Management at the Alexandra Rugby Club may soon be able to charge their glasses in celebration after a long-winded saga over a power bill at Molyneux Park took a significant step toward resolution this week.

The club had been billed by the Central Otago District Council (CODC) for power usage of changing rooms and showers which had, for many years, also been utilised by other clubs and individuals.

They had also been billed for power on a bunker and groundsman’s shed, all the while paying $1500 in annual rent to use the facilities.

Electricity bills of $600 to $800 each month had secretary/manager Dai Johns scratching his head after he began his role, but after trawling through 10 years of club minutes, the reason for the high charges were no clearer, he told the Vincent Community Board this week.

Following various meetings and discussions, agreement for compensation from CODC was eventually reached in 2020, this being, he claimed, after 11 or 12 years of overpayment.

New metering systems, however, first had to be installed by council, they had advised the club, to assess the power usage for 12 months.

For nearly two years, in what deputy chair Russell Garbutt described as “certainly not a well-handled process” the issue remained unresolved between the CODC and the club, as accurate estimates for compensation were sought.

The club originally estimated around $38,000 was owed, offering the figure “to start the ball rolling”, Dai said.

Council’s monitoring gave up a figure of $16,460.55, which was agreed to by the club as a way of showing good faith and getting a resolution, he said.

No payment was made and in March this year a subsequent figure of $7641 was put forward by council who had researched further the shared usage and apportioned the club’s usage to be responsible for 40% of the original offer.

Alexandra Rugby Club secretary/manager Dai Johns speaks to the Vincent Community Board on Tuesday via video link.

“We are really disappointed with what’s happened so far. We have one premiership team and over 100 kids that we try to mentor and also look after some high school kids. We haven’t been treated very well. We pay the council $1500 per annum to hire the park and showers, which includes the power,” Dai said.

He said the club did not understand the second offer, rejected it and favoured the original amount.

Russell said the process had gone on for an extremely long time and needed cleared up.

“It’s been pretty loose on both sides. I would like an absolute assurance we don’t have this issue ongoing in the future.”

Chairman Martin McPherson felt there was uncertainty around the figures and suggested “splitting the difference”.

The board resolved to recommend council pay the club $10,000 from the General Development Alexandra Reserves, intended as a full and final settlement.