He's someone you've never heard of, a Kiwi to boot, and he's just been catapulted into one of the most powerful positions in the country.
On Wednesday, the NSW government sold the backbone of the national electricity network to a mini United Nations consortium of Canadian, Middle Eastern and local investors for a mouth-watering $10.25 billion, which was described by NSW Premier Mike Baird as a "stunning result".
And the man who has been elevated to chair TransGrid – the company his consortium has just bought – is Keith Sharman Turner, a 65-year-old New Zealander, originally from Rotorua.
And the onus is on him to make sure the investors get a return on their money, at a time when the government is forcing power companies to cut their charges and slash spending, and to make sure power disruptions are kept to a minimum.
Turner is a director of Spark Infrastructure, a mid-cap-sized outfit (valued at $3 billion) which is listed on the ASX. It has controlling stakes in Victorian networks Powercor and CitiPower, along with SA Power Networks. In each case, it holds 49 per cent.
While only a 19 per cent investor in the consortium that has bought TransGrid in NSW, Spark will have two board seats while each other investor will have only one. Mr Turner will be the chairman.
Mr Turner worked for years in the New Zealand power industry, including the reorganisation and break-up of its industry before running Meridian Energy, one of its generators and retailers, until about a decade ago. And it will be Spark's expertise which will be pivotal in the running of TransGrid.
Run by engineers, the NSW company has overspent on its network to the point where the average age of its assets is much younger than its interstate rivals.
And Spark is expected to slash capital spending by adopting greater financial analysis before it signs the cheques.
"A focus is on capital management through the life of the assets," one member of the winning consortium said.
Spark's experience running networks in Victoria and South Australia efficiently had put it at the centre of the consortium, he said.
Only about 4 per cent of TransGrid's substations are more than 50 years old, compared with 12 per cent to 13 per cent for Victoria's AusNet and ElectraNet in South Australia. Similarly, about a quarter of its transmission towers are more than 50 years old, compared with more than 30 per cent for AusNet and ElectraNet.
As a result, its transmission network's average age is 28 years; the youngest of any operator in the country.
The partners will put in $4.98 billion of equity and borrow the other $5.5 billion.
