Dr Macpherson yesterday said he would write formally to Mr Chin next week, to encourage discussion about the council's involvement in electricity lines company Aurora Energy Ltd.
"The best approach is to address Aurora and DCC expectations of revenue out of Central Otago. Aurora is the jewel in their [DCC] crown, and the most important revenue source, and that's at our [Central Otago consumers'] expense.
"There's a fine line between profit and profiteering, and I will politely suggest that the DCC needs to look at that," Dr Macpherson said.
As one of the Dunedin City Holdings Ltd's companies, Aurora is part of the council's investment network - profits from which are used to offset rates and contribute to funds in the city.
Aurora's six-months to December before-tax profit was $11.9 million, $891,000 of that going to the city council as subvention (subsidy) payment.
For the year ended June 2008, profit was $18.99 million, with the city council receiving $1.67 million.
For the six months ended December 2007, profit was $12.8 million, with $827,000 going to the council.
Dr Macpherson said Central Otago electricity consumers were paying high lines charges set by Aurora, yet no profit was fed back into the district.
Mr Chin said he would be happy to talk to Dr Macpherson about the issue, but he did not want to comment publicly until such discussions had taken place.
"I'm sure that he [Dr Macpherson] won't want what he wants to talk to me about argued in the newspaper ahead of me knowing from him exactly what he wants to talk about, but I'm more than happy to talk to him and to hear what his concerns are," Mr Chin said.
Last month, Dr Macpherson chaired a public meeting in Alexandra about power prices, which was attended by about 300 people.
Dr Macpherson received support to lobby the Government to reduce power costs, as well as to establish a relief fund for those most in need of financial help with power bills.
A submission to Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee was sent the next day, and Dr Macpherson hoped a relief fund would be operational early next year.
Dr Macpherson said yesterday he was not "greatly relying" on an outcome from a ministerial review of the electricity sector, which was why he was focused on achieving "local" results - which included negotiations with the Dunedin council.
• Submissions to the ministerial review closed this week.
Aurora Energy Ltd
> Owned by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL), an investment company owned by Dunedin City Council.
> New Zealand's sixth-largest electricity distributor.
> Delivers 1360GWh of electricity annually to more than 80,500 homes and businesses in Dunedin and Central Otago.
