Ausgrid

Ausgrid is an electricity distribution company which owns, maintains and operates the electrical networks supplying 1.8 million customers in Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales, Australia.[1] It was formed in 2011 from the previously state-owned energy retailer/distributor, EnergyAustralia, when the retail division of the company, along with the EnergyAustralia brand, was sold by the Government of New South Wales, and the remainder renamed Ausgrid.

Ausgrid
Private
IndustryUtility
PredecessorEnergyAustralia
Founded1 March 2011 (2011-03-01)
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Area served
Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter Region
Key people
Richard Gross (CEO) Trevor Armstrong (COO)
ServicesElectricity distribution
OwnerAustralianSuper and IFM Investors - 50.4% Government of New South Wales - 49.6%
Websitewww.ausgrid.com.au
Ausgrid's Old HQ building, Sydney

See Sydney County Council for history of electricity distribution in the Sydney Areas.

Ownership

Ausgrid was wholly owned by the Government of New South Wales from 2011 to 2016. In 2016, the New South Wales Government offered the effective sale of a 50.4% stake in Ausgrid, through a 99-year lease.[2] Initial bidding was won by a consortium of State Grid Corporation of China and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings. On 11 August 2016 the Federal Government intervened to block the proposal, citing national security concerns regarding foreign ownership of critical infrastructure.[2][3] In September 2016 the New South Wales Government instead accepted a bid from an Australian-based consortium of AustralianSuper and IFM Investors, for a sum of $16 billion.[4]

Controversy and criticism

Since 2012, Ausgrid has received numerous complaints and requests for better stakeholder management and consultation of the local community. Ausgrid was seen as forcing their network capacity increasing (and therefore profit increasing) projects onto local residential communities. Affected residents groups from the suburbs of Leichhardt,[5] Penshurst[6][7] and East Lindfield[8][9] protested against proposed electricity infrastructure[10] being installed in front of their residential homes without proper consultation or response to complaints by the community. The residents, after many urgent appeals to Ausgrid's COO Trevor Armstrong and the chairman Roger Massey-Green, had been given no other option to notify local MP's, the media, the Environmental Protection Authority and other authorities to get action against Ausgrid.

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References
  1. "About us". Ausgrid. 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  2. "Treasurer blocks sale of Ausgrid to Chinese, Hong Kong bidders". ABC News. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  3. Massola, James; Wen, Phillip; Robins, Brian; Nicholls, Sean (11 August 2016). "Treasurer Scott Morrison blocks sale of Ausgrid to foreign bidders". The Sydney Morning Herald. -Fairfax Media. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  4. McNally, Lucy (20 October 2016). "Ausgrid sale: Baird Government sells half to Australian firms for $16 billion". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  5. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/inner-west/high-voltage-debate-rages-on-as-leichhardt-residents-protest-cable/story-fngr8h4f-1226618439709
  6. http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1921652/residents-tell-ausgrid-back-off/
  7. http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1945586/police-intervene-in-stand-off-between-ausgrid-and-angry-penhurst-residents/
  8. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/north-shore/photos-fngr8h9d-1226745815438?page=3
  9. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/north-shore/high-voltage-underground-power-lines-dig-up-community-anger-as-their-local-roads-are-trenched/story-fngr8h9d-1227280924773
  10. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/march-of-the-tall-grey-poles-has-residents-fuming-20110311-1br8p.html
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