Contact Energy

The Ohaaki Geothermal Hydroelectric Power Plant

The Contact Energy Ltd. is a leading power generation and utility company based in Harbor City Tower in Wellington , New Zealand . The company serves a group of more than half a million commercial and private users at national level. Other business areas are the supply of liquid and natural gas . Contact Energie provides around a quarter of the total electricity supply on the island of New Zealand and almost half of the gas supply.

Company history

Contact Energy has existed since 1996. The company was recruited from the state-owned "Electricity Corporation of New Zealand", whose business areas were taken over. The company has been listed on the stock exchange since May 1999 . The company's shares are listed on the NZX , where they have the third-highest index weighting ( market capitalization ) with a share of 9% . About 1150 people are employed.

Since October 2004, the Australian energy company Origin Energy from Sydney , with 51% of the company's majority shareholder. During the financial market crisis of 2008, the company lost around 10% of its customers after increased manager salaries were paid to the executive boards despite the adverse events.

Further business areas

The company has nine of its own power plants in New Zealand and also operates another power plant. Outside New Zealand, Contact Energy owns around 25% of the power plants in the Australian state of Queensland . The turbines are located in Auckland , Hamilton and Taranaki ; four geothermal plants are located north of the city of Taupo and two hydropower plants on the Clutha River in southern New Zealand ( Clyde Dam ).