Preparing for an electric future
Our future electricity network will be very different from what you see today.
The next five-to-10 years are going to be busy. We need all hands on deck to maintain and build the infrastructure needed to help Kiwis electrify as Aotearoa moves towards sustainable energy choices.
There’ll still be power lines, poles, cables, transformers and substations that will need to be maintained, fixed and renewed, but with new technology and evolving customer needs (think solar, EVs, distributed generation), we need to be ready.
Do you work for one of our contractors and want to know more? Find out more below or email contractor.enquiries@powerco.co.nz and one of our team will come back to you.
Contracts awarded
So that we can be prepared to get all this work done, we put our EFSAs, CDSAs and MISAs for electricity field services on our North Island network out to tender. We have now awarded the new contracts. Read more – Powerco awards new contracts.
We have divided our electricity network into four regions, with contractors awarded roles in each region as follows:
Coromandel to South Waikato
Primary: Downer
Secondary: Northpower
Customer delivery: NPE-Tech and Horizon
Maintenance inspections: Poltech
Tauranga and Mt Maunganui
Primary: Northpower
Secondary: Unison
Customer delivery: NPE-Tech and EIS
Maintenance inspections: Poltech
Taranaki, Whanganui and Rangitīkei
Primary: Downer
Secondary: Northpower
Customer delivery: NPE-Tech and Obertech
Maintenance inspections: Poltech
Manawatū and Wairarapa
Primary: Northpower
Secondary: Horizon
Customer delivery: NPE-Tech and Scanpower
Maintenance inspections: Poltech
The new contracts will start on 1 July 2025.
A new way of working
As we move to a new way of working across our footprint, we’re following these principles.
Customer focus first - We’re all working together to deliver a smooth, positive experience for Powerco customers. We know transitions come with change, but our shared goals is to avoid disruption, protect service levels and keep customer confidence high.
No service gaps - We’ll plan the transition to keep everything running especially fault response and operational support. Asset transfers, onboarding and access need to be well-timed so no part of the service drops.
Respect and support staff through change - We’ll make sure everyone feels informed, valued and supported. No one should be left uncertain about their future. For those that are moving – interviews and onboarding will be planned to reduce any disruptions and if there’s impact, we’ll work together on practical solutions.
Sort issues together - We’ll all act fairly and work in good faith. If something crops up, we’ll sort it practically and stick to what’s agreed.
FAQS
What if my employer didn’t tender for the new contracts, or didn’t get a contract and I’m left without work?
We need technical and experienced people to help Powerco and our contracting partners to maintain and build the electricity infrastructure needed for Kiwis to decarbonise. We encourage you to share your CV with the companies that successfully tendered for our work.
In addition, those awarded customer delivery services contracts, may choose to enter in to joint venture or subcontracting relationships with existing PACs as they scale up to meet the expected customer delivery workload.
What's changing with customer delivery work?
In addition to the new EFSAs, during 2025 we're moving to a new way of managing our customer delivery services (also known as customer-initiated works or CIW). This means Powerco will manage the end-to-end customer experience, rather than a customer working directly with a Powerco-approved contractor (PAC). It includes high volume, repeatable connections, as well as a portion of project work, network extensions and upgrades on Powerco's underground and overhead network.
So that we can have greater oversight of the quality, safety and the service we provide to customers, we’re reducing the number of PACs we directly engage to do customer work.
While we will reduce the pool of contractors approved to carry out customer work on our network, we stress that the volume of customer delivery work across the network will continue to grow because enabling the energy transition will see a significant increase in customer work from the past.
Read the news release – customer services delivery tender.
The new Customer Delivery Services will start 1 September 2025.
How did the tender process work?
Read the news release – Powerco electricity contracts going to tender.
How can I stay up to date about what’s happening?
Keep an eye on this page where we will share any major updates.