A really interesting battle has been playing out over the last few weeks in the Wel Energy Trust elections.
In one corner is the Garry Mallet led Power Rebates Team promoting itself under the platform “We won’t be beaten on discounts”. It appears this team is going to abolish the amount previously paid to community organisations; a sum of around $2.25 million.
In the other corner is the Power Discounts Team made up of a group of prominent locals including Rob Hamill, Mark Ingle, Dave Currie, Mark Bunting, Brad Chibnall and Tania Hennebry. This team advocates the same mix of 90% discounts and 10% community grants.
In the nine years we have been in operation I have been constantly amazed at the amount of times we get approached to help community based organisations. As a relatively small business the best way we can help is to donate our time and expertise to help with design, campaign development, media planning and marketing - thereby cutting these costs for the organisations concerned. If we put our minds to it, we could undertake a huge number of pro-bono projects so we have had to put an annual cap on them. In my opinion they are a worthwhile and necessary part of doing business in the region.
There are many service-based organisations like ours that help out where we can; collectively it makes a huge difference to the individual organisations we support and the community as a whole. It would be hard to imagine life without the Hospice, the St John’s Ambulance and many others whose very survival depends on assistance from the community.
Over and above the in-kind contributions companies like ours make are the massive cash injections made by the handful of large companies based here, for example Gallaghers and Perry’s. These companies have not only helped shape our local economy, they have been the life blood of many community organisations that simply would not be in existence if not for their on-going generosity.
The problem is that we all have our limits. As the economy slows and pressure goes on, we will be forced to be very selective about how we allocate our scarce resources to charitable endeavours. Even at the best of times, limitations are necessary but now it is going to be even more important to be careful as it feels like we are going to be in for a genuinely tough couple of years.
So what happens if the $2.25 million is no longer made available to community organisations? In a tightening economy it is going to put huge pressure on other funding sources to help make ends meet. Further to this it is going to hamstring these organisations in their efforts to keep serving the community to the best of their ability. $2.25 million is a very big sum to take out of the mix and while it’s an easy sell to households to tell them they will get the maximum amount of money available as a rebate on their power bill, the downside will be an enormous amount of pressure going on the orgnanisations such as the Maramarua Fire Brigade, Raglan Surf Lifesavers and Maori Women’s Refuge these households rely on to provide much needed support.
As a power consumer and business owner, I am happy with the mix as it is. We are very happy to help the community where we can, but we do have out limits; and I can’t see the point in making a small additional contribution to the average household that has the effect of applying significant pressure on the business community.
So whatever your stance, now is the time to act. After the 28th of the month it will be too late. So get in and vote. |
