Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

As long-term Trustpower customers in our mid-to-late 30s (with God-willing many years left), you'd think my wife and I would have the most to lose by a change to the TECT cheque distribution.

However, you'd be wrong.

Trustpower charges consumers like us around $500 more a year in Tauranga than they do their consumers in Auckland or Whakatane.

Don't take my word for it - go to www.powerswitch.co.nz and compare your Trustpower bill in Tauranga and enter the same details for other towns and cities in New Zealand and you'll be shocked.

I'm sure it's completely by coincidence that there is a TECT cheque of around $4-500 for Trustpower customers only in Tauranga!

Remove the cheque and Trustpower will be forced to meet the market, so consumers don't lose. Who gains? The community, from $7.7m to the tune of over $20m a year.

Who loses? Trustpower's major shareholder, Infratil. No wonder there is such an effort underway by Trustpower's CEO to keep the TECT cheque. Imagine you ran a business where a trust gave your customers $500 a year simply for shopping with you and not your competitors. I'm sure, out of the kindness of your heart, you wouldn't charge these customers a figure up to $500 a year more.

Yeah right! But don't we get a nice cheque for $500 before Christmas which we'll lose! Yes, but we pay for it throughout the year so we're really kidding ourselves that it's a saving.