The DominionPost today reports the five AECT trustees – who have the power to hire and fire all Vector directors – have brought in Thomson, a former Transpower chief executive, who favours embedded electricity generation to help avoid the need for big investment in transmission lines.

Leyland, who had been in line for a third year as a Vector director, recently forecast a tightening electricity supply and advocated a central body to co-ordinate the buying and selling of electricity instead of the current market model.

During Thomson’s time at Transpower there was little new investment in transmission facilities and embedded generation, which is fed into local networks and not the Transpower-owned national grid, is still insignificant in terms of electricity supply.

Thomson is the fourth new Vector director in six months. Others are Tony Gibbs, of Guinness Peat Group, and Greg Muir, former chief executive of The Warehouse, and John Goulter, former Auckland International Airport chief executive.