Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Eden Park. Before we start the shareholder meeting, just a quick health and safety announcement. The toilets are located to my left. They're just outside the room when you came in. In the unlikely event that we need to evacuate, then just please follow the instructions of the venue staff and safely make your way outside to the car park using the entrance you came in. If you need medical assistance, then please let one of the venue staff know or the Vector staff who are at the back as well. And finally, for everyone's enjoyment of the meeting, can you please ensure that your mobile phones are turned off? Thanks very much.
Thank you, John. [Foreign language] . Good afternoon, and welcome to this meeting. My name is Doug McKay, and I am Vector's chair. I'd like to acknowledge Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei as [Foreign language] for Central Auckland, where we are today. As we have a quorum and it's 2:00 P.M., I will now declare open the 2024 Annual Meeting of Vector Limited shareholders. We're starting today with ordinary business, which includes short addresses from myself and Simon and three resolutions. As part of these resolutions, you will also hear short addresses from the directors who are seeking re-election. After that, we'll move to general business, Q&A, and voting.
Today's meeting is a hybrid meeting where shareholders can participate here in the room and online. As this is a shareholder meeting, we ask that you please do not use the time for asking specific operational or customer service questions. Members of our customer team available here in the room and will be happy, after the meeting, to take these types of questions and hopefully help you resolve any issues you may have. We encourage shareholder questions and will indicate question time after the presentations. We'll have microphones available for you.
Once you've asked your question, please give the microphone back so that others can have their turn. If you still have more questions, Group Chief Executive Simon Mackenzie and I will be available after the meeting. While we welcome the media to our meeting today as observers, please hold your questions until after the meeting. If you would like to talk to Simon and myself, then please make yourself known to one of our communications team, who are at the back of the room, or call our usual media phone number.
If you're online and you'd like some help, you can type your query, and one of the Computershare team will assist you. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll. If you're here in the room, you can mark your voting paper at any time, and a team member from Computershare will collect the voting forms before the end of the meeting. If you're online, you will be able to cast your vote under the Vote tab once I declare voting open. I will indicate when voting will close so that you will have a final opportunity to cast your vote.
Now, with those instructions complete, I declare the voting open. The proxy appointments are shown on screen. It's now my pleasure to introduce my fellow directors: Alastair Bell, Dr. Paul Hutchison, Dame Paula Rebstock, Bruce Turner, and Anne Urlwin. Also at the table, we have Group Chief Executive Simon Mackenzie and John Rodger, Chief Legal and Assurance Officer and Company Secretary. Vector's Chief Financial Officer, Jason Hollingworth, and External Auditor Graeme Edwards from KPMG are seated in the front row down here.
Our full-year results, announced in August, reflect a strong financial performance, underlined by solid business results across the group. I'm pleased with the group's performance across non-financial areas, too, such as customer and network. This is gratifying. Since I've joined the board, I've become well aware of the challenges facing Vector within the energy transition.
A strong focus for the board this year has been to work closely with our Chief Executive, Simon Mackenzie, and his executive team, our 75% shareholder, Entrust, and our regulator, to drive sound results for our shareholders while wrestling with the energy transition and reshaping the business to facilitate a sharper focus where we believe profitable growth can be achieved. Adjusted earnings for the group before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization for continuing operations were up 14% to NZD 365.2 million. This includes positive results from our regulated business and the gas trading segments performing very well. This gas trading segment saw a year-on-year increase, which was driven by lower LPG input costs, plus higher volumes and prices.
Group net profit after tax was NZD 79.9 million, with underlying profit, excluding an impairment of the gas distribution business, of NZD 139.9 million. The impairment, which we announced with our interim results, is for the gas distribution business and was driven by the Commerce Commission's regulatory decision to lower future returns to owners of gas distribution networks by lowering the WACC percentile and interest rate changes. The result also includes a reduction in net interest costs of NZD 93 million, reflecting lower levels of debt and interest received on cash held during the year. The electricity network performed within the regulatory quality standard limits for the duration and frequency of outages, which you may know as SAIDI and SAIFI. These measure the duration and frequency of customer outages.
We acknowledge the impact of power outages on our customers, and we understand the importance of reliable energy supply to Auckland homes and businesses. My thanks to the Vector team and field service providers who work so hard to keep the lights on for Aucklanders. We're continuing to enable growth and electrification across Auckland and have added around 16,000 new electricity connections this year. From the board's point of view, a highlight of the year has been the positive and constructive engagement we've had with the Commerce Commission, as they have worked to set the terms of what is known as DPP4. The Default Price Path number four is the next five-year regulatory period in which the price and quality of service for electricity networks is set. Simon will talk more about what this means for you as a shareholder and a Vector customer.
This is a critical setting for Vector, with the final outcome due in November. We've announced an unimputed final dividend of NZD 0.13 per share, plus a special dividend of NZD 0.0175 per share. This takes the full-year dividend to NZD 0.24 per share. In the context of the dividend, it's important to note that Vector is more than just a regulated lines company. Vector has a portfolio of businesses and investments which contribute earnings, which includes our investment in Bluecurrent. The group's overall performance is considered during deliberations about an appropriate dividend. Importantly, we have significantly reduced our level of debt following the sale of 50% of what was at the time, the Vector Metering business, and we sold that in July 2023, now known as Bluecurrent.
As we have indicated previously, the board will review the dividend policy once the Commerce Commission's final decision on the DPP4 regulatory period is made. As mentioned earlier, this determines the revenue we can earn from our regulated electricity business over the next five years, and so it's a significant factor in setting a dividend policy.
I'd like to thank Simon and his executive team, and everyone else at Vector for their work throughout the year. It's been a strong year for the group, and we're very proud of what we've achieved.
Well, thanks, Doug. And in the past year, our business has changed quite a lot, initially with the sale of the Vector Metering business in 2023. As Doug mentioned, we have now concluded the sale of the remaining contracts of our gas, natural gas trading business and have a conditional agreement on the sale of OnGas and our shareholding in Liquigas. As a portfolio business, we have regularly assess our business and pursue opportunities that make sense strategically and for our shareholders. Today, I'd like to share with you some highlights of the year, including examples of how we are bringing our strategy to life, some key issues facing Vector and the wider sector, and then a brief perspective of what we see ahead.
With regards to the Commerce Commission, as you heard, the Commerce Commission will finalize what is known as DPP4 for electricity distribution business in November. So this is when the Commerce Commission sets our revenue limits for the next five years. This future revenue and the debt we can raise based on it, is a critical factor in determining how much we can invest in the network, what customers pay in their line charges, and what return we can offer our shareholders. When the commission announced their draft decision earlier this year, they acknowledged the new revenue limits they set will lead to price increases on line charges. It's important to understand the key driver for this is interest rates, which were at historic low levels five years ago when the last reset, which we're currently in, known as DPP 3 or Default Price Path 3, occurred.
Interest rates today are significantly different as anyone looking to roll over a mortgage or a term deposit will tell you, and this change in interest rates will have a major impact on the next period due to the way in which the Commerce Commission's model works. So in this context, it's more important than ever to ensure our investments are delivering value for money for our customers and are being made at the right time and not imposing unnecessary costs on our customers. Our approach is to avoid committing to high levels of capital investment where there is significant uncertainty. This is occurring in such areas, such as the rate of EV growth or what level of resilience investment is appropriate for the electricity network. We take this approach because our capital investment ultimately flows through to customers pricing through the Commerce Commission's model.
We consider it's not in the best interest of customers to lock in high levels of investment, where the scale and the timing of need is not yet certain, or indeed, there are other more efficient and less costly solutions enabled by regulatory change or technology. Instead, we have taken a prudent approach and will reengage with the Commerce Commission as these uncertainties and or lower-cost options are better understood. We believe the way to achieve long-term affordability for customers to invest as efficiently as possible, using digital solutions to manage demand, growth, and electrification at the least cost to consumers. The alternative is to rely only on costly investment and very traditional infrastructure, which we do not accept as the right approach for the energy transition. However, we do not have the policy settings yet to fully support this approach.
With regards to connections, our total capital expenditure for the year was NZD 510.1 million, or more than NZD 500 million. That's a significant level of investment to support strongly growing Auckland, as well as to enable increasing electrification, such as with public transport. Of this figure, NZD 195.2 million was paid for directly by customers. These are known as Customer Contributions Fund, as they cover the cost of their connection to the network, and they also include a system growth charge, which covers the impact of the upstream investment required to reinforce the network. In other words, our approach is to ensure all new customers are paying their way when they want to connect to the network. This includes commercial customers, such as residential or commercial developers or public EV charging providers.
We believe this is an equitable approach. The alternative is for these costs associated with new connections to be subsidized across all customers, and we don't think it's appropriate for households to have to pay more to subsidize a commercial operation connecting to the network. However, this approach is currently under review and consultation by the Electricity Authority. The Electricity Authority is looking into regulating and standardizing connection charges, which would prevent us from recovering connection charges directly from those who are directly responsible for them, with the costs being spread across all customers and therefore subsidized by everyone. We've researched what customers think about this, and they are overwhelmingly supportive that commercial operators, such as public commercial, electric vehicle charging providers, should continue to pay their way. We will be advocating against a move by the EA that restricts our ability to set fair and equitable connection charges.
Moving now to some of the highlights from the year and how we are bringing our Symphony strategy to life. Our Symphony strategy encompasses our approach to navigating the energy transition by creating energy infrastructure alongside digital solutions equipped to manage the ever-increasingly complex demands of the future, and that provide choices for customers. It includes a strong focus on data, customers, and our own people as enablers. Our continued focus is on a safe, reliable, and affordable energy for all customers. Over the past year, we've engaged with experts from New Zealand and around the world to further understand and develop strategies around network resilience, challenges using data and advanced climate modeling. This has included working closely with NIWA and Fire and Emergency New Zealand to model, for example, extreme dry year risk, which is predicted last summer, and a map-
Sorry, and the map-associated fire risk against our assets, which is what you can see on the screen. We've gone further with this analysis to map this against the potential impact of fire risk on customers. To complement this work, we've also engaged with U.S.-based electricity network businesses to learn from their significant experiences in managing wildfire risk. This helps us prepare for these types of events and look at how these utilities communicate effectively with customers around extreme heat days and the risks associated. We've also worked alongside external specialists to develop detailed flood modeling at our, what's known as zone substations. We've used this to not only understand where inundation may occur, but also the depth of inundation. We've integrated this analysis into our resilience planning to manage this climate change-related risk to our assets.
This work has continued to be a significant project, for example, in Ngataringa Bay in Devonport, which is notable for addressing a number of challenges typical of what we can see at a wider scale, primarily sea inundation at a low-level substation. This includes sustained growth from residential development, the electrification of public transport, requiring capacity upgrades, and climate change modeling that shows a risk from sea level rise. The project will see the network reconfigured to also enable the disestablishment of the Ngataringa Bay substation to mitigate the risk of inundation, as well as responding to the other challenges in the area. These two examples around network resilience, and in particular, resilience to the impacts of climate change. Another part of our climate change work is to reduce our carbon emissions against our science-aligned target.
I'm pleased to report that we've seen continued progress against plans we set in prior years to achieve cost-efficient reductions. As a result, we achieved a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 38% against our 2020 baseline. This is largely through a reduction in natural gas fugitive emissions, which we have been able to influence through our proactive detection program, involving specialist trucks to sniff small gas leaks. We've increased the frequency of routine surveys this year, which has led to leaks being found and fixed more quickly, reducing our emissions, as well as continuing to drive safety benefits. We've committed to be innovative in how we think about the challenges we're facing in the energy transition and how we can deliver the best outcomes for our customers and shareholders.
We've extended our strategic alliance with Amazon Web Services, with whom we co-developed a platform known as Diverge. Diverge is an energy data platform that breaks down data silos and unlocks access to energy data, enabling insights and analytics that are vital to meeting new energy challenges. Diverge is currently used by Vector as well as Bluecurrent, and is under active consideration by other offshore utilities.
We've extended our contribution to the project being run by Google X, known as Tapestry. In this project, we're one of a select group of global partners collaborating on next-generation platforms for network management. These tools include a product known as GridAware, which uses technology including drones, machine learning, and modern AI processes to survey and guide maintenance of the network, and the grid planning tool, which creates robust network simulations that incorporate optimized solutions for new technology and the growth of customer-owned devices, like batteries and EV chargers, to ensure an efficient network, as well as efficient capital deployment. Bluecurrent is a recent example of successful innovation.
We had the foresight more than fifteen years ago to see the role of data and efficient data processing in the energy sector, with smart meters as the key enabler. As you know, the successful sale last year further reinforced the need and desirability of these services offered through Bluecurrent. Our investment in Bluecurrent has performed in line with the expectations, and we're benefiting from the complementary skills, common objectives, and strong alignment of purpose we identified when selecting QIC, or Queensland Investment Commission, as a joint venture partner.
Turning to Bluecurrent financials, I want to highlight where to look in our annual report to see the impact of our investment in Bluecurrent, since this is a significant investment for Vector. This financial recognition is governed by our alignment with New Zealand Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.
Firstly, our 50% share of Bluecurrent's net profit is reported as a single line in the profit and loss under share of net profit or loss in joint ventures. In financial year 2024, our share of the net loss was NZD -24.9 million. This net loss is a result of interest costs on debt to fund installation of new meters, depreciation of meter assets and amortization of intangible assets attributed to customer contracts. Second is the cash we have received as a return on this investment. These cash payments to Vector show in the cash flow statement as part of interest received and repayments of loans advanced. In relation to their financial year 2024 performance, we have received a total of NZD 50.5 million in cash distributions from Bluecurrent.
We've made good progress on our smart meter data program, which makes use of the data we receive from some of the smart meters installed on our network. With this data, we are developing innovative ways to benefit our customers. These include monitoring the adoption of EVs through our EV tracker. This looks at where EVs are appearing at a suburb level, helping us analyze and plan for the network impact of EV growth. This is what you can see on screen, with the different color dots representing denser EV adoption, and through this tracker, we've identified that it's not just a single EVs we need to look out for. There are now more than 150 households around Auckland where there are two EVs.
The charging requirements for EVs can significantly impact demand on the local low voltage network, making this sort of analysis even more important, so we can see the potential for constraints before they appear, and ideally be able to orchestrate charging so that it doesn't cause an issue on the network.
In closing, I'll talk about the year ahead and the energy sector more broadly. We expect Auckland electricity network connection growth to slow over the next year to around 12,000 new connections, on top of the existing 624,000 connections. This reflects a reduction in connection requests over the past six months and the broader economic slowdown. Gas connection growth is uncertain, partly because of the uncertainty of future natural gas availability.
On the 26th of July, which is after balance date for our financial results, we announced the conditional sale for NZD 150 million of Vector OnGas and our shareholding in Liquigas. The carrying value of the OnGas and Liquigas disposal group, as at 30 June, was NZD 136 million. We and Liquigas are seeking to satisfy the sale conditions and expect this could take four to six months. Both Doug and I have signaled the importance of the Commerce Commission's decision on the next Default Price Quality Path, DPP4, which is due in November. We'll provide guidance for financial year 2025 in February after we've received this decision. There's also been a lot of commentary over recent weeks on high energy prices and lack of generation to supply the energy market.
Our long-held view is that the energy system is going through a significant transition, with the need for more capacity, changing customer needs, new technology, and climate change. We've long called for an energy strategy that takes a whole of system approach rather than a piecemeal approach. This is because no part of the system can operate in isolation anymore to deliver secure, reliable, affordable energy to meet customer needs now and into the future. The industry changes made in the late nineties, known as the Bradford Reforms, may have been right for their time, but we believe this is no longer the case in a rapidly changing world. New Zealand urgently needs an energy strategy to inform policy and regulatory settings, and to enable the industry to effectively manage this complex energy transition.
Given what we've recently seen with the closure of several businesses as a result of high energy prices, it's not clear what else would need to happen before we see action from government to drive meaningful change. Finally, I'd like to thank all our staff, field service providers, and Telnet for their huge efforts every day to deliver for our customers, and to Doug and the board for their support and challenge. Thank you.
Thank you, Simon. The notice of meeting lists the items for voting, and those eligible to vote may do so at any time. For transparency, you will be shown the number of discretionary proxies held by me as chair of the meeting or in my own name. I declare that it is my intention to vote the discretionary proxies in favor of the resolutions. Only shareholders registered at 5 P.M. on Tuesday, the 24th September 2024, or their proxies, or representatives may vote. The first agenda item is to invite questions on the Vector Chair, my, and Simon, Group Chief Executive reports on the financial year ended 30 June 2024, contained in our annual report. Questions on future performance will be addressed in general business. The annual report was published online on 27th of August 2024. Hard copy reports were sent to all shareholders who requested one.
Questions on this topic may be put directly to our external auditors, KPMG, but please keep those questions relevant to their auditing role. Are there any questions in respect of the annual report and financial statements and audit report for the year ended 30 June 2024 from the room? Please raise your hand and wait for my signal and a microphone to put your question. Yes, down in front.
Thank you. I'm Coralie van Camp, shareholder. First of all, I'm much more comfortable about your balance sheet again this year, as I was last year. Thank you. About the Symphony plan, what that involves is more or less theoretically analyzing data to see what might or might not happen going forward with climate change or in order to avoid building unnecessary infrastructure. But my question to you is: when we see the Vector vans going around with people in there, sometimes they're quite rude to people on the street when they're fixing things, are they actually employed by you, or are they contractors?
The majority are field service provider contractors. By the way, thank you for your question, Coralie. Nice to see you again.
So, just getting back to the Symphony plan, when you find the data reveals there's a problem, do you have the capacity and capability in your workforce to go out and prevent something happening that you can see is looming on the horizon? Or have you got enough people to fix things?
Simon, I'll ask you to take that question.
Yeah. Good afternoon, Coralie. Absolutely. I guess if you look at the amount of capital expenditure is NZD 510 million over last year, of which NZD 195 million was customer growth connections. So obviously, the rest, NZD 300 million, is on replacing existing assets and adding new capacity and technology into the network. To your question around the resources between our contractors, the primary contractors are Northpower and Omexom. And then on top of that, we have about three other core contractors that do a lot of the capital works. We are, at this point in time, comfortable with the amount of resource we have.
I think it is fair to say that there is always a challenge in the energy sector around the age profile of the external field service providers, and so we work closely with our field service partners to ensure that they, ensuring they have enough resources. When we have a major event, like we saw with Cyclone Gabrielle or other events, we also look to bring in resources from other parts of the country, if required.
Can I just address your question about our people who might get into, a situation engaging with, members in the public, inappropriately? It's very rare that we hear stories of that, but if there ever is, in a situation that you think we should know about, I know Simon or I would be very happy to take that call. Just by the by, we are finding we're not alone among many businesses, that there is, an increased level of community angst out there. Y ou know, the publicity that's been about, the number of road cones out there, the number of, works that are going on in roadways and things, makes it very difficult for our people sometimes.
But it's very important that they are very, you know, are professional, and they continue to operate at the highest levels of behavior and standards that we would expect. So, it'd be very disappointing to hear specific complaints or issues, but if there are any out there, we just encourage you to let us know, and we'll follow those up. Thank you.
Right. I won't rush if there aren't any other questions. I'll take a few more seconds just to wait. Okay, thank you. Now, are there any questions from shareholders watching online? None, Sophie?
No.
Okay. Well, thank you. That ends the questions in relation to this agenda item. The Vector board considers its mix of skills and experience carefully, and we appoint new directors to complement the skills of those already serving on the board. Today, Bruce Turner and Anne Urlwin retire by rotation and stand for re-election. As we announced to the market on Tuesday, Bruce Hassall is no longer standing for the election. Mr. Hassall reached his decision after recent feedback from some Vector shareholders, given his previous role as chair of Fletcher Building. On a personal note, I'm disappointed to be losing a director of his caliber, and I thank him for his significant contribution over the past year. I will invite Bruce and Anne to each speak briefly. They will each take questions at the end of their speeches. Bruce, over to you.
Thank you, Doug. Good afternoon, everybody. I've been on the Vector board since 2019, and today I offer myself for re-election. My power system engineering and electricity industry background, both here in New Zealand and internationally in Asia and Europe, equip me with the skills and experience to help Vector navigate through these changing times, and to identify and capitalize on the opportunities that rapid growth, emerging technologies, and decarbonization bring. Working in complex environments throughout my career, I also bring significant experience across risk, health and safety, and strategy. I'm passionate about creating a culture where people have opportunities to excel and stretch in their chosen careers, and we at Vector attract the best possible talent. During my time on the Vector board, Vector has been transformed to a business which is focused on network asset management and the opportunities that come from technology, data, and accelerating decarbonization.
In our network business, the availability of far greater remote operational monitoring and management have been enabled by the Internet of Things. The use of software solutions to manage the increasing loads on our network also improves both customer reliability and our ability to comply with the regulated price and quality standards set by the Commerce Commission. Through this approach, Vector brings to life the Symphony strategy, which puts the customer and their changing energy needs and expectations at the heart of what we do. This approach not only caters to a variety of customer needs, but also ensures asset utilization is increased through such things as smart EV charging, and thereby making the most efficient use of scarce capital and resources.
Our ongoing strategic review of business activities, leading to the divestment of gas trading and the creation of Bluecurrent, the partnership with QIC, have significantly strengthened the balance sheet, thereby putting Vector on an even stronger footing going forward. Looking ahead as a nation, we face the challenges of decarbonization, which leads to a far greater degree of electrification and therefore significant sustained capital investment by Vector. In addition, we face the challenges of more frequent and extreme weather events impacting our network and thereby the people of Auckland. The regulatory reset from the Commerce Commission contains opportunities for Vector, and as a board, we're focused on making the most of these opportunities. My energy industry background and experience equip me to make the most of these opportunities ahead. Thank you very much for your support today.
Are there any questions for Bruce? No. Okay. Could I ask Sophie if there are any questions online? No. Okay, the proxy voting position for this resolution is shown on screen. Thank you to Bruce. Anne, the floor is now yours.
Thank you, Doug. [Foreign language] . Good afternoon, shareholders. It was a privilege for me to join the Vector board three years ago and contribute my infrastructure, energy sector, and governance experience to your company, a nd I'm pleased today to have this opportunity to seek your support for my re-election as a director. Vector operates essential infrastructure here in Auckland, distributing electricity and gas, as well as fiber services and technology solutions. Critically, we need to keep the lights on and accommodate ongoing growth within the largest city and electricity network in New Zealand. Vector's vision of creating a new energy future is, in short, about thinking differently about how we deliver energy against a backdrop of rapidly changing customer needs and the impacts and opportunities of climate change.
Vector's Symphony strategy is about creating a system that has customers at the center, with a focus on reliable and affordable energy solutions. The strategy reflects the fact that New Zealand's energy sector is in transition as the country seeks to decarbonize alongside the increasing impacts and frequency of extreme weather events. Core to the strategy is Vector's commitment to utilize technology and digital tools to deliver energy in the most cost-efficient way possible. I first developed a strong interest in the energy sector as a director of Meridian Energy. Before joining the Vector board, I was a director of Tilt Renewables, which developed and operated renewable energy assets in both Australia and New Zealand. As well as furthering my energy sector experience, my time on the Tilt Renewables board featured a successful takeover of the company. That was a complex transaction that delivered significant value to shareholders.
Vector's sale last year of 50% of its metering business to QIC similarly delivered significant value to shareholders. Other aspects of my broad-ranging business and governance background that I believe enable me to contribute to Vector include experience in construction, infrastructure, regulatory environments, health and safety, sustainability, delivery of major projects, and the maintenance of critical systems and services. That experience has come from my governance roles with companies such as Precinct Properties, where I am chair of the board, and two companies, City Rail Link and Infratil, where I chair the Audit and Risk Committee. I am also a director of Ventia, which provides infrastructure services in both Australia and New Zealand, including in the energy sector. I chair Ventia's Safety and Sustainability Committee.
Previous governance roles include being a director of Chorus and at Queenstown Airport, and I previously chaired national commercial construction company Naylor Love, as well as the New Zealand Blood Service. Being a director of your company is both a responsibility and a privilege. I hope the brief details I've provided here today demonstrate the experience and the focus I bring to Vector. I confirm that I have the time, energy, and commitment needed to support Vector and to continue to represent shareholders' interests into the future. So I seek your support for my re-election as a director, and thank you for this opportunity to address you today. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have of me, and I look forward to meeting many of you here. Thank you.
Thank you, Anne. Are there any further questions for Anne Urlwin in the room? Are there any questions online, Sophie? No. The proxy voting position for this resolution is shown on screen. Thank you, Anne.
I now move to the appointment and remuneration of the auditor. Under the Companies Act, the company wishes to record the automatic reappointment of KPMG as auditor. The company also proposes that the board be authorized to fix the auditor's fees for the ensuing year. Are there any questions on this resolution in the room? Thank you. No. Are there any questions online? No questions online. Thank you. That ends the questions in relation to this resolution. The proxy voting position for this resolution is shown on the screen. We have now finished all the ordinary business. Are there any items of general business to be discussed or questions to be raised?
As a reminder, acknowledging the interests of shareholders, please do not ask specific operational or customer service questions. Members of our customer service team are best able and available here in the room to handle any of these questions, and we'll be happy, after the meeting, to take these types of questions. We'll start with those in the room. Any general questions? Sir?
Thanks. I'm Bruce Parks, a shareholder. How do you plan to use the proceeds of the sale of the OnGas?
We haven't got immediately identifiable plans for those proceeds. We've got our debt down to a level that we're reasonably comfortable with. We do have some investment opportunities that we're looking into as we move forward. The energy transition is hugely capital intensive. And of course, Simon's already mentioned, we spend over NZD 300 million a year just replacing the assets and renewing the assets that we've got. So as I stand here today, there is no plans for us to apply that NZD 150 million at this point. And I'd prefer not to talk about future growth opportunities just for the sake of competitive and commercial sensitivity.
Thank you.
Any other questions of a general nature from the floor? Right. Very good. Okay, Sophie, are there any questions online?
Well, thank you. That ends the questions in relation to general business and Q&A. I will shortly close the voting. Please ensure that you have cast your vote. While we wait a minute for final votes to be cast, it's appropriate that I thank you all for your support of Vector. I would also like to thank my fellow board members for their input during the year, and Simon and his team for their performance throughout the year. The results of these votes will be released to the stock exchange tomorrow.