AGL fat cat pays less for electricity at home than anyone in NSW
ELECTRICITY giant AGL’s CEO has unveiled a whopping 91 per cent jump in profit for the company. And while customers are facing soaring power bills, the fat cat power boss pays two-thirds less for the electricity in his home than anyone in NSW.
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ELECTRICITY giant AGL’s fat cat CEO has unveiled a whopping 91 per cent jump in profit for the company — on the back of soaring electricity bills for customers.
American Andy Vesey today revealed the after tax profit for the energy company was up from $325 million for the same time last year to $622 million this year. The company is on target to bank more than $1 billion profit by the end of the financial year.
He told the online half yearly briefing to the market the bumper profit was a win for shareholders who would get a 54 cent dividend — up 32 per cent on last year.
But while shareholders are cashing in — like the CEO who pockets an annual salary of almost $7 million — customers are not so lucky.
Mr Vesey said AGL had introduced a policy of “fairness, simplicity and transparency” for customers but failed to point out the company had jacked up bills to struggling NSW homes by up to 20 per cent last year.
Nathan Vass of the Australian Power Project said: “Something is wrong when an essential service like electricity delivers massive corporate profits which are funded by working families, pensioners and low-income battlers who are cutting down on essentials like heating, cooling, medication, and food just to try keep the lights on.”
While householders struggle to pay those rising bills to power their homes, The Daily Telegraph can reveal 62-year-old Vesey pays two-thirds less for the electricity in his home than anyone in NSW.
Mr Vesey and wife Miranda pay 15c a kilowatt hour at their home in the exclusive Country Club Hills area of Arlington, Virginia, while the people of NSW pay almost 40c for the same amount of power.
AGL ruled out keeping the Liddell coal-fired power station open in the Hunter Valley, which would guarantee cheap electricity, despite a personal appeal to Mr Vesey from the PM.
“At a time when it’s never been harder for families to make ends meet and to pay their power bills, it’s staggering to be talking about energy utilities making billion-dollar profits,” Nathan Vass of the Australian Power Project said.
But the cost of electricity in Australia is not something that worries people who live in the US, particularly not someone who lives in the lap of luxury.
Mr Vesey bought his luxury $2.3 million American home in 2016, the year after he became chief executive of the Australian energy giant.
His wife and children continue to live in Virginia while he jets between the US and Australia, posting pictures of himself indulging in the Qantas Club lounge.
His wife also enjoys trips Down Under, and the pair posted pictures of themselves hobnobbing at the glamorous ARIA Music Awards in December.
The jetsetting electricity boss was named chief executive of the year in the Global Energy Awards last year. During one of his trips to the US, he demonstrated what little grasp he has of what matters to Australian electricity customers.
Mr Vesey told the Energy For Tomorrow Conference in New York: “Consumers are engaged as prices go up. For the most part, consumers really aren’t interested in the electricity bill.”
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He has been granted a 457 visa because AGL argues no Australian is qualified.
“Australians consumers are certainly interested in their bill when it is a big rip-off,” Australia Institute energy expert David Richardson said.
An AGL spokesman said: “AGL is investing more than anyone else in new supply to drive down prices.”