Vote for sustainability in the AECT election

Hi Transition Towns peoples in Auckland,

I thought this message might be of interest to you all in relation to the AECT elections that are happening at the moment.  AECT is the community trust that owns 74.5% of Vector, the Auckland electricity lines company.

Chris Olson, Grey Lynn 2030 trustee and coordinator of the Grey Lynn 2030 energy group, is standing as a candidate in the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust election on the YOUR POWER TEAM ticket. This is an exciting opportunity to bring a sustainability and resilience focus to the AECT.

I have been part of Transition Towns for more than 3 years and will bring a focus on community energy needs and  sustainability to the role of Trustee. I also have international energy industry experience having contracted to energy companies in the UK and worked for BOP Electricity and Genesis in NZ.

I'm a community independant member of 5 standing on the YOUR POWER TEAM ticket made up of Greens and Labour party members.

YOUR POWER TEAM supports Vector in its development of sustainable energy initiatives including distributed solar electricity generation and conservation measures such as energy efficiency programmes and peak load management initiatives.

I believe that even though Vector has started trials with local renewable electricity generation, it’s not progressing fast enough.  Without distributed renewable energy production New Zealand faces high costs of upgrading electricity transmission infrastructure and continued carbon emissions from fossil fuel power stations contributing to accelerated climate change.  Your Power Team will promote and support sustainable energy policies at Vector to speed the widespread adoption and implementation of distributed renewable electricity production and drive Auckland toward the government target of consuming more than 90% renewable energy.  Local renewable electricity generation will also minimise increasing electricity prices helping to keep electricity affordable over the long term.

In addition to driving toward a sustainable energy future, YOUR POWER TEAM is committed to transparent governance of the AECT, they will ‘Open the Books’ and ‘Open the Doors’ to invite AECT beneficiaries to see what their money is being spent on and invite them to monthly meetings to participate in discussions.  Current trustees pay themselves more than $60,000 each per year when comparable roles are far less.  YOUR POWER TEAM will cut their trustee fees by 40% when elected to bring their fees back in line with normal rates.

YOUR POWER TEAM stands for:

• Continuing to pay the annual power dividend cheque ($320 this year)
• Slashing the high trustee and consultant fees by 40%
• Working to make energy affordable
• Stopping the Trust selling off more of Vector
• Ensuring Trust transparency and accountability (making meetings public)
• Promoting energy efficiency and sustainability

All  5 current trustees of AECT are members of C&R, a National and Act party backed ticket.  C&R has had effective control of AECT since 2003, helped by extremely low voter turnout – just over 16% at the last election in 2009. The C&R trustees oversaw the sell-off of 25% of Vector in 2005 despite an election promise to keep Vector in full public ownership.  They have paid themselves over $1 million in trustee fees over the past three years.

It is definitely time for a change. VOTE for YOUR POWER TEAM.  You can read more about YOUR POWER TEAM candidates and policies at http://yourpowerteam.org.nz and you can LIKE the team on FB to follow the campaign – www.facebook.com/yourpowerteamforAECT2012

If you received the $320 dividend recently you can vote in the AECT election. Ballot papers have now been mailed out. Please remember to vote for Chris and the YOUR POWER TEAM candidates.

Voter Guide to the AECT Election, October 2012

The AECT (which owns 75.4% of Shares and Voting rights of Vector Ltd) holds elections every three years to vote for 5 trustees to be responsible for the management of the AECT on behalf of its beneficiaries who are electricity consumers of the AECT area in Auckland.

Voting documents have been posted out and have to be returned by 5pm on the Friday 26th October 2012 which means getting them in the post by 24 October (if you didn’t receive your ballot please call the returning officer on   0800 922 822   and ask for voting papers to be sent to you.)

YOUR POWER TEAM is a 5-person community ticket supported by the Green and Labour parties and community organisations within the area.