Wellington, Sept 29 NZPA - Meridian Energy is paying the Government a final dividend of $113.9 million and a special dividend of $150m.

This is even though the state-owned energy company only made a net profit after tax of $89.3m in the year to June 30, down from $128.6m in the same period last year.

The final dividend is on top of the $30 million interim dividend.

Chief executive Tim Lusk said the special dividend was possible because the underlying profit for the year was $195m, compared with the last year's $104.5m.

The company has frozen residential prices to the end of this financial year.

"Getting it right for our customers is a key focus for us right now. This year we are committed to working with and understanding what our customers want from their electricity retailer so we can produce products and services that will deliver true value," Mr Lusk said.

The energy company said it experienced a year of extraordinary challenges.

"We began the year with our storage lakes at record lows and ended in almost the opposite situation, with the company managing a series of large inflows," Mr Lusk said.

Meridian completed the roll-out of around 112,000 smart meters in its main Canterbury market and was now the largest smart meter platform in Australasia.

Mr Lusk said customers could expect to see new offers off the smart meter platform in the marketplace in the coming weeks.