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Meridian Energy

#1756

Rank

$9.54B

Marketcap

NZ New Zealand

Country

Meridian Energy
Leadership team

Mr. Mike Roan (CFO and GM of Fin. & Strategy)

Mr. Neal Barclay BCA, CA (NZICA) (Chief Exec. Officer)

Mr. Bharat Ratanpal (Chief Information Officer)

Products/ Services
Electrical Distribution, Energy
Number of Employees
500 - 1000
Headquarters
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Established
1999
Net Income
100M - 500M
Revenue
Above - 1B
Traded as
MEZ.AX
Social Media
Overview
Location
Summary
Meridian Energy Limited engages in the generation, trading, and retailing of electricity to residential, business, and industrial customers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. As of June 30, 2022, it generates electricity through 7 hydro stations that has a capacity of 2,353 MW; 5 wind farms that has a capacity of 416 MW; and solar farms. The company also provides management, insurance, financing, professional, trustee, and software development services; and licenses Flux developed electricity and gas retailing platform, as well as offers solar installation services. It sells electricity under the Meridian Energy and Powershop brands. The company was formerly known as Hydro Energy Limited and changed its name to Meridian Energy Limited in March 1999. Meridian Energy Limited was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Wellington, New Zealand.
History

Meridian originated from the break-up of the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand in 1999 as a result of the reforms of the New Zealand Electricity Market. Meridian's share of ECNZ was corporatised as a state-owned enterprise with its own board of directors and with two Ministerial shareholders: the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises. In 2013 it was partially privatised by the fifth National Government of New Zealand.As part of reforms, local electricity companies were split into lines and retail and the retail portion sold off. Meridian initially acquired the retail base of Northpower, Centralines, Scanpower, and Network Waitaki, and later acquired Orion's retail base from NGC.

2001 – Meridian purchased five mini hydro-power stations in Australia. These stations linked with dams used primarily for irrigation, and have a total generating capacity of 62 MW.

September 2001 – Meridian purchased the South Island customer-base of Natural Gas Corporation , at the time New Zealand's largest electricity retailer. The purchase came towards the end of an exceptionally dry autumn. Low hydro-levels had driven the wholesale market spot prices to very high levels. NGC had purchased the customer-base when Canada's TransAlta quit New Zealand. NGC re-branded itself as OnEnergy to escape the poor reputation of the "TransAlta" brand. OnEnergy found itself with insufficient generation capacity to stand the high winter market prices and had made the critical mistake of not purchasing any hedge contracts. It attempted to raise its retail prices, but its customers then flocked to other retailers. Finally, after suffering huge losses, NGC had perforce to quit the retail sector, selling its customer-base to two of the Government's companies: Meridian and Genesis Energy. At that point, the New Zealand electricity market became further vertically integrated, and many have come to believe that this adversely affected competition in the retail electricity market.

April 2003 – Meridian extended its operations in Australia with the purchase of Southern Hydro, increasing its Australian generating capacity by 540 MW.

Southern Hemisphere Winter 2003 – Low hydro inflows and storage levels again resulted in exceptional wholesale market spot prices. As a consequence, the retailers TrustPower and Freshstart abandoned market areas where they had no generation. This strengthened Meridian's dominance of the South Island customer-base.

29 March 2004 – Meridian cancelled Project Aqua, a controversial 524 MW power scheme for six dams and a man-made canal on the Lower Waitaki River in North Otago. The scheme allegedly represented the last opportunity for large-scale hydroelectric development of this magnitude in New Zealand. Abandoning the venture cost Meridian NZ$38.7 million. – Meridian stopped the scheme because of uncertainty over rights to use the water, growing costs, and the difficulties and uncertainties with obtaining consents under the Resource Management Act legislation. In July 2004, Meridian announced an independent audit of the abandoned scheme.

9 December 2004 – then Prime Minister Helen Clark officially opened the Te Apiti Wind Farm – Meridian's first wind farm.

2 June 2005 – Meridian announced a proposal to develop a wind farm west of Wellington, Project West Wind with up to 70 wind turbines with a total capacity of 210 MW, built across 55.8 square km on rural land near M?kara at the south-western tip of the North Island. A local pressure group, the Makara Guardians, opposed the scheme. Successful application for resource consent for the project was announced on 21 December 2005. The consent was subsequently appealed and upheld in May 2007.

30 November 2005 – Meridian completed the sale of its Australian operation, Southern Hydro, for A$1.42 billion to Australian Gas Light Company. Meridian had steadily expanded and upgraded its assets in Australia since purchase, including commissioning a 91 MW wind-farm. The sale commanded a hefty premium, driven by new demand for renewable energy-generation because of mandatory Australian requirements that electricity retailers sell a proportion of renewable energy.

8 June 2007 – The White Hill Wind Farm is officially opened.

29 April 2009 – Prime Minister John Key officially turns on the first 15 turbines on the West Wind wind farm.

1 June 2011 – The sale of Meridian Energy's Tekapo A and Tekapo B hydroelectric power stations to Genesis Energy took effect. The sale was part of a package of government reforms aimed at improving the electricity sector.30 September 2013 – 49 percent of shares in the company officially offered for sale at between $1.50 and $1.80

Mission
Our values represent everything we hold to be an important part of a successful company. We work hard, treat each other as we would want to be treated, and take care of our surroundings. It's the Meridian way.
Vision
Our values represent everything we hold to be an important part of a successful company. We work hard, treat each other as we would want to be treated, and take care of our surroundings. It's the Meridian way.
Key Team

Owen Hackston (Investor Relations Mang.)

Mr. Jason Stein BCA, LLB (Chief People Officer, CEO of Meridian Energy Australia Pty Limited & Powershop Australia Pty Limited)

Mr. Jason Woolley (Gen. Counsel & Company Sec.)

Ms. Lisa Hannifin (Chief Customer Officer)

Rheilli Uluilelata (External Communications Mang.)

Ms. Nic Kennedy (Chief Exec. Officer of Flux Federation Limited)

Ms. Claire Shaw (Gen. Mang. of Corp. Affairs & Sustainability)

Recognition and Awards
Meridian Energy has been recognised for its commitment to sustainability and innovation, with numerous awards since its inception, including the 2012 Green Globe Award, the 2015 Best Corporate Citizen Award, the 2016 Customer Service Excellence Award, and the 2017 Sustainability Leadership Award.
References
Meridian Energy
Leadership team

Mr. Mike Roan (CFO and GM of Fin. & Strategy)

Mr. Neal Barclay BCA, CA (NZICA) (Chief Exec. Officer)

Mr. Bharat Ratanpal (Chief Information Officer)

Products/ Services
Electrical Distribution, Energy
Number of Employees
500 - 1000
Headquarters
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Established
1999
Net Income
100M - 500M
Revenue
Above - 1B
Traded as
MEZ.AX
Social Media