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Electricity Industry Act 2010

Electricity industry governance - Monitoring and enforcement - Code enforcement

54: Remedial orders for breach of Code

You could also call this:

"Making things right when someone breaks the electricity rules"

If you or someone breaks the rules in the Electricity Industry Code, a group called the Rulings Panel can decide what to do about it. They might do nothing, or they might do one or more of these things:

They can give you a private warning or tell you off. They can also make a public warning about what you did. They might make you keep more records or tell them more about what you're doing.

If you break the rules, they can make you pay money to the government. This could be up to $2 million, plus $10,000 for each day you keep breaking the rules. They might also make you pay money to someone else to make up for what you did wrong.

The Rulings Panel can tell you to fix what you did wrong and follow the rules. They can also make you pay for the cost of looking into what you did wrong.

They might suggest changes to the rules or the law to stop the same thing happening again.

When the Rulings Panel makes a decision, they think about what they've done before in similar situations. If you break lots of rules at the same time for the same reason, they'll treat it as one big rule break instead of lots of little ones.

Even if they decide you didn't break any rules, they might still make you pay for the cost of looking into what happened.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2634394.

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53: Powers and procedures of Rulings Panel, or

"How the Rulings Panel works and what it can do when looking at complaints"

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55: Restrictions on remedies, or

"Limits on what you can do if someone breaks the electricity rules"

Part 2Electricity industry governance
Monitoring and enforcement: Code enforcement

54Remedial orders for breach of Code

  1. On determining a complaint that an industry participant or a specified person has breached the Code, the Rulings Panel may decide that no action should be taken, or do any 1 or more of the following:

  2. issue a private warning or reprimand to an industry participant or a specified person:
    1. make an order that a public warning or reprimand be issued to an industry participant or a specified person:
      1. impose additional or more stringent record-keeping or reporting requirements under or in connection with the Code:
        1. make a pecuniary penalty order requiring an industry participant or a specified person to pay a pecuniary penalty to the Crown of an amount not exceeding $2 million and a further amount not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the breach continues (see section 56):
          1. make a compensation order requiring an industry participant or a specified person to pay a sum by way of compensation to any other person:
            1. make a compliance order requiring an industry participant or a specified person that is found not to be complying with the Code to take any action that is necessary to restore it to a position of compliance (see section 57):
              1. make orders regarding the reasonable costs of any investigations or proceedings:
                1. recommend to the Authority that a change should be made to the Code or the regulations:
                  1. recommend to the Minister that a change should be made to the regulations or the Act.

                    1. The Rulings Panel must take into account its own previous decisions in respect of any similar situations previously dealt with by the Authority or any predecessor of the Authority.

                    2. Two or more breaches relating to one event or series of closely related events arising from the same cause or circumstance must be treated as a single breach.

                    3. The Rulings Panel may also decide to make orders regarding the reasonable costs of any investigations or proceedings on determining that an industry participant or a specified person has not breached the Code.

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section 54(1): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(1)(a): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(1)(b): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(1)(d): replaced, on , by section 24(1) of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).
                    • Section 54(1)(d): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(1)(e): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(1)(f): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).
                    • Section 54(3): inserted, on , by section 24(2) of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).
                    • Section 54(4): inserted, on , by section 24(2) of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).
                    • Section 54(4): amended, on , by section 61 of the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 11).