GrowthNZ pushes eight-point electricity system reset, urges cross-parliamentary long-term plan

The bi-partisan business initiative GrowthNZ is lobbying for a system-wide reset of New Zealand's electricity market, proposing reforms across eight broad areas aimed at lowering household power bills and unlocking the country's renewable energy resources to support its target of 5 percent annual economic growth.

Launched in 2025, GrowthNZ is made up of business people Brendan Vercoe, Bowen Pan, Anna Kominik, Alyssa Laakmann, David Booth, Sam Blackman, Maya Pan, Henry Wang and Malinidi Maclean. Its latest policy ask targets an electricity system it says is poorly designed, pressures household budgets and stymies growth (RNZ).

Co-chair Bowen Pan said electricity bills are high because the system runs on shortages, with expensive coal and gas setting the price when shortages occur. Pan said long-term thinking is needed to take advantage of New Zealand's abundant renewable energy resources.

The eight reform areas are broad. GrowthNZ proposes establishing a government-owned "Thermal NewCo" to run remaining gas and coal plants and sell cover to all industry participants on equal terms. It wants barriers to entry removed for independent electricity generation, and new generation underwritten through competitive revenue options that guarantee a revenue floor, cutting developers' cost of capital.

On the transmission and distribution side, GrowthNZ proposes splitting Transpower's system operator role from its grid owner role for more neutral planning, and consolidating New Zealand's 29 electricity lines companies. It also proposes better access to household solar and batteries, and more ways for KiwiSaver and other long-term New Zealand capital to invest in energy infrastructure. Breaking up the gentailers should remain a backstop, GrowthNZ said, if other electricity reforms fail to deliver.

Co-chair Anna Kominik said the first reform need is a long-term electricity plan that remains steady across parliamentary cycles (RNZ). That call for cross-cycle durability is aimed squarely at a system where policy direction has shifted with changes of government.

The proposal lands in a crowded reform landscape. The Electricity Authority announced new rules requiring larger electricity retailers to offer lower off-peak power prices from next year (RNZ), though that move dates to mid-2025 and GrowthNZ's package goes considerably further. The Major Electricity Users Group, chaired by John Harbord, said the government's proposed electricity changes would not affect prices much for at least 10 years (RNZ). The government's response to electricity sector reform has closely resembled its approach to bringing competition to the grocery sector (RNZ).

Public frustration with the status quo is well-documented. Newsroom published an investigative piece on 10 August 2026 examining who shaped major policies and who benefited in New Zealand's electricity industry reforms (Newsroom). Polling by Electric Kiwi and 2Degrees showed about 20 percent of people strongly supported structural separation of electricity gentailers (RNZ). A business group said in mid-2025 that gentailers were squashing competition and leading to soaring power prices (RNZ).

The OECD's Economic Surveys: New Zealand 2026 concluded that planning and gentailer governance reforms are essential to accelerate investment and ensure a secure, affordable, and sustainable electricity system (OECD). The government has also issued a Statement of Government Policy to the Electricity Authority (Gazette notice 2026-go3093) referencing a 30 percent increase in total electricity expenditure in 2026–30 relative to 2021–25, citing "The Future is Electric — A Decarbonisation Roadmap" (New Zealand Gazette).

The broader context here is that GrowthNZ's package is markedly more ambitious than anything the Electricity Authority or the government has put on the table. Where the Authority's off-peak pricing rules are incremental and the government's approach has been characterised as soft, GrowthNZ is proposing structural separation of Transpower's functions, consolidation of 29 lines companies into fewer entities, a government-owned thermal backup company, and underwriting mechanisms to crowd in new generation. Each of those would require either legislation or substantial regulatory change. The Thermal NewCo proposal in particular would represent a significant state intervention in a market that has been built around private generation and wholesale competition since the reforms of the 1990s.

Whether GrowthNZ can build the cross-parliamentary consensus its own co-chairs say is needed is the central political question. The group's bi-partisan framing and its 5 percent growth target are designed to make the package difficult for either major bloc to dismiss. But the same political-cycle volatility Kominik identifies as the problem also means any government committing to a multi-decade electricity plan would need to carry opposition parties with it, something no recent administration has managed on energy policy.