? They are the lines industry equivalent of farting in church – rude, inappropriate but better to get it out in the open before there is a big mess (or at least know the mess is coming). Yes, the air will be blue for a while – a long while. Messrs McLauchlan, Parton, Kempton, Frow, Wood, Thompson have done more than farted, they have created a stinking “code brown” mess. They will not be missed.

[ends]

*Note: New Zealand Companies Office records show McLauchlan and Parton ceased being directors of the Aurora/Delta Boards on 12 December 2016.
Aurora Energy | Delta Utility Services

Legal advice to the DCC on new 3-term limits for CCO directorships ‘may have’ forced this change. Debatable.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: markeweebly.com – farting dog by mark cable, tweaked by whatifdunedin

DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling

Garrick Tremain – 15 Dec 2016

****

Received from Lee Vandervis
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 7:43 a.m.

From: Graeme Jeffery
Date: Wednesday, 14 December 2016 7:41 pm
To: Aaron Hawkins; Christine Garey; Doug Hall; Marie Laufiso; Mike Lord; Jim O’Malley; Sue Bidrose; Damian Newell; Chris Staynes; Conrad Stedman; Andrew Whiley; Kate Wilson, Mayor Dave Cull
Subject: Re: Delta Milking

Dear Councillors, I was pleased to see Richard Healey was vindicated in his claims about the crisis facing Delta and Aurora. I, however, was disturbed to see the appointment of another accountant, Steve Thompson, onto the board. Part of the problem with the pole replacement program was that for some time an accountant was running it. We need engineers on the board not accountants as the problem here is health and safety and the integrity of the network not financial systems. I was not however surprised to see Thompson on the board and read he is backing Cameron. After all, the company he works for is Deloitte and it awarded Cameron ‘Young CEO of the Year’. What is hard to understand is how Thompson could claim that Cameron has done a good job in difficult circumstances when most of those circumstances were Cameron and the Boards’ own doing. Does he mean, for example, the millions he lost on subdivisions in Luggate, [Jacks Point] and Christchurch or perhaps the fact that he was the first CEO in living memory to lose money in a financial year. Maybe he meant the 20 roading redundancies, 40 in Christchurch, 15 in Alex, a further 50 in Dunedin at Civil, and another 10 in Greenspace this year. A grand total of 150 good people that Cameron sent down the road. Or were those difficult circumstances the investigations he is or has been under by the Audit Office, WorkSafe, Energy Safety, the Commerce Commission, the [Central Otago] District Council, the Queenstown [Lakes] District Council and then Deloitte. Perhaps it was the hundreds of thousands he spent on relocating offices and his failed re-branding or the fact that he and his deputy Ballard have surrounded themselves with people not competent to do the jobs they are assigned to. Or was it maybe the death and at least 5 serious injuries that have happened on his watch? Maybe it was the destruction of asset management systems and his failure to implement inspections such as link boxes, MDI boxes, air break switches and high voltage switch gear that he has knowingly overseen.
Perhaps those difficult circumstances were driving out good people such as Jarrod Stuart who was to oversee the pole replacement program but could no longer work under interfering, incompetent leadership. Or was he worried that he has now appointed a person with no knowledge of electricity networks to run the pole replacement program after realising how his previous appointment of an accountant to do this went so wrong. Maybe he was worried that his minions have been altering the input into the xivic analysis of pole structures so he could claim to have less red tag poles in the system. Or was it really just his utter failure to carry out what was needed when he did the LineTech Report in 2010 which required 1200 poles replaced per year for ten years and the worry that he may [be] and was found out ? Maybe it’s been difficult for poor Grady in the 2 months since he announced the accelerated pole replacement program that he supposedly planned in April [being that] he hasn’t replaced one extra pole. That puts him 140 behind schedule already. Nothing new there. No perhaps it was the fact that he has destroyed morale and goodwill among staff at Delta and is now considered no more than a laughing stock?
Surely the council can see why Richard Healey said it was ‘mind boggling’ that Thompson backed Cameron and his deputy Ballard. Quite frankly it doesn’t say much for the new chairman of the board when he is supporting somebody clearly not fit to run the company. How can any sane person possibly support this man and his so called executive leadership team. I know very few staff at Delta do. It is completely wrong to suggest, as some councillors have, that it doesn’t matter whether Cameron stays or goes, as he has been responsible for the day to day running of the company and his reports to the board and vice versa have clearly been misguided and deficient. Not only that, no-one at Delta can move on or start the huge task ahead, safely or efficiently with the dark clouds of Cameron and co hovering over their heads. After all, Crombie and Mr Benson-Pope said heads should role if the allegations proved correct. They have. Remember safety was the primary motive for Richard exposing what was happening at Delta and Cameron has been shown to be part of this disgrace (eg LineTech Report).

What is truly sad, is that all this was preventable, as many people have told the councils and the boards over the years this was going to happen. As I have said before this was raised to the then mayor (Sukhi Turner), the board and an MP as early as 1998 but the old boys network closed around her and us, just as they may appear to be doing now. It is time we learnt that you need engineers, some more engineers and then more engineers to run these systems and drop the accountants, and lawyers, who are neither qualified or competent to run an organisation of this type and size, when it is facing the biggest infrastructural project in Otago for next year and beyond. PS, The views of many of the councillors who represent the interest of the ratepayers and owners of the asset have been frighteningly absent through this. Have they left the country, are scared or just not interested. Cheers Graeme (Unhappy ratepayer)

——– Forwarded Message ——–
Subject: Delta Milking
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2016 22:15:38 +1300
From: Graeme Jeffery

To: Aaron Hawkins; Christine Garey; David Benson-Pope; Doug Hall; Marie Laufiso; Mike Lord; Jim O’Malley; Sue Bidrose; Damian Newell; Chris Staynes; Conrad Stedman; Andrew Whiley; Kate Wilson, Mayor Dave Cull

Dear Councillors, I was extremely disturbed to see from the mayor, that the report from Deloitte into public and worker safety and the management of the network may not be made public. Remember this report was to look into management and not on their behalf. The safety of workers and staff is paramount and commercial sensitivity being used as an excuse to censor from public view is inexcusable. Pole replacements, switchgear, transformers, potheads, lines down etc are not let out for contract so commercial sensitivity has no bearing – I fail to see any valid reason why the entire report can’t be made public considering the level of public and worker interest. Remember, you are answerable to the public and ratepayers first and then the board and management are answerable to you, not the other way round which keeping this secret would suggest. We who work on and the owners of the network surely should have the report before us first and the board and management after that. The tail is clearly wagging the dog here. Delta has had at least 5 serious injuries and one death since Cameron took over and Delta has been complicit in at least 2 of the injuries and the death. Roger Steel left behind a widow. How many more women must weep and families like mine worry while the council worries about “commercial sensitivity”, and puts the public’s interests behind the interests of the Delta board and management.
Cameron commissioned a report by LineTech in 2010 that showed he needed to replace 12,773 poles in Dunedin alone (32,406 in total with Central) in the next 10 years to keep the network safe. He and the board have replaced way less than 3,000 in Dunedin in that time. A blind eye or incompetent. Both I’d say. Also the report said inspections, increases in cables maintenance, replacement and equipment had not been adequate, yet I can assure you these have not been stepped up at all, in fact some of these things have stopped all together. For the record, at the recent meeting of Delta staff less than 15 people out of a hundred voted to have a committee and release a joint statement to the media. There was not a No vote taken. A vote of no confidence was proposed but again no vote was taken. I hope there was no confusion that this was a unanimous or popular decision by the workers to support the joint statement. Around 85 of the hundred there didn’t endorse it. Personally I would be disgusted and lose all faith in due process and democracy if this report isn’t released in full and the true owners, the ratepayers, aren’t informed [of] what’s been happening. It may appear to Delta staff and ratepayers alike that the old boys network is closing in on the council and mayor. Remember, you the councillors are answerable first and foremost to the asset owners, the ratepayers, and not the Delta board and management.

[ends]

28.10.16 ODT: Criticism for Cull on poles approach
Whistleblower Richard Healey and Delta staff member Graeme Jeffery were yesterday highly critical of Mr Cull’s response and questioned why he had not yet condemned Delta and Aurora for their health and safety failures.

****

I-Know-Nothing Stuart McLauchlan has no Get Out Of Jail Free card

● McLauchlan was appointed to the Aurora/Delta Boards on 1 June 2007.

Aurora Energy Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/471661
Delta Utility Services Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/453486

● McLauchlan served on the Board of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd from 1 June 2007 to 31 October 2011.

Dunedin City Holdings Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/559098

● McLauchlan ended his stint as Highlanders Board chairman in October 2009. He was appointed in 2004 by NZRU.

As a mere accountant and ‘professional’ receiver of (many sets of) directors fees, Mr McLauchlan is completely out of his depth in regards to property development and subdivision practices per se, however friends and colleagues found themselves assisted towards advantageous pricing of ‘stadium land’. Mr McLauchlan is renowned for having been in the thick of Delta’s ‘lightly investigated’ loss-making Luggate and Jacks Point property speculations. Contemporaneously, Mr McLauchlan and ‘friends’ were behind Delta’s buy-in to the then illegal subdivision at Noble Yaldhurst, Christchurch. That subdivision is set to lose Dunedin ratepayers further millions while bank rolling, once again, certain male protagonists.

We’re not sorry that Mr McLauchlan must take what is coming.

Thu, 15 Dec 2016
Stadium hurt renewal plans – McLauchlan
A departing Aurora Energy board member says pressure to pay for Forsyth Barr Stadium meant less was spent on network maintenance. Former Aurora and Delta board member Stuart McLauchlan was reluctant to go into any detail about the findings of a Deloitte review, but was keen to highlight the problems it identified pre-dated the current board. ….He said his resignation after nine years on the boards of the two beleaguered companies had nothing to do with the review’s findings and he was disappointed the connection had been made. Cont/

****

ODT 15.12.16 (page 16)

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: ngaitahutourism.co.nz – stuart mclauchlan

Aurora/Delta : Richard Healey on the [SOON departing] CEO

At Facebook:

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCHL/Aurora/Delta ‘PR fashion statements’ fb DCC rates increases

Otago Daily Times Published on Dec 11, 2016
Aurora Energy to implement review’s recommendations
A report on beleaguered Dunedin City Council-owned companies Delta and Aurora has called for a major shake-up to the way the companies are run.
[—Aurora had been guilty of placing too much emphasis on providing dividends to the council and keeping debt levels under control as opposed to investing in the network.]

█ Deloitte review report – Aurora Energy and Delta Utilities (PDF, 1.7 MB)
Review of Aurora Energy Limited/Delta Utility Services Limited – Network Safety Concerns.

—

What Shocks.

If the Otago Community has a BILLION OR SO DOLLARS WORTH of network replacements owed to it, but for the pleasure the Community must pay these sums Again —as well as having to meet the not insubstantial cost of new build facilities across the growth-focused districts of Central Otago— with the self-congratulatory psychology of the Companies and INDIVIDUALS running the Dangerous and Degraded Aurora/Delta power network, stringing along the bumbling Dunedin City Council as OVERLORD (meanwhile running its ‘static’ city)…….. exactly how does that affect DUNEDIN RATEPAYERS, do you think. [DCC steered by “SpongeBob” running the holding company; the mayor inane factotum to the GOBs.]

So yeah, if there’s no word yet (?) on how the INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE for constant rates increases (exceeding New Zealand’s rate of inflation) will be cleaned out financially themselves (along with their private trusts), with jail sentences to serve…….. Then you stand to be OUTRAGED by anything these knaves are saying.

We can’t call them liars.

But think about what these immoral money stealing mongrel-individuals are costing us. You are being robbed, mercilessly, repeatedly, over and over. Public funds through your rates have gone out both front and back doors in almost limitless fashion. The male mafia have been in your pockets doing what they like —across nefarious deals and rorts for “the past 25 to 30 years”.

You have been fully violated, the power network you rely on is completely stuffed. ‘They mongrels’ are not simply incompetent.

Personally, you bear the price; your extended family and descendants pay the price. ‘They mongrels’ each buy an expensive house or three in Queenstown Lakes, they live off the spoils, in style —while you and yours, your businesses and community run desperately out of hope for better times. Clearly, the Bad are being replaced by more of the Bad with unedifying track records.
Same, same again.

—

Otago Daily Times Published on Dec 12, 2016
Delta whistleblower Richard Healey
Mayor Dave Cull said the whistleblower, Richard Healey, had been largely vindicated. The poles network was not as safe as it should be.

—

Newly-appointed chairman Steve Thompson [ex Deloitte head] said chief executive Grady Cameron would not be sacked as a result of the failings identified in the report, as he had confidence in his leadership. “I think he’s done a good job in difficult circumstances.”

### ODT Online Tue, 13 Dec 2016
Shake-up agreed for Delta, Aurora
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin City Council-owned companies Delta and Aurora are in for a major shake-up. The planned changes come as a result of recommendations included in a review by consultant Deloitte into Delta/Aurora network safety concerns, and in particular accusations Aurora dangerously mismanaged its electricity network and left thousands of poles to rot. The shake-up would involve having separate boards and chief executives for the two companies and introduce a more proactive approach to maintaining the network. After the review, commissioned by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, was released yesterday, Mayor Dave Cull said the changes could have a significant financial impact on the council, resulting in rates increases.

“I don’t believe it’s unsafe, but we just need to do more work on getting the infrastructure to a better level than it currently is.” –Steve Thompson

Mr Healey said he was satisfied for the most part with the report, but not with the response from Mr Cull, DCHL chairman Graham Crombie and Mr Thompson, who he said were all still trying to minimise the extent of the problem …. Mr Thompson’s claim the network was safe and his continued confidence in Mr Cameron were “mind-boggling”, Mr Healey said.
Read more

Brief me, Paula.

—Without a Safe and Secure power supply for Otago, new Business Development, Tourism and Productivity are severely impacted, Prime Minister.

Who is responsible?
—Dunedin City Council, sir.

Agh, that lag Cull.
—He hasn’t mentioned climate change this time, sir.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: stuff.co.nz – Richard Healey | Bill English PM

Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora

Updated post
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 at 11:56 p.m.

█ aurora-report [supplied by DCC]

Deloitte’s Steve Thompson – appointed to the Delta and Aurora Boards in 2015 – is to head two (new) separated (“armslength”) companies.

Grady’s future is between the lines.

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Monstrous understatement from our Mayor Cull:
“The poles network was not as safe as it should be.” ….LOL

Dear god, there appear to be a few capital raising issues to curtail the service delivery promised. Further, Dunedin City Council will receive the wrath of two other councils…. Let’s not be naive about the extent of problems with the DANGEROUS NETWORK. This is not a POLES ONLY exercise. And where, oops, have we seen Steve Thompson before, Deloitte and Otago Rugby governance. South Auckland pokie bars, ORFU, anyone ?

An inquiry into thousands of failing power poles has recommended major changes to the lines companies involved. Thousands of rotting power poles are due for replacement in Otago. (RNZ)

### radionz.co.nz 38 minutes ago
Rotting power pole whistleblower vindicated
By Ian Telfer, Otago-Southland Reporter
The Dunedin City Council-commissioned inquiry was one of three started in October after a whistleblower revealed almost 3000 power poles in Dunedin and Central Otago, managed by Aurora Energy and Delta, needed urgent replacement. Councillors debated Deloitte’s report, which covered the scale of the problem and management, for more than two hours. The report recommended health and safety upgrades and for Delta and Aurora’s board and management to split. Mayor Dave Cull said the whistleblower, Richard Healey, had been largely vindicated. Mr Healey accused the management of not understanding the scale of the problem and of not seeing just how dangerous it was. Deloitte found serious systematic problems in the network.
Read more

[Audio] Inquiry into failing power poles recommends big changes  (3′01″)
RNZ Checkpoint (12 Dec 2016)

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.