Dunedin City Council-owned Aurora Energy could be forced to answer official information requests, after elected representatives expressed surprise and disappointment at the company's stance.
Aurora confirmed yesterday it had begun exercising an exemption granted to electricity companies, allowing it to ignore official information requests.
That came after Dunedin City Holdings Ltd chairman Graham Crombie, speaking at Monday's council meeting, appeared to suggest Aurora would continue to comply with such requests, despite the exemption.
DCHL general manager Gemma Adams later backtracked, saying Mr Crombie's comments had been misconstrued and Aurora would not have to comply with official information legislation.
Cr Aaron Hawkins, who questioned Mr Crombie at Monday's meeting, said yesterday it was ''disappointing that Mr Crombie's recollection of the meeting is at odds with ours''.
''He was clearly asked whether Aurora would continue to comply with LGOIMA (Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act) level transparency, and gave a clear indication DCHL were supportive of that.
''Neither he nor Ms Adams seemed unsure or equivocal,'' Cr Hawkins said.
Asked if councillors had been mislead, Cr Hawkins said he would ''prefer the more charitable options''.
The issue was important because of the high degree of public interest in Aurora, following concerns about its pole replacement programme and other network issues.
That meant ''a culture of openness is more than appropriate, even if not legally expected,'' Cr Hawkins said.
He had already emailed council chief executive Sue Bidrose an amendment to the company's statement of intent (SOI), requiring it to comply with official information requests.
The suggestion, and others like it, would be considered by the council's companies and councillors over the next two months, but could eventually be put to a vote that forced companies to change.
''I'd hope we'd get wide support for that ... rather than having to ultimately compel them to,'' Cr Hawkins said.
Under the Local Government Act, electricity businesses were not considered council-controlled organisations (CCOs), and therefore not covered by requests under the Act.
Aurora had complied with requests in the past because of its close association with another council-owned company, Delta, including sharing a board and chief executive, but that changed when the companies separated last year.
Cr Lee Vandervis said yesterday he felt councillors had been given a ''mixed message'' by Mr Crombie.
He was also not convinced the changes in Aurora's status meant the Local Government Act's exemption trumped LGOIMA provisions, given Dunedin ratepayers were still ''essentially'' Aurora's shareholders.
He was also concerned to hear Aurora had used its exemption to ''sideline and silence'' former Delta worker Richard Healey, a critic of Aurora's pole replacement programme.
''It doesn't actually do them any good at all to try and dodge answering questions.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said he was also ''surprised'' by Monday's ''misunderstanding'', but said the company could yet be required to comply with information requests.
The suggested change to Aurora's SOI, to require compliance, was ultimately ''up to council'', he said.
That was appropriate because the public service, including companies like Aurora, was held to higher standard of transparency, he said.
''The bottom line is it's publicly owned. If we've got a commitment to transparency, then it's got to be right across all council-owned entities.''
