It has been a significant and challenging 12 months for Hawke’s Bay as our communities and industries have come together to enable our recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Likewise, for Unison it’s been an incredibly challenging but rewarding year. We’ve made significant progress on rebuilding parts of our Hawke’s Bay network; strategically divested our fibre businesses, UnisonFibre to focus all efforts on our core electricity businesses; celebrated 100 years of providing power to our communities in Hawke’s Bay; and closed the financial year with a strong financial performance and an increased dividend of $17.25 million to the power consumers of Hawke’s Bay.
The Hawke’s Bay Power Consumer’s Trust has announced that the dividend amount paid directly to consumers has increased to $260 this year (up from $240 last year), a positive result for consumers.
As I reflect on this year as my first in the hot seat, it’s incredible how much has happened during this time. Our network is performing well, and we are committed to ongoing investments to maintain reliable power for our regions and communities both now and in the future.
One of this year’s major projects in Hawke’s Bay is the upgrade of the Camberly Substation in Hastings, designed to meet the area’s growing electricity demand. The project is progressing smoothly, and upon completion early next year, the substation will offer nearly four times the current capacity that will support key local infrastructure initiatives such as the Hawke’s Bay Hospital upgrades, Kaweka Hospital, Hastings District Council’s Frimley water storage and treatment plant.
Additionally, it will facilitate the installation of more electric vehicle fast charging outlets in the area, aiding our community’s decarbonisation journey.
Our commitment to our communities remains strong here in Hawke’s Bay. Over the last year we supported 2,000 Hawke’s Bay children in junior sport with a Unison kitbag promoting wellbeing and messages of safety around electricity. Our Safe Sparks programme delivered important electrical safely messages to over 1,000 local children through 12 primary schools. Unison also partnered with the Graeme Dingle Foundation for its third year with a purpose to help tamariki and rangatahi realise their potential. Over 1,500 young people participated in the Hawke’s Bay programmes in 2023 and it is great to see this continuing to grow locally.
Last year we introduced the EnergyMate programme to Hawke’s Bay, in partnership with the Energy Retailers Association of NZ (ERANZ), which helps families get the most out of their electricity and keep their homes warmer and healthier. We also continued our partnership with the Maraetōtara Tree Trust for a sixth year. Over the last two decades the Trust has planted 160,000 native trees along the banks of the Maraetōtara River in efforts to restore this beautiful part of Hawke’s Bay.
Looking ahead, I am excited about the future. This has been a milestone year for us as we bring our group of specialist electricity companies closer together. As a group we have a real chance to maximise the opportunity that electrification and decarbonisation bring as we progress our vision to lead a sustainable energy future.
I would like to extend my gratitude and pride to our communities, our consumers, our key industries and our community partners for the resilience and adaptability shown through our efforts to rebuild and restore our region.
Our annual report provides a detailed account of Unison’s financial performance and highlights our strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening network resilience and customer satisfaction. For more information I invite you to read Unison’s Annual Report.