Paul White

I started my career as a consultant power systems engineer with Worley International. That was a fabulous leg-up for a flailing engineering graduate. In particular, it gave me a taste for development projects in interesting places, something I’ve never tired of.

It also made me realise that solving complex problems required more than just good engineering, and so I worked through a commerce degree part-time.  I then shunned consultancy for a few years (naively fancying the bright lights of a career in Big Corporate), taking on strategy and finance roles Fletcher Challenge Energy and Air New Zealand.  After two years of that (and learning as much about people than finance), Paul Webber asked me to do some work with him. Wedgewood White Ltd was born.

We’re infrastructure guys; my particular strength is power systems.  After 25 years learning the craft, I can think critically about infrastructure projects and have honed the analysis to support that thinking.  I’m equally at home in technical, financial and economic realms (the Asian Development Bank engages me as a specialist in all three), and have a broad international perspective (20 or so countries at last count). 

Paul Webber

My first job was as a project engineer with Waitemata Electricity, which was then New Zealand’s second largest distributor/retailer.  It was an exciting time in New Zealand electricity industry reform: I was involved in such diverse projects as the first separation of retail and distribution tariffs, competitive bidding for subdivision network ownership, and the public listing of the firm.  I soon realised that engineering decisions were made in a commercial context and so headed back to Auckland University to attack a graduate diploma in finance.

Next I moved to Ernst & Young’s strategy consulting team in Wellington.  This was like a masters degree in infrastructure management: I saw the inner workings of dozens of businesses in just three years.

Ernst & Young sent me to Australia to work on the Victorian gas industry reform where I met the talented team of consultants managing that enormous project (the core of this team is still working together as farrierswier).  They encouraged me to set up my own shop, which has been a great experience.

My water and wastewater industry experience includes pricing, regulation, investment analysis and sector reform engagements for Essential Services Commission of Victoria, the Queensland Water Commission, Gympie Regional Council, the Gladstone Area Water Board, Melbourne Water, Sydney Water and others.  Outside Australia, I have analysed investments, and conducted price reviews in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Micronesia for the Asian Development Bank.   

My energy sector experience includes engagements across the whole supply chain: retail pricing, distribution pricing and regulation, transmission pricing, generation investment analysis, hedging and risk management.

We’re living through a fascinating time in the electricity supply industry, with solar power, distributed energy storage and the electrification of transport providing a huge shake-up for the existing energy businesses.  Recently, it has been particularly rewarding to apply our experience back in New Zealand, helping businesses transition to electric vehicles.