Malaysian-born businessman elected a trustee of NZ power firm

 

Alan Chew campaigning for election to the board of a community energy trust in Hamilton, New Zealand.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian-born Alan Chew has made headlines again after topping an election to the board of trustees of a community-owned regional electricity company in New Zealand.

He obtained the greatest number of votes in a keenly contested election of 25 candidates to the board of WEL Energy Trust, sole owner of WEL Group, which distributes electricity to the city of Hamilton and Waikato district in the North Island.

Chew, 68, who migrated to New Zealand at the age of 20, said winning a place as a trustee of the power company was not easy. The trust is responsible for redistribution of the company’s profits.

“My team and I campaigned on the platform that 50% of the profits, which run into tens of millions of dollars, be given to charity and the remainder as power discounts to the 130,000 households in the region,” he told FMT in a phone interview.

Chew said one-third of the company’s profits are channelled to philanthropic organisations in the community, while the remainder is returned to customers as power discounts.

According to its latest annual report, WEL Networks distributed a total of NZ$14 million (RM40 million) to its almost 99,000 customers, an average discount for each residential customer amounting to NZ$136 (RM387).

The company reported a profit of NZ$10 million (RM28.5 million) on revenues of NZ$146 million (RM416 million).

Chew said that he faced no disadvantage even though he is an immigrant. “New Zealand is a very fair nation,” he said. “For someone who does not have English as a first language, it’s a lot harder to get elected, let alone top them. I guess I bucked the trend,” he said.

Chew, who founded a technology company in 1986, came to prominence with a prototype Covid-19 tracing technology using QR codes which he provided to the New Zealand government free of charge in March 2020.

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Chew said he did not ask for a single cent in royalties, adding that the innovation was his way of thanking the country that provided him free high-level education and had supported him in his business ventures. - FMT