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Accelerated momentum across the Group During the initial COVID-19 lockdown, our teams were busy finalising an exciting strategic alliance with global cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS). While the agreement was signed after the balance date, this alliance is a critical part of unlocking the new energy future. Our multi-year partnership with AWS will see us co-develop a cloud- based New Energy Platform (NEP) which will radically improve the way we collect and process energy consumption data from advanced meters. The strategic alliance to jointly develop the NEP is the first of its kind for AWS in New Zealand, and for AWS in the global energy sector. The NEP will help to unlock innovative energy products and services to benefit consumers. We look forward to working alongside AWS and our energy industry partners initially in New Zealand and Australia to bring these to market over time. This year, Vector Metering has expanded its leadership position in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Our investment in people, systems and digital platforms has enabled us to optimise our installation process over the past year, comfortably meeting service level agreements and enabling us to consistently and reliably scale up meter installations. In October 2019, Vector Metering announced an innovative partnership with Genesis Energy to roll out advanced gas meters to their customers across New Zealand. The advanced metering solution will see Genesis become the first energy retailer
to move customers from an analogue to digital platform, resulting in greater transparency and visibility over customer gas use. The sale of the Kapuni Gas Treatment Plant and associated assets to Todd Energy marked a key milestone for our Gas Trading business this year. The process has constructively reset the relationship. The deal includes long- term supply agreements, which means Vector can support our customers who value gas as a preferred energy choice. Vector’s LPG business, Vector OnGas, continues to operate in an increasingly competitive retail marketplace. The sustained strong performance from the Vector OnGas team is testament to their commitment to safety and customer service excellence, as well as innovating to provide new customer solutions and optimise existing operations. Our new energy solutions business, Vector PowerSmart, has delivered several major projects in New Zealand and the Pacific this year – further enhancing our reputation as a leading provider of advanced energy solutions in the region. The build of the floating solar array at Watercare’s Rosedale Water Treatment Plant is complete with commissioning in late August. Our Vector Fibre business has continued to perform well this year, progressing plans to create new products and services to capitalise on changes in the telecommunications landscape. Vector Fibre remains focused on seeing our fibre network support the roll-out of 5G technology against the backdrop of regulation opportunities to increase
industry competition. A key component of this strategy is investment in digital platforms to enhance the way our customers interact with us through the provisioning process. As we continue our efforts to create a new energy future for New Zealand, Australia and beyond, the power of the Symphony strategy lies in combining our many strengths. As an integrated Group united under one strategy, this enables us to overcome challenges and capitalise on the best opportunities to empower our customers now and into the future. Lifting customer service In a year characterised by constant change, our commitment to improving customer service in our regulated electricity and gas businesses has remained constant, and we are pleased to report continued progress. We invested $317.1 million – or $6.1 million every week – to make our networks more intelligent and resilient and to keep pace with Auckland’s growth. Furthermore, we have actively embraced new ways of working that have reduced the frequency and duration of outages across the electricity network. In FY20 we ran an internal programme to significantly reduce our System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and continuously drive reliability and performance. We are proud of the progress we made, and will work hard to build on these achievements to deliver a favourable network performance outcome in the coming year.
DAME ALISON PATERSON CHAIR
SIMON MACKENZIE GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CHAIR AND GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE REPORT
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