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Electricity industry
The electricity industry has four main components:
- Generation (electricity production stations)
- Transmission (the high voltage network known as the national grid)
- Distribution (local lines companies)
- Retail (electricity retail companies which compete to buy wholesale electricity and compete to retail it to consumers)
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Electricity generation
New Zealand’s power stations are operated by five main electricity generation companies.
Electricity transmission
Transpower owns and operates New Zealand’s national electricity transmission system, including substations, high voltage cables, transformers and overhead lines.
Electricity distribution
Twenty-nine electricity distribution companies, or ‘lines companies’, own the local distribution networks throughout New Zealand.
Electricity retail
There is a high degree of vertical integration between electricity generation and retail activities in New Zealand. The five main retail companies are also the main generating companies.
Chronology of New Zealand electricity reform
Chronology of key developments in New Zealand's electricity industry reforms, from the mid 1980s to November 2010.
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