Quarterly update from Chief Executive Sarah Gillies

Recently, I had the opportunity to share what we’ve been up to at our Quarterly Update – our last one for 2025.

The end of the year is a good opportunity to reflect on progress we’ve made (which you can see in our recently published Annual Report) and look ahead to what we need to achieve in the future (some of which is outlined in our Levy Consultation for the 2026/27 year).

There is a lot of work to be done across the sector, so to help us focus on what matters most we have just refreshed our strategy. While a lot of our strategy remains enduring (like our vision for the future) we wanted to set a clear direction to help us concentrate on what matters most to consumers: ensuring New Zealand’s electricity system is affordable, and secure and resilient. We have also published a plan on a page that outlines the work we’re delivering right now and how it contributes to those outcomes.

We are working with MBIE on some of the work coming out of the Government’s review of the electricity market. A key recommendation was to strengthen the Authority with new powers and penalties. It’s about ensuring we have the right tools to change, update and enforce market rules.

To help us deliver on this direction, we’ve kicked off a review of our organisation design – this is an exciting opportunity for us to strengthen the Authority’s performance, efficiency and regulatory excellence.

This quarter, some of the important work we’ve delivered for a more affordable electricity system includes our consumer mobility programme. You can find our consumer mobility roadmap, detailing all the work underway. One important initiative is our new comparison and switching website, which we’re really excited to be launching in February. The site will be simple and easy to use with flexible, modern technology and AI-driven tools. It’s powered by a robust dataset made up of two years of actual consumption data from 30,000 households, enabling access to reliable and personalised comparisons.

We’ve also been consulting on proposed Code changes to make electricity bills clearer and easier to understand, and give consumers the information they need to compare plans and get a better deal on their power. We were really pleased that around 1,500 consumers took the time to share their feedback on the consultation.

While that consumer-facing work is important, an efficient and competitive market is critical to keeping prices down and ensuring consumers have more choice. That’s why we have significant work under way to enable new generators and independent market participants to enter and better compete in the market. This includes measures to level the playing field between the four large gentailers and independent market participants, our review of market making arrangements to improve New Zealand’s electricity hedge markets, and some options for regulating the super-peak hedge product to help independent retailers to ‘hedge’ their exposure to volatile wholesale market prices.

Turning to security and resilience – we’ve made a permanent change to the System Operator’s information-gathering powers to help it collect data from generators to track electricity risk curves and storage. This helps industry prepare for potential shortages and keeps the lights on for consumers.

We’ve just finished consulting on Code amendments to establish an Emergency Reserve Scheme to support supply during tight periods and reward industrial demand flexibility. Batteries are also increasingly important for resilience, so we recently updated our Battery Energy Storage System roadmap setting out the work we’re delivering in the battery space over the next two years, including our consultation on options to improve wholesale market operations for batteries. And we’ve put significant effort into monitoring and reporting a lot more information about security of supply. Right now, hydro storage levels are well above historic averages and the snow pack is at record levels, which is positive.

The distribution network has also been a real focus for us in the last quarter. We want to make pricing for new connections more efficient, transparent and consistent across the country. That’s why we’re currently tackling high upfront charges for new connections. We also want to remove barriers to more generation – including rooftop solar – which is why we’ve made moves to double the export limit for residential solar from 5kWh to 10kWh.

And as we close out the year, I want to thank everyone for their engagement in our work. As I have said regularly, we cannot regulate in isolation – we need to work with consumers (from residential to industrial), advocates, industry and other government agencies to shape meaningful change. We appreciate the time you have put in to meeting with us, writing submissions, providing information and helping us understand your perspectives. I particularly want to thank our various technical groups and two advisory groups (SRC and the EAAG) – your insights and advice have been invaluable.

Finally, I want to acknowledge Anna Kominik, who has resigned from her role as Chair of the Authority. Anna will remain in her role until a replacement is appointed. Throughout her term, Anna has been very clear that confidence in a strong, competitive and innovative market is essential. She has also been a champion for better consumer outcomes – and for access to affordable, reliable electricity for all. I'm grateful for Anna’s leadership and her absolute commitment to our mahi.

Sarah Gillies, Chief Executive

Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko