This update reports on the first four and a half months of activity since the June election.

On 12 July 2011 the WEL Energy Trust had its first meeting of the newly elected Trust board. The Chair (Mark Ingle) and Deputy Chair (Denise Harding) were appointed by the Trustees. Subsequent to this meeting the sub-committees of the Trust were also appointed.

On 22 July the Trust held its AGM and the 31 March 2011 Annual Report, including the audit report, was presented to beneficiaries of the Trust, including customers of WEL Networks, Capital Beneficiaries, and WEL Networks (‘the Company’) itself. This is an informative document as it reports on the Trust’s performance along with the financial results of the Company. A full list of recipients from the funding round is also included in the report. A copy of this is available on line or from the Trust office.

The major first priority for the Trust has been the development of the Strategic Plan for the next three years. This has now been completed and will be available via the website shortly. Our vision is to grow investment in the community.

Key areas of the strategic plan are: Financial; Partnering; The Company; Communications; Funding Systems and Processes. Work has started in all of these areas, with a number of important activities needing to be achieved by March 2012. Upfront pressure is being applied by the Trust to ensure we deliver early outcomes for new initiatives that maximise the positive impact we make within the community.

During July the Trust received a proposal from the Home of Cycling Charitable Trust. In light of the Trustees’ election campaign including a commitment to finding new ways to invest into the community the Home of Cycling proposal presented the Trust with a concept that included social or community lending. The Trustees decided the Home of Cycling proposal could not be considered until they had determined if indeed social or community lending was to become a strategic priority or vehicle for investment into the community by the Trust. This concept remains on the table and the Trust’s position on it will be advanced in the New Year.

In August the annual community funding round opened. The round produced applications totaling $7.5m, with $2.0m being the budget. The Trust’s November meeting confirmed community grants of $2.03m going to 246 organisations.

During this period Trustees were also involved in a governance training workshop and two Trustees attended the ETNZ spring conference.

I touched on the sub-committees of the Trust earlier and thought readers may be interested in the make-up of these groups, at the time of writing:

• Finance and Audit - Brad Chibnall (Chair), Mark Ingle
• Risk - Denise Harding (Chair), David Kneebone
• Communications - Kathryn Williams (Chair), Mark Bunting, Brad Chibnall
• Energy Efficiency - Rob Hamill (Chair), Denise Harding

I look forward to reporting at the end of the financial year on another successful year for both WEL Energy Trust and WEL Networks.

Mark Ingle
Chairman