Business group GrowthNZ pushes for full reset of electricity market

A bi-partisan business group called GrowthNZ is pushing for a system-wide overhaul of New Zealand's electricity market, arguing the current setup keeps household power bills too high and holds back 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 proposal targets an electricity system it says is poorly designed, stretches household budgets and stifles growth (RNZ).

Co-chair Bowen Pan said power bills are high because the market runs on shortages. When supply is tight, expensive coal and gas set the price for everyone. Pan said New Zealand needs long-term thinking to make the most of its abundant renewable energy resources.

The eight reform areas are broad. GrowthNZ proposes setting up a government-owned company — called "Thermal NewCo" — to run the remaining gas and coal plants and sell backup power to all industry participants on equal terms. It wants barriers removed for independent electricity generators, and new generation backed by competitive revenue options that guarantee a minimum return, which would lower developers' borrowing costs.

On transmission and distribution, GrowthNZ proposes splitting Transpower's dual role as grid owner and system operator, so planning is more neutral. Transpower is the state-owned company that runs the national grid — the high-voltage lines that carry electricity around the country. The group also wants to consolidate New Zealand's 29 electricity lines companies — the local businesses that deliver power from the grid to homes — into fewer entities. Other proposals include 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" — the companies that both generate and sell electricity, like Contact, Genesis, Mercury and Meridian — should remain a backstop if other reforms fail to deliver.

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

The proposal lands in a crowded reform landscape. The Electricity Authority — the independent regulator — 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 mean 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.