Major General Peter Arnison - a former Governor of Queensland - and Professor Mat Darveniza - one of the state's foremost electrical engineers - are the new Energex Ltd board members, Premier Peter Beattie announced yesterday.
"These are both outstanding appointments. Both are recognised as men of the utmost integrity," Beattie said.
Energy Minister John Mickel said he had given a commitment that a person with an electrical engineering background would be appointed to the ENERGEX board.
"The lack of electrical engineering expertise was identified as a weakness with the board membership and Professor Darveniza's appointment delivers on my commitment," Mickel said.
Currently an Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland, Darveniza has worked in the electricity supply and manufacturing industries, and has been visiting professor at various overseas universities.
"You can't find a better qualified electrical engineer in Queensland," Beattie said.
Major-General Peter Arnison, AC, AO, KStJ, is a former military commander, having spent 37 years in the Australian Army, and was Governor of Queensland between 1997 and 2003.
On retiring from the army, he pursued a professional career as executive director of Allied Rubber Products (Queensland), a senior fellow of the Corporate Directors' Association of Australia and an associate of the Securities Institute of Australia.
The new Energex Limited board is Khory McCormick (chairman), Barry Braithwaite, John Dempsey, Grace Grace and Gordon Jardine is the acting chief executive.
Beattie said that all appointments, including the two new appointments, will expire on 30 June 2005.
"For reasons of continuity there will not be wholesale changes to the board at that time.
"The Government wants the best people possible and is very pleased with the composition of the Energex Limited Board," he said.
No additional appointments have been made to the Energex Retail board.
Meanwhile, Energex is busy upgrading its network in preparation for the summer peak demand season.
Energex has taken delivery of the 23rd and final transformer ordered under its $85 million accelerated capital works program for summer, energy minister John Mickel said yesterday.
The corporation had also installed 17 cooling fans at sites across Queensland. Upgrades are also progressing on 11 kilovolt feeders, with 84 of the 92 projects expected to be completed by the end of this year.
"Energex is also picking up the pace of its vegetation management program with 230 contractors now on the job,” Mickel said.
“Between July and October this year, vegetation was trimmed along 2236km of powerlines and Energex plans to increase the distance being trimmed each month from 500 to 800km. Energex is doing everything it possibly can to be ready for summer. I wish to thank all employees for the contribution they've made to this program."
