Tasman Capital IPO

[minimoke]

With Centameter, PowerMate, Power Wizard, Pre Pay meters and Sparmometer do we need a new entrant to this market. Without looking at a detailed analysis of Pulse Utilities would I firstly buy one of their meters and would I buy into their company.


Firstly I wouldn’t buy one of their meters. I have just had a new Day/Night meter installed for $70. Purchase / install of these flash modern Smart meters has probably got to be getting around the $500 mark. Will I save money using it. No – indeed by loosing ripple control and paying higher power prices then my bill will go up. Do I really want to know what my half hourly usage is. No, not really. So what if my power goes up when the plasma gets turned on – I won’t be turning it off. And if PU are going to be an extra link in the chain between retailer and consumer there has to be extra costs paid by the end consumer, so no savings to me on that front. Am I really going to get access to “Cheap“ electricity – of course not. The retailer has already bought it by the truck load and they won’t be in a hurry to send me a SMS at 11.30pm to let me know they have some power going cheap – and even if they do am I going to get up and turn all the lights on?

If I was a power retailer then I might be interested but I would still want to retain the ability to throttle back power in high demand periods. Would I pass the savings from not having meter readers onto the consumer – probably not.

Would I want to buy into Pulse Utilities. Well their offering would have to stack up against the other power stocks already listed. As a gamble I might just wait till national sells off Meridian or Solid Energy.

Congratulations Tasman on achieving your first goal. I’m hoping holders will do well.

[Tasman Capital]

Hi Minimoke,
Pulse will not be trying to convince consumers to spend large amounts of money to buy a smart meter which offers benefits which most consumers do not value – half hour meter reads. We agree with you that that would not make sense. Pulse will be retailing electricity ( just like Genesis, Mighty River Power etc) and as part of signing up with Pulse this meter will be attached as the measurement/communication device, and Pulse will receive a rental on the meter. To entice consumers to sign up with Pulse, they will be offered lower cost power. Pulse will retail under a different brand. The Pulse story is not one that has been told yet, it’s been under wraps, pending a managed PR/media campaign but Tasman shareholders will get to hear that story soon when the rights issue documents come. Hope this helps clarify a few things.

[minimoke]

Hi Joseph
Their web site shows them down steam of the retailer so this proposition makes much more sense.



It will take more than “low cost” power to win the customers though and the low cost game will come with risks: guarantee of supply, particularly during peak periods, and the undercutting by competitors are just two that come to mind. Then again the average Jo can cut their power bill heaps by sticking in a thermal wrap over their hot water cylinder. No doubt they have followed Empowers progress (the highs and the lows over the last few years). There’s about a 10% difference, or around $100 a year, between retailers high /low costs so undercutting the lowest, while paying for the flash meter, will be an interesting challenge. How they can do a better deal at buying energy, line service and cheaper transmission charges will be interesting.


I’ll await expectantly on the sidelines as an outsider looking for the information come float time.

[mibo]

This is in today's Herald. Vector appears to have a head start, certainly on the PR campaign.

Smarter power meters form Vector and Siemens

New 6:30AM Tuesday October 30, 2007


Electricity lines company Vector has entered a joint venture with Siemens to offer Vector customers smarter electricity meters. The venture combines Vector's metering business, NGC Metering, and Siemen's metering expertise.
Vector will own the metering assets and the joint venture will offer bundled value-added services ranging from meter provision to collecting and managing energy consumption data.
Vector's acting chief executive Simon Mackenzie said the company was "strongly positioned" to extend smart metering solutions to other utility services such as water. Siemens said the technology would allow users to monitor and manage their energy use more effectively.

[Tasman Capital]

Thanks Mibo - Yes this was a partnership reported on in December 2006 so there may be some other reason for putting this out – perhaps to gain some profile in smart meters for Vector? Not sure. Pulse told me that any deal with Siemens does not exclude Pulse or any other meter provider because a meter owner always wants a range of meter types to mitigate risk – if one meter type fails they are less exposed. Pulse was not able to confirm for commercial reasons if they were in discussions with NGC.

However, there is still a lot more to be said about the Pulse story - it's a lot more than just smart meters. There should be some interesting media coverage around the week of the 12th of November just prior to listing so watch this space. Pulse is also currently updating its website to reflect more clearly its business model – essentially – retailing cheaper electricity as a strategy to get a smart meter asset on the wall. Check the Pulse website out early next week.

Cheers all Tasman shareholders.

[bear]

Smart electricity meter co plans listing soon

NZPA | Thursday, 8 November 2007


A company planning to roll out a network of smart electricity meters is hoping to list on the stock exchange's alternative market, the NZAX, this month.

Executive chairman Don Purdon said Pulse Utilities NZ had sent its disclosure document to the NZX and was waiting for a listing date.


full article

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4266439a13.html

getting closer!!

bear

[kura]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is NZAX ?

I've only ever traded on NZX, can someone point me in the direction of an "idiot proof" summary of diferences, and weather you can trade on NZAX through online brokers, the same as for normal NZX shares ?

[bear]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is NZAX ?

I've only ever traded on NZX, can someone point me in the direction of an "idiot proof" summary of diferences, and weather you can trade on NZAX through online brokers, the same as for normal NZX shares ?

here is the web link of use

http://www.nzx.com/nzxmarket/nzax/nzxmarket/nzax/faqs

you can use your online broker and is seemless

bear

[Tasman Capital]

Well spotted bear. Yes you will see various news media picking up the story as we get closer to the Pulse listing – I’m told it’s in the NBR today too.

Because all Tasman shareholders will be Pulse shareholders prior to the Pulse listing, and because many 'Sharetraders' are Tasman shareholders, I think Pulse should have its own thread. I will start a thread for Pulse right now and post the original press release that started the recent media coverage on that thread.

[bohdan]

Hello Joseph,
Nearly the new year, whats the program for Tasman Capital in 2008? Pulse is underway although obviously we're now waiting for the results of the rights issue and the subsequent marketing campaign to start doing the business.

What else has Tasman Capital got lined up for us, hmmm?

Also, the listing mechansm facilitated by Tasman appears to have worked, are there any problems with this or has it now effectively been proven and can be used again.

Thanks
Kevin.