Establishing an Emergency Reserve Scheme

We are seeking feedback on our rationale and high-level design for an Emergency Reserve Scheme to unlock industrial demand flexibility and boost security of New Zealand’s power supply ahead of next winter.

Under the proposed Emergency Reserve Scheme, organisations willing and able to reduce their power consumption on request - to make it available to the grid - could opt-in to the scheme and be paid to reduce their demand for short periods, where it makes commercial sense to do so.

The proposed Emergency Reserve Scheme would enable Transpower to access additional short-term capacity to prevent household and business disconnections on those rare occasions when market solutions fail to balance supply and demand.

We’re proposing to allow a wide range of power consumers to participate in the scheme, including large industrials, distributors, and groups of smaller business consumers. Broad participation would help businesses grow their capability and invest in new equipment. We are keen to hear from those that would have an interest in participating in the proposed Emergency Reserve Scheme scheme.

We welcome your feedback on this proposal by 5pm, Thursday 28 August 2025.

If we decide to proceed, we will consult further on the required changes to the Electricity Industry Participation Code for implementation.