Tauranga-headquartered TrustPower told the NZX on Friday that its audited results for the March 2005 financial year showed EBITDA grew by 23% from NZ$140.4m to NZ$173.3m.

But operating revenue declined by 3% to NZ$612.3m as a result of lower energy prices charged to those customers paying spot market prices. Total volume sold was 5873 GWh compared with 5656 GWh in the year ending March 2004. Total customer numbers remained steady at around 225,000.

For most of the year, the New Zealand electricity environment featured above average hydro lake storage levels and inflows that led to low spot prices.

But the final quarter saw spot prices lift significantly due to some generation being out for scheduled maintenance, Cook Strait cable transmission constraints, and some North Island thermal generation (principally Genesis Energy’s coal-gas-fired Huntly power station) being unable to be run at normal capacity due to resource consent restrictions on cooling water.

TrustPower generation assets performed strongly with 2071 GWh produced (1738 GWh for 2004), with the increase being attributed to 10 months’ production from the second-stage, 36MW expansion of the Tararua Wind Farm, as well as higher-than-average production from hydro assets, particularly during the last quarter. TrustPower hoped to expand the Tararua wind farm again shortly.

Chairman Harold Titter said TrustPower welcomed the government announcement earlier this month of a carbon tax (of NZ$15 per tonne of emissions) from April 2007 as this would have a favourable impact on the dozen or so potential renewable (hydro and wind) investment opportunities the company was currently investigating.

The company’s balance sheet remained strong and would provide a platform for new generation investment in new generation. The net profit represented a return on average shareholders' funds of 8.4%.

Titter said progress on the South Australian wind farm projects had been slower than expected, and while some key project arrangements had been completed, and others were awaiting approvals or were in the final stages of negotiation. The decision whether to push the Snowtown and Myponga projects through to construction depended on whether state authorities granted a generation licence for each project.

TrustPower also announced a fully-imputed final dividend of 10.5 cents per share payable on 29 July, which together with the 9 cent interim dividend would provide a total payout of 19.5 cents for 2005 (17.5 cents for 2004)