$303 Going To 346,000 Aucklanders - Entrust Announces 2021 Dividend

During a turbulent time for Auckland households and businesses, some good news. Entrust has today announced its 2021 dividend, with payments of $303 going into bank accounts from tonight.

$97 million is being paid to power consumers connected to Vector’s network in the Entrust district – mainly in central, south and east Auckland.

With the banks having stopped the use of cheques, the Covid level 4 lockdown and limited ability to communicate with beneficiaries, this year’s Entrust payments have not been without challenges.

Entrust chairman, William Cairns, says payment preference forms were sent to all Entrust beneficiaries in July as part of a proactive and ramped up dividend payment programme including social media. For those who chose payment by direct credit or by credit to their power account, these payments are being made.

“If we didn’t hear from you in July, or if you’ve moved or switched power company recently, you will be posted a dividend notification form which I urge you to complete and post or email back, so we can put the money into your bank account.

“The sooner we receive beneficiaries’ details, the sooner we can transfer the dividend to them. We’ve expanded our call centre to accommodate the extra likely contacts,” he said.

This year’s dividend is made up of the $283 dividend from Entrust, slightly up on last year, plus an additional $20 from Vector which is due to an electricity industry credit the company recently received, known as loss rental rebates.

Cairns notes that the Entrust dividend continues to be affected by the tax imputation decision made by Vector last year, reducing tax imputation credits from 28% to 10.5%.

“This change means Entrust has to pay significantly more tax on the dividend it receives from Vector before we can distribute our own dividend. That results in a lower amount paid to Entrust beneficiaries than in the past,” he says.

Cairns says even so the Entrust dividend will be welcomed by Aucklanders who have faced a challenging year due to the impacts of Covid-19. The dividend paid by Entrust is New Zealand’s largest, with over $2 billion having been paid out by its trustees since 1994.

“We will pay out a total of $97 million to 346,000 families, flatmates, businesses and organisations this year” he says. “It’s a boost to the economy, and to households. It’s not been an easy year for our city, and it’s great to be able to announce this dividend and see it distributed.”

For more information on the dividend, please see www.entrustnz.co.nz or www.facebook.com/entrustnz

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