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Meridian Energy Limited Annual Shareholder Meeting

AGM16 October 2019MELUtilities

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MERIDIAN ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING: 17 OCTOBER 2019

SLIDE THREE: CHAIR’S ADDRESS

I will now move to my Chairman’s address.

Today we are gathered in the Balmerino Room at Riccarton Racecourse in

Christchurch.

Balmerino was a national champion racehorse with many international successes.

He started forty-six times, won twenty-two races and was placed a further thirteen

times.

He raced in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, England, Italy and France,

including being runner-up in the nineteen ninety-seven Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in

Paris, the richest horse race in the world at that time.

SLIDE FOUR: CLEAN ENERGY

Meridian also strives to be a national champion.

We pioneered and led renewable generation in this country, years before the current

Prime Minister declared quote “climate change is my generation’s nuclear-free

moment” unquote.

As a company, our stated purpose is to strive for clean energy for a fairer and

healthier world in ways that align with our social commitments, the needs of our

customers and the expectations of our shareholders.


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This is why Meridian is a strong supporter of the Climate Change Response (Zero

Carbon) Amendment Bill introduced by the Government in May twenty-nineteen.

Once passed, the Bill will provide for a series of emissions budgets to act as stepping

stones towards New Zealand’s, twenty-fifty targets of net zero greenhouse gas

emissions and a reduction in methane emissions of between twenty-four and forty-

seven percent.

The Bill also establishes a new, independent Climate Change Commission to provide

expert advice and monitoring to help keep successive Governments on track.

Given Meridian’s one hundred percent renewable generation legacy in New Zealand,

we continue to lead environmental change.

Meridian is now net zero carbon across our operations and we have committed to

halve our gross emissions by twenty-thirty.

We have made real progress in Australia, growing renewable generation and

customers, including offering a carbon neutral alternative in a country that is

dominated by fossil fuel energy.

Similarly, in New Zealand Meridian has launched a renewable energy certification

that provides business customers with an assurance the Company has generated

enough renewable energy to cover their electricity usage.

The first customer was the Garage Project, a craft beer company that is passionate

about making its business as sustainable as it can, with Meridian’s help.

Renewable electricity is the solution to many of New Zealand’s carbon challenges.


3


Providing clean energy that will be transformative for many industries, particularly

transport, means it is an exciting time for our sector and the Meridian Board and

Management believe this will be positive for both our customers and shareholders.

Through the release of our Integrated Annual Report in August, we became the first

New Zealand company to publicly disclose the risks climate change poses to our

business.

We believe that this type of reporting to shareholders is equally, if not more

important, than historical financial results, which, rest assured, I will cover before

concluding my address.

SLIDE FIVE: FAIRER AND HEALTHIER WORLD

Two weeks ago, the Minister of Energy and Resources released the Government’s

response to the recommendations of the Electricity Price Review or the EPR as I will

refer to it in the balance of my speech.

We have always said that Meridian is broadly supportive of the suite of initiatives put

forward by the EPR and nothing has materially changed since the Government’s

announcements on the third of October.

The Minister’s press release says quote “the EPR found that while overall the market

is working well, it is not delivering for everyone. Too many people are paying higher

bills than they need to, and many people struggle with the cost of power” unquote.

This statement resonates with our view that the New Zealand market is delivering

reliable, affordable and largely renewable electricity consistent with our purpose that

“we strive for clean energy for a fairer and healthier world in ways that align with our


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social commitments, the needs of our customers and expectations of our

shareholders”.

Evidence of this are the numerous climate change initiatives I have referred to earlier

in my address and our decision to remove Prompt Payment Discounts and replace

them with simpler tariffs, in advance of any public recommendations on the subject

being made to the Minister by the EPR.

Indeed, it is pleasing to note that in her press release of third October the Minister

said quote “we will also be requiring retailers to follow Meridian’s lead and change

pricing structures to pass discount rates to all customers instead of relying on hidden

late payment penalties. When Meridian did this, it put five million dollars back into the

pockets of customers, and the EPR estimates that forty-five million dollars would be

saved when other companies follow suit” unquote.

In removing the Prompt Payment Discount, the Board was fully cognisant of the

potential cost to shareholders of five million dollars; however in the grander scheme

of things, it was obvious that the Prompt Payment Discount was patently unfair to

those facing hardship because they were the very people who were less able to pay

their bills by the due date and the discount they forfeited bore no relation to the cost

of collecting overdue debts.

Meridian also has a number of other ways of helping low-income households,

including tailored payment plans and a LevelPay product that keeps bills the same

throughout the year, with options to pay for power weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

In addition, we employ a Hardship Consultant to help customers in difficulty and we

also support a pilot programme called EnergyMate.


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This free in-home coaching service is run by the Electricity Retailers’ Association of

New Zealand (otherwise known as ERANZ) and brings together electricity retailers

like us, lines companies, community organisations and the Government.

The coaches support families at highest risk of energy hardship by helping them talk

to their retailers about payment plans, doing high-level assessments of how warm

and healthy their homes are and working with them to access services like curtain

banks or talk to their landlords about insulation.

SLIDE 6: TRANSMISSION PRICING METHODOLOGY

While I am on the subject of unfairness, the Electricity Authority has concluded that

the Transmission Pricing charging regime is unfair to the South Island generators

and results in inefficient outcomes as it imposes a tax on further investment in South

Island generation.

This because an element of the current Transmission Pricing Methodology, or TPM

as it is often referred to, is that the costs of the HVDC link across Cook Strait, are

levied in totality on the South Island generators even though electricity flows through

the cable in both directions: that is from the North Island to the South Island as well

as from the South Island to the North Island.

As a company we are highly frustrated by the inter-decadal delay in resolving the

lack of fairness and economic inefficiency the current regime creates.

Accordingly, we support the Electricity Authority’s plan to deliver the reform package

they have proposed as quickly as possible.


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SLIDE SEVEN: SHAREHOLDER RESULTS

Turning now to the year in review.

The Board and the Executive are proud of the record result achieved this year.

Group EBITDAF increased by twenty-six percent to eight hundred and thirty-eight

million dollars, which resulted in a net profit after tax of three hundred and thirty-nine

million dollars, an increase of sixty-nine percent on the previous year.

Contemporaneously our share price increased by fifty-two percent over the year,

which culminated in Meridian becoming New Zealand’s largest company on the

stock exchange as measured by value or commonly referred to as the Company’s

market capitalisation.

At the risk of being accused of profiteering, I think this is a simply stunning result.

Wholesale market prices significantly exceeded the prior year, as a result of

unplanned outages at the Pohokura gas field, whilst smart and prudent use of our

hydro storage allowed us to generate and sell record hydro volumes at those very

high prices.

The share price was also underpinned by declining interest rates in New Zealand and

around the world.

SLIDE EIGHT: YOUR BOARD

Looking to the future, the composition of your Board is changing in the most

significant manner since the Company was listed in October twenty-thirteen.


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Later in the meeting today, you will be asked to re-elect Jan Dawson to the Board

and elect three other women, Julia Hoare, Michelle Henderson and Nagaja

Sanatkumar, as Directors of the Company for the first time.

The biographies of each of the four candidates are set out in the Notice of Meeting

and they will all address you at the time the appropriate resolution is considered by

meeting.

The three new Directors standing for election were selected following a

comprehensive external independent search based solely on merit and if elected

today, together with Jan Dawson, will result in the Board having a fifty/fifty gender

mix.

I stand to be corrected but I am not aware of any other significant listed company in

New Zealand that can lay claim to an equal Board composition of females and males.

The three new Directors replace Steve Reindler, Mary Devine and myself.

Steve stepped down prior to last year’s Annual Shareholder Meeting due to a conflict

of interest that arose when Z Energy, of which he was also a Director, purchased a

controlling interest in energy retailer and competitor, Flick.

Accordingly, I thanked Steve for his service to the Company in Auckland last year.

Mary Devine, who resides in Christchurch, so some of you will no doubt know her,

retires at the conclusion of today’s meeting having served as a Director since twenty-

ten.6

Unfortunately, Mary is an apology for today, but she did attend yesterday’s Board

meeting and we paid tribute to her last night.


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In March this year, Mary was appointed Managing Director of Hallenstein Glassons

and advised the Company of her intention to stand down from her governance

positions.

Mary made a significant contribution to Meridian as Chair of the Remuneration and

People Committee and as the Board’s retail expert having formerly served as

Managing Director of renowned Christchurch institution Ballantynes, Chief Executive

of Ezibuy and as a Director of Briscoes Group, Foodstuffs South Insurer, IAG and

Top Retail.

Accordingly, I would ask that the Company formally records its thanks to Mary

accompanied by a round of acclamation.

The other person, who will retire at the close of this meeting, is myself.

Consequently, Mark Verbiest will assume the role of Chair of the Company later this

morning.

He is a highly experienced chairman, being the current Chair of the very successful

Freightways and the former Chair of both Transpower, which manages New

Zealand’s electricity transmission network, and Spark.

SLIDE NINE: REFLECTIONS

As I reflect on my time as a Director and Chair of Meridian, one very special thing

stands out – the Initial Public Offering on the twenty-ninth of October twenty thirteen,

which is the biggest IPO in New Zealand’s history.


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But it wasn’t the IPO itself that merits attention because it was a hard slog, twenty-

four months in the gestation, complex because of the instalment receipts and not

without controversy.

Thankfully the Board at the time took the decision not to push to be first to market so

that we had time to recruit a top-class Chief Executive, clean up a somewhat untidy

balance sheet and learn from the listing experience of Mighty River Power (now

Mercury), which the Government in the end selected to be the first cab off the rank.

Instead the special thing that stands out for me is the massive transformation and

legacy that the IPO brought about by revolutionising the culture of the company and

its performance.

The Mixed Ownership Model was politically unpopular at the time of its inception, but

it has delivered in spades for Meridian, just like Air New Zealand and Port of

Tauranga, and without the nay-sayers predicted loss of New Zealand control and

significant retail price increases.

We secured the services of Mark Binns from Fletchers, who simply would not have

joined the Company had we remained as a State-Owned Enterprise.

Given investment market scrutiny, the Board also knew it had to put in place a capital

management programme, initially for five, and subsequently extended to seven

years, to address the Company’s lazy balance sheet, with the result that, whilst all

shareholders have benefited, the Crown has received more in dividends each year

for its fifty-one percent shareholding in Meridian, the listed company, than it did for

its previous one hundred percent shareholding in Meridian, the State Owned

Enterprise.


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Overall, since listing, the total shareholder return is three hundred and forty-eight

percent.

This means that if you subscribed for the minimum shareholding of one thousand

dollars at the time of listing in two thousand and thirteen and paid the required

further five hundred dollars in May twenty-fifteen for the instalment receipts, your

investment as at last Friday, was worth five thousand three hundred and ten dollars,

giving an unrealised profit of three thousand eight hundred and ten dollars, or two

and half times your original investment.

In addition, since listing you will have received one thousand, three hundred and

seventy dollars in gross dividends.

SLIDE TEN: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Finally, as I depart I would like to acknowledge a number of people from a personal

perspective.

Firstly, the Honourable Simon Power, who as Minister of State-Owned Enterprises

appointed me as the Chair of Meridian prior to the Company being listed.

Secondly the Treasury staff that were involved during the IPO and subsequently, in

particular Chris White and Juston Anderson.

Thirdly Peter Wilson, our Deputy Chairman, who has been on most of the journey

with me.

Fourthly the Directors, especially those who joined the Board before the IPO – Jan

Dawson, Anake Goodall and Mark Cairns, who are all still here today and former

Directors, John Bongard, Steve Reindler and Mary Devine.


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Fifthly, the two Chief Executives, who have led Meridian as a listed company, Mark

Binns and Neal Barclay.

Sixthly the Executive Team, in particular those that have served the Company

though-out my tenure on the Board, namely Jason Stein, Guy Waipara and Mike

Roan.

Seventhly, my thanks to all of the staff throughout New Zealand, Australia and the

United Kingdom.

You do a magnificent job and I am very grateful to you.

Finally, I wish the new Board, under Mark Verbiest’s leadership, the very best for the

future.

I now invite our Chief Executive to address you.

SLIDE 11 – CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW

Thank you, Chris.

I’d like to do a quick introduction to the Executive team present today. They are all

sitting in the front row so can I introduce:

Guy Waipara, our General Manager of Generation and Natural Resources

Tania Palmer, Chief People Officer

Mike Roan, Chief Financial Officer

Nic Kennedy, Chief Executive of Flux Federation

Chris Ewers, General Manager Wholesale


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Claire Shaw – Acting General Manager of Office of the Chief Executive

Jason Stein – noted on the stage as company Secretary, Jason is currently our

Acting Chief Customer Officer.

Absent today is Catherine Anderson, our Acting Chief Executive of Meridian Energy

Australia and Powershop Australia.

SLIDE 12: PEOPLE

I’m going to start with our people and move to our performance. It has certainly been

a year of change.

Jacqui Cleland, Paul Chambers, Julian Smith and Ed McManus have all made

personal decisions to leave the Meridian Executive Team and move onto their next

career steps.

We’ve introduced Tania Palmer and Nic Kennedy from outside the Company, Mike

Roan has changed roles on the Executive Team and Chris Ewers has stepped up to

join the Executive team as GM Wholesale.

We are progressing with further new appointments for our Chief Customer Officer

and Australian CEO and are looking at internal and external candidates for both of

those roles.

Despite the change at the top table, I’ve been delighted that the business has lost no

momentum at all, demonstrated by the result we have produced. To me that shows

the talent runs deep through our business and across our teams.


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Meridian continues to build a more diverse, more inclusive, more engaged

workforce. Our gender balance, pay parity, diversity and inclusion measures all

continue to move in the right direction.

SLIDE 13: SAFETY

Certainly, the most sobering aspect of our performance in the last year has been

safety.

Our total injury rate has spiked and in FY19 two of those incidents resulted in serious

hand injuries.

While I remain confident that our safety culture and processes are strong, we can’t

take that for granted. So, we have sought specialist external advice to help us ensure

our worksite environments and the safety behaviour of our people are at the highest

level.

SLIDE 14: OUR CUSTOMERS

I am delighted with how our New Zealand retail brands are performing and total

customer numbers in New Zealand grew by 4%.

Price dynamics have been interesting. The competitive acquisition pressures in

residential and small business have seen average price fall, while the higher

wholesale prices observed in the ASX futures market have flowed into corporate,

industrial and spot exposed pricing.

I’d also call out our growing commercial solar book, we have completed significant

new solar builds with both Kiwi Property and Mainfreight during the last year and the

pipeline for new developments is expanding rapidly. Most recently we have begun


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working with Lincoln University as it takes its first step towards harnessing renewable

energy, with the installation of a solar array.


SLIDE 15: DRIVERS OF RETAIL VALUE

Beyond volume and price, the underlying drivers of retail value are trending well.

Powershop leads the industry and Meridian leads the large retailers in Brand

Preference, which we measure as Net Promotor Scores. Both brands were

recognised as finalists as Retailer of the Year at the Deloitte Energy Awards in

August and Powershop won.

Customer retention rates are improving and our cost to serve on a per customer

basis have declined by 6%.

As Chris mentioned we made a values-based decision to stop clawing back Prompt

Payment Discounts and we introduced simpler tariffs this year. This resonated

strongly with customers and is part of our plan to build the value of our business in

the long run.

A big project we have underway is the migration of the Meridian customer base to

the Flux platform. Flux Federation is our in-house software business that developed

the technology that allows us to serve and bill our Powershop customers. By moving

the Meridian customers onto the same platform, we expect to reduce costs and

improve the agility of our Meridian customer offerings. Progress is slightly slower

than expected, but costs remain under control.


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All up, the increased size of our New Zealand customer base accompanied by

improved brand preference and customer retention rates are contributing toward a

stronger more profitable retail business.

SLIDE 16: GENERATION

I’m particularly proud of the performance of our wholesale and generation teams this

year. Sure, Wholesale prices spiked significantly over the prior year, but in the

context of average rain and water inflows into our hydro catchments and some

significant planned plant outages, the Teams delivered a record amount of

generation to take advantage of the high wholesale prices.

Meridian owns the largest, most reliable and efficient fleet of electricity generation

assets in New Zealand. Our philosophy is that we are caretakers of those assets for

future generations of New Zealanders and we ensure they are well maintained. They

will continue to underpin the strong financial performance of our Company for

decades to come (if not centuries).

SLIDE 17: AUSTRALIA

We’ve had stellar success in growing the scale of our Australian business and by

year end our customer numbers were up 36% on prior year.

Australia is obviously a significantly larger market than New Zealand and we believe

the potential reach of our Powershop customer proposition, which is strongly centred

on our Green credentials, is several times the size of our customer base today.

In recent months, the regulators in Australia have introduced Default Offer Prices that

retailers must offer to all customers. These default prices are a form of retail price


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cap. Price caps often have the perverse effect of reducing service levels and

ultimately increasing costs to consumers. But we think at the level that the default

prices have been introduced, Powershop can continue to compete at an acceptable

margin.

The electricity wholesale market in Australia is also very volatile so we must focus on

managing the cost of supplying our growing number retail customers.

We have expanded our portfolio of generation assets from two wind farms to now

include three small hydro stations and two off-take agreements for new wind farms.

We currently have enough generation capacity to support a customer base close to

twice what it is today.

Shareholders can expect Australia to continue to play a significant part in growing

Meridian’s bottom line performance.

SLIDE 18: NZAS

New Zealand’s Aluminium smelter at Bluff jointly owned by Rio Tinto and Sumitomo

Chemicals remains Meridian’s most significant customer. The smelter produces

some of the lowest carbon aluminium in the world powered by electricity that is

mostly renewable. NZAS also produces the purest aluminium largely due to the

smart kiwis who operate the plant in Southland. If you own a smart phone, chances

are it has aluminium in it that was smelted in NZ.

NZAS owners are clear that operating costs are high compared to other aluminium

smelters across the globe. Also, over the last 12 months, aluminium prices have

fallen by upwards of US$300 per tonnes, so given its significance we remain


17


regularly engaged with the smelter owners to help support their continued operation

in New Zealand.

It is also well understood that given how transmission costs are allocated in New

Zealand, the smelter effectively subsidises consumers of electricity outside of

Southland and those consumers are mostly in the upper North Island. The

Transmission Pricing Methodology reform currently being proposed by the Electricity

Authority, that Chris referred to earlier, will resolve some of this issue, but it may be

several years before that reform package is implemented. To help support the long-

term viability of the smelter we support adoption of the TPM reform package as soon

as possible.

SLIDE 19: LOOKING FORWARD

In the near term, we have started the new financial year in good fashion. The storage

in New Zealand’s hydro lakes is below average for this time of year and wholesale

prices for electricity are significantly higher than normal. This is not in itself unusual

because we rarely get average weather conditions in this country. Like we did last

financial last year, we have demonstrated prudent use of the hydro storage that we

manage and as of today Meridian’s hydro lakes are at about average levels. As such

we have been able to maintain a strong market share of electricity generation and

benefit from high wholesale prices.

However, coming up in the first quarter next year, Transpower is planning a partial

outage on the Cook Strait cable. This outage will limit Meridian and other South

Island generators’ ability to transmit our generation to the North Island. As a result,

our generation market share will reduce during that outage and so too our


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generation revenues. Whilst we have planned for that, the reduction in generation

revenues over the upcoming summer will make it tough to match the great bottom

line result from last financial year.

Looking further ahead, the outlook for the electricity sector is strong in both New

Zealand and Australia. We are seeing organic demand growth on the back of

continued growth in GDP and migration. That, in itself, will require some new

renewable generation to be built in New Zealand over the next few years. And as a

result, we are looking to make an investment decision on our best new wind farm

within the next six months.

There is also a much bigger opportunity on the horizon. Our ability, as a country, to

reduce our dependence on fossil fuels is closely linked to our ability to cost

effectively build more renewable electricity. Every electric car we introduce to the

country removes 4tonnes of CO2 emissions each year and whilst we can’t go fully

electric overnight, the economic vs carbon trade-off makes electrifying much of New

Zealand’s transport fleet a no brainer.

Also, the cost of new renewable electricity generation is coming down. So, despite

what you may read or hear from time to time, on shore wind is highly profitable in

New Zealand. The machines are getting bigger, costs are coming down and

undoubtedly the bulk of new generation in this country will be wind. Meridian is New

Zealand’s most successful and experienced wind farm developer. We also have a

strong balance sheet and are therefore particularly well placed strategically to grow

our dividends on the back of new renewable investments.


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From where I am standing, the future looks pretty darn exciting for our industry and

for this company.

SLIDE 20: TRIBUTE TO OUR CHAIR

And lastly, our incoming Chair, Mark Verbiest, outlined some of the many

achievements of the company under Chris’s time as Chairman.

I’d also like to thank you Chris on behalf of all past and present members of the

Meridian Team who have worked with you.

You’ve challenged us to be the best we can be. You’ve set the bar very high for the

standard for our interactions, our discussions and our decision making as a Board

and Management.

You’ve also shown immense support and encouragement for management that has

set the tone and allowed the people in our business to flourish. As a first time Chief

Executive I’ve truly valued the guidance and counsel you have given me over the last

two years, and I will be a better much CEO as a result.

So, we thank you Chris for your challenge, your commitment, your encouragement,

which I believe, is based upon your belief in this company and its people.

ENDS

---

2019 Annual Shareholder
Meeting

17 OCTOBER 2019

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
2

Order of business

Chief Executive’s review

Resolutions and voting

Chair’s address

Shareholder questions

3
Chair’s address

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

4
Clean energy

Clean energy for a fairer and

healthier world

Net zero carbon across our

operations

First to launch renewable energy

certificates

First to report on climate change

risks

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

5
Fairer and healthier world

Electricity Price Review

Removal of prompt payment discount

Initiatives to assist low income

households

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

6
Transmission pricing methodology (TPM)

Electricity Authority believes current

charging regime is unfair and results

in inefficient outcomes

Meridian supports the Electricity

Authority’s plan to deliver reforms

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

7
Shareholder results

A record result

26% increase in EBITDAF

1

69% increase in net profit after tax

New Zealand’s largest listed

company

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

618

650

657

666

838

500

600

700

800

900

20152016201720182019

$M

Financial Year ended 30 June

EBITDAF

1

1

earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, changes in fair value of hedges and other significant items

Source: Meridian

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
8

Your Board

Standing for election

Julia Hoare

Michelle Henderson

Nagaja Sanatkumar

Standing for re-election

Jan Dawson

Resigning

Steve Reindler(Aug 2018)

Mary Devine (today)

Chris Moller (today)

New Chair

Mark Verbiest (today)

Reflections
17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

9

Acknowledgments
17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

10

11
Chief Executive’s review

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

12
People

Changes in the Executive

98% gender pay equity

YWCA equal pay award

Gender Tick accreditation

Targeting 40% of women in

leadership and senior specialist

positions by 2020

Diversity and inclusion award at the

2019 NZ HR Awards

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

45%

35%

77%

98%

42%

33%

78%

98%

0%

30%

60%

90%

120%

Women in the

business

Women in

senior roles

EngagementGender pay

equity

Workforce measures

FY19FY18

Source: Meridian

13
Safety

8 LTI injuries in FY19, highest in 10

years

Specialist external advice to ensure

our safety is at the highest level

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

1

calculated per 200,000 hours and includes all lost time, medical treatment and restricted work injuries

Source: Meridian

1.2

1.7

0.2

0.7

1.3

2.7

3.1

3.6

1.8

4.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19

Total recordable injury frequency rate

1

Meridian employees

Meridian on-site contractors

Source: Meridian

220
219

218

225

228

56

56

59

66

74

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Jun-15Jun-16Jun-17Jun-18Jun-19

ICP (000)

Financial Year ended 30 June

New Zealand customer connections

MeridianPowershop

14

Our customers

Customer number and sales volume

growth across all segments (except

Agri sales)

Headlined by 4% sales growth in

both residential and small medium

business

Competitive pressure in those

segments reflected in a 3% average

price decrease

Higher wholesale forward prices lifted

average corporate sales price by 7%

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

Total

276

275

277

291

302

Source: Meridian

+2
+6

+33

+41

+43

0

25

50

201720182019

Financial Year ended 30 June

NPS -difference to industry average

MeridianPowershop

15

Drivers of retail value

Increasing NPS

1

, declining churn

rates

6% lower cost to serve per customer

34k Meridian customers migrated to

the Flux platform, expecting 60k by

December 2019

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

higher

Source: Meridian

1

net promoter score

Consumer NZ Energy Retailer of the Year

Low Carbon Future Award

not measured

68
57

51

83

123

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

20152016201720182019

$/MWh

Financial Year ended 30 June

NZ average generation price

16

Generation

Record hydro generation year

despite only 104% of average inflows

and plant refurbishment

High wholesale electricity prices from

gas supply issues

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

Source: Meridian

17
Australia

Strong customer acquisition in FY19

following acquisition of further

generation

State and Federal default offers

came into effect in July 2019

Wholesale electricity prices are

volatile

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

-500

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

Jul-18Sep-18Nov-18Jan-19Mar-19May-19

Powershop Australia net customer

changes

electricitygas

Source: Meridian

18
New Zealand’s AluminiumSmelter

Tiwaismelter is 12% of national

demand

Financial contract with Meridian on

NZAS perpetual 12-month

termination right

Additional 50MW contract signed in

May 2018, bringing contract volume

to 622MW

Aluminium remains a commodity

exposed to cycles and Chinese supply

decisions

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

19
Looking forward

Customer growth in all geographies

is continuing

Wholesale electricity prices remain

higher than normal as storage is

falling

Gas markets remain tight, further gas

field outages are planned

Major HVDC outage planned

between January and April 2020

New renewable generation is planned

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

01-Jul01-Sep01-Nov01-Jan01-Mar01-May

GWh

Meridian's Waitaki storage

FY2019FY2018

FY202085 year average

Source: Meridian

Tribute to our Chair
20

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

21
Shareholder questions

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

22
Resolutions and voting

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

23
Resolution 1

Re-election of Jan Dawson

That Jan Dawson, who retires by

rotation and is eligible for re-election, be

re-elected as a Director of the Company

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

24
Resolution 2

Election of Julia Hoare

That Julia Hoare (appointed as a

Director of the Company by the Board

with effect from 26 September 2019),

who retires and is eligible for election,

be elected as a Director of the

Company

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

25
Resolution 3

Election of Michelle Henderson

That Michelle Henderson (appointed as

a Director of the Company by the Board

with effect from 16 October 2019) who

retires and is eligible for election, be

elected as a Director of the Company

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

26
Resolution 4

Election of Nagaja Sanatkumar

That Nagaja Sanatkumar(appointed as

a Director of the Company by the Board

with effect from 1 January 2020) be

elected as a Director of the Company

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

27
Resolution 5

Amendments to the Company’s constitution

That the Company’s constitution be revoked and a new constitution, in the form

presented at the 2019 ASM, be adopted, with effect from the close of the ASM

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

Re-election of
Jan Dawson

Election of

Julia Hoare

Election of

Michelle

Henderson

Election of

Nagaja

Sanatkumar

Amendments

to the

Company’s

constitution

Postal and online votes already cast

For603,224,289579,171,322606,339,810606,157,720605,948,087

Against3,309,13627,045,360544,749798,746564,866

Abstain2,555,7322,822,1852,128,5082,074,5012,382,924

Votes appointed to proxies not yet cast

1

1,316,630,1841,316,680,4741,316,706,2741,316,688,3741,316,823,464

Total1,925,719,3411,925,719,3411,925,719,3411,925,719,3411,925,719,341

Proxy totals

1

Votes held by the Chair, Directors and other proxies

28

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

29
Closing

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

30
Disclaimer

The information in this presentation was prepared by Meridian Energy

with due care and attention. However, the information is supplied in

summary form and is therefore not necessarily complete, and no

representation is made as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability

of the information. In addition, neither the company nor any of its

directors, employees, shareholders nor any other person shall have

liability whatsoever to any person for any loss (including, without

limitation, arising from any fault or negligence) arising from this

presentation or any information supplied in connection with it.

This presentation may contain forward-looking statements and

projections. These reflect Meridian’s current expectations, based on

what it thinks are reasonable assumptions. Meridian gives no warranty

or representation as to its future financial performance or any future

matter. Except as required by law or NZX or ASX listing rules, Meridian

is not obliged to update this presentation after its release, even if things

change materially.

This presentation does not constitute financial advice. Further, this

presentation is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or a

solicitation of an offer to buy Meridian Energy securities and may not

be relied upon in connection with any purchase of Meridian Energy

securities.

This presentation contains a number of non-GAAP financial measures,

including Energy Margin, EBITDAF, Underlying NPAT and gearing.

Because they are not defined by GAAP or IFRS, Meridian's calculation

of these measures may differ from similarly titled measures presented

by other companies and they should not be considered in isolation

from, or construed as an alternative to, other financial measures

determined in accordance with GAAP. Although Meridian believes they

provide useful information in measuring the financial performance and

condition of Meridian's business, readers are cautioned not to place

undue reliance on these non-GAAP financial measures.

The information contained in this presentation should be considered in

conjunction with the company’s financial statements, which are

included in Meridian’s integrated report for the year ended 30 June

2019 and is available at:

www.meridianenergy.co.nz/investors

All currency amounts are in New Zealand dollars unless stated

otherwise.

17 OCTOBER 20192019 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

Data sourced from publicly available filings. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.

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