Power players look west

The former Western Power, long derided as a tired government monopoly in need of a shake-up, has emerged as the preferred training ground for directors and executives at many of Western Australia’s new energy companies after the group’s break up.

Three aspiring energy generators – Aviva Corporation Ltd, Eneabba Gas Ltd and Pacific Energy Ltd – have recruited former Western Power executives to help lead their business.

Energy services company PearlStreet Ltd has two former Western Power executives on its team, while biodiesel producer Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd has recruited John Lillywhite to head its Australian operations.

A read of Western Power’s 2002 annual report is instructive because the senior executive team pictured in that report includes only one person who still works there.

Doug Aberle was general manager networks in 2002 and, after a stint running the generation business (now known as Verve Energy), is back managing the network as chief executive of the new, slimmed down and rebranded Western Power.

Mr Lillywhite survived the break-up of the old Western Power but after eight months as Verve chief executive decided to pursue opportunities in the private sector.

Even the man who presided over the break-up, former managing director Tony Iannello, is back in the energy sector.

Included among his board positions is that of non-executive director of SP AusNet, the infra-structure arm of Singapore Power.

SP AusNet is likely to end up owning many of Alinta Ltd’s east coast assets, assuming Singapore Power and its bid partner Babcock & Brown complete their Alinta acquisition.

Western Power’s long-serving managing director, David Eiszele, who was a public critic of the state government’s break-up plan, is chairman of energy services company PearlStreet, which floated on the Australian Securities Exchange earlier this year.

Former human resources general manager Gary Gillies has also been active at PearlStreet, serving initially as a director and currently in a part-time role as senior adviser on people management.

Another long-serving general manager, Nenad Ninkov, has emerged as one of the senior executives at Pacific Energy, which moved into WA’s renewable energy sector this month.

Another recent development was Aviva’s appointment of former general manager generation Mark Chatfield as its general manager energy.

Mr Chatfield’s appointment followed his controversial exit from Queensland’s state-owned CS Energy.

CS had investigated his trading in the shares of PearlStreet, which had earlier won a servicing contract with the Queensland utility but has ended the inquiry.

Aviva chief executive Lindsay Reed said the company was confident Mr Chatfield was the right person to help it develop up to 400 megawatts of baseload power in the Mid West.

Like Aviva, Eneabba Gas is looking to develop a power station in the Mid West.

Eneabba has recruited former general manager emerging business Peter Oates as a non-executive director.