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Electricity Industry Act 2010

Electricity industry governance - Who does what - Electricity Authority

16: Functions of Authority

You could also call this:

“The Electricity Authority's main jobs and responsibilities in New Zealand”

The Electricity Authority has many important jobs to do. You should know about these jobs because they affect how electricity works in New Zealand.

The Authority keeps a list of people and companies involved in the electricity industry. They can also say that some don’t need to be on this list.

They make and look after rules called the Electricity Industry Participation Code. These rules help the electricity industry work well.

The Authority makes sure everyone follows the laws and rules about electricity. They can also say that some people don’t have to follow certain rules.

If someone doesn’t follow the rules, the Authority can investigate and make them follow the rules.

They help make the electricity market work better. For example, they might teach people about electricity or give out information.

The Authority watches how the electricity industry and market are working. They study different parts of the electricity industry and share what they learn.

They hire people to run parts of the electricity market and system. Sometimes, they might do these jobs themselves if they need to.

The Authority tells people why it’s good to compare different electricity companies and maybe switch to a new one.

They also try to protect households and small businesses when it comes to their electricity supply.

If any other laws give the Authority more jobs to do, they will do those too.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2634340.

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15: Objectives of Authority, or

"The Electricity Authority's main tasks: making electricity work well for everyone and protecting home and small business users"

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17: Statements of government policy, or

"The government tells the Electricity Authority how to manage electricity"

Part 2 Electricity industry governance
Who does what: Electricity Authority

16Functions of Authority

  1. The Authority's functions are as follows:

  2. to maintain a register of industry participants in accordance with subpart 2, and to exempt individual industry participants from the obligation to be registered:
    1. to make and administer the Electricity Industry Participation Code in accordance with subpart 3:
      1. to monitor compliance with the Act, the regulations, and the Code, and to exempt individual industry participants and specified persons from the obligation to comply with the Code or specific provisions of the Code:
        1. to investigate and enforce compliance with this Part, Part 4, the regulations, and the Code (see subpart 4 of this Part):
          1. to investigate and enforce compliance with Part 3 (see subpart 2 of Part 3):
            1. to undertake market-facilitation measures (for example, providing education, guidelines, information, and model arrangements), and to monitor the operation and effectiveness of market facilitation measures:
              1. to undertake industry and market monitoring, and carry out and make publicly available reviews, studies, and inquiries into any matter relating to the electricity industry:
                1. to contract for market operation services (but see subsection (2)) and system operator services:
                  1. to promote to consumers the benefits of comparing and switching retailers:
                    1. to undertake measures aimed at protecting the interests of domestic consumers and small business consumers in relation to the supply of electricity to those consumers:
                      1. to perform any other specific functions imposed on it under this or any other Act.

                        1. Instead of, or as well as, contracting for market operation services, the Authority may itself perform—

                        2. the functions of the market administrator, if the Authority considers it desirable to do so; and
                          1. any other market operation service, but only on a temporary basis (such as when there is no current contract, or the contractor is unable or unwilling to perform the service).

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                            Notes
                            • Section 16(1)(c): amended, on , by section 55 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                            • Section 16(1)(f): amended, on , by section 11(1) of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).
                            • Section 16(1)(ia): inserted, on , by section 11(2) of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).