Powerco awards new contracts
Electricity services contracts
Downer and Northpower were awarded primary contractor roles to provide construction, maintenance and fault repair services for regions on Powerco’s North Island electricity distribution network.Northpower was also awarded secondary contractor roles, along with Unison and Horizon, to provide support to Powerco’s primary contractors for construction, maintenance and fault repairs. The new electricity field services contracts start on 1 July 2025.
Customer delivery services
Powerco has awarded NPE-Tech, EIS, Horizon, Obertech and Scanpower roles as customer delivery contractors to provide customer work on Powerco’s network. Customer work includes high volume, repeatable connections, as well as a portion of project work, network extensions and upgrades on Powerco's underground and overhead network. The new customer delivery fields services contracts start on 1 September 2025.Maintenance inspection services
Powerco has awarded Poltech the role of inspection services contractor to deliver maintenance inspection services across the Powerco network.
The new maintenance inspection services contract starts on 1 July 2025.
Powerco General Manager Electricity Karen Frew says there was strong interest in the three tender processes and thanks all organisations who took part.
“There was competition across all regions and a very high standard of tenders across the board – it’s a fantastic outcome and will set us up for the future,” she says.
Powerco’s electricity regions
Powerco has divided its 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
Karen Frew says our future electricity network will be very different from what you see today. 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.
“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 New Zealand moves towards sustainable energy choices.”
In October 2024 Powerco requested tenders for Electricity Field Services Agreements (EFSA), Customer Delivery Services Agreements (CDSA) and Maintenance Inspection Services Agreement (MISA) for their North Island network.
Powerco is New Zealand’s largest dual electricity and gas distributor by network length, with over 900,000 customers (across over 473,000 connections) connected to its networks. Powerco’s electricity network covers Coromandel to South Waikato, Tauranga and Mt Maunganui, Taranaki, Whanganui, Rangitīkei, Manawatū and Wairarapa. Its gas network covers Taranaki, Horowhenua, Hawke's Bay, Manawatū, Horowhenua, Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington. It won Energy Distributor of the Year at the 2024 Energy Excellence Awards.
