ENGAGING WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS. Building and maintaining relationships with stakeholders across our business is crucial to our success. Our strategy and business plans are developed with consideration given to the relevant needs and wants identified by these stakeholders as most important to them. Stakeholders, their specific role, how we engage with them and what’s important to them are described here.
CUSTOMERS
PARTNERSHIPS
GOVERNMENT & REGULATORS
COMMUNITY
Customers sustain our business, provide the foundation for continued growth and future product development.
Via our partnerships, we seek and deliver opportunities through which we can develop mutually beneficial ventures aligned with our mission, purpose, vision and goal.
Government and regulators set the regulatory frameworks that determine our operating environment and provide the construct within which we can develop our business.
Our community relationships provide us with support to operate and the context to better understand the social and environmental issues we face in our communities.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THEM ABOUT MERCURY? • Customer experience
• Natural resources
• Generation development
• Natural resources
• Customer loyalty
• Generation development
• Sustainable growth
• Generation development
• Natural resources
• Climate change
• Climate change
• Sustainable growth
HOW DO WE ENGAGE WITH THEM? Our customers are at the core of everything we do. Understanding their needs, expectations and what they care about helps us to have in place the products and services that earn their business. Our customer relationships are valued, and often longstanding. We strive for effective and responsive customer engagement, proactively seeking feedback and input through several avenues including: through our Customer Engagement Centre (via calls, email, direct mail); our website and My Account portal; via social media; customer surveys and market research; and through our community partnerships, sponsorships and events.
Some of the ways we engage with our partners are through commercial joint ventures, customer reward partnerships, and by dedicating time and effort into understanding each other’s business. We build positive, mutually beneficial, longstanding relationships with the communities in which we operate.
We work collaboratively at different levels of government and with other governing entities to develop solutions, identify opportunities, and overcome challenges. Engagement takes place through formal scheduled meetings, responses to submissions, ministerial briefings, and participation in energy industry events and regulatory/political forums. We host site visits and engage through the development of external reports that we commission or contribute to.
Key team members actively participate in a variety of community forums. We also sponsor events in the communities in which we operate and respond to river flow and lake level requests from our communities. Through our role in the Waikato Catchment Ecological Enhancement Trust (WCEET), we engage on improvements to the natural and social environments which the business depends upon. We work with budgeting groups and government agencies to understand and better support the needs of vulnerable customers.
ENGAGING WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS IS CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE
ENGAGING WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS. (CONTINUED) IWI
EMPLOYEES
INVESTORS
INDUSTRY PARTICIPANTS
SUPPLIERS
Our close relationships with iwi provide us with the platform through which to establish long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships and plans.
Our employees drive our business. Through their skills, knowledge, diversity and efforts we thrive and prosper.
Our investors provide the stability and financial capital for our business to grow and continue to create value.
Industry participants provide an opportunity to share, exchange knowledge and grow the industry to its highest potential.
Our suppliers deliver products and services that allow us to enhance our business and operations.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THEM ABOUT MERCURY? • Natural resources
• Operational excellence
• Operational excellence
• Iwi
• Natural resources
• Sustainable growth
• Safety & wellbeing
• Natural resources
• Sustainable growth
• Assets
• Loyalty
• Generation development
• Sustainable growth
• Climate change
• Safety & wellbeing
Many of the areas where our generation facilities are located (hydro, geothermal and wind) are of cultural and historical significance for iwi. In order to ensure that we respect, value, protect and sustain these areas, proactive engagement occurs with iwi. This includes partnership meetings, contract discussions, engagement on proposed new work and completing live work, industry conferences and supplier briefings.
Ensuring different perspectives and viewpoints are heard is crucial to our success. We do this through engagement and pulse surveys, as well as our internal digital communication channels and our network of change supporters. Our employees also stay connected to what’s important through our development and onboarding programmes.
Our investors are the backbone of our business. We engage through material market updates, annual and half year reports, earnings and dividends announcements and quarterly operating reports, adhering to the principles of continuous disclosure. Our management and Board also deliver an annual shareholder meeting (ASM), provide analyst briefings and hold institutional investor meetings.
We work collaboratively with the energy industry to provide and support new opportunities for growth as well as to overcome challenges. We work with various industry participants through oneon-one meetings and active participation in industry groups such as Electricity Retailers’ Association of New Zealand (ERANZ), Business Energy Council, Sustainable Business Council and Business New Zealand. We also regularly attend and contribute to industry events and conferences, as well as stakeholder events organised by sector participants. We do this in order to stay across industry issues, assist with solutions, and to contribute to future progress and innovation.
Suppliers are continuously engaged in completing various projects or fulfilling on-going customer and other business commitments. We also use business review meetings, contract negotiations, supplier briefings and proactive engagement with industry conferences to work collaboratively with, gain insight into, and develop new standards with suppliers.
HOW DO WE ENGAGE WITH THEM?