What is an electricity distribution business?
An electricity distribution business (EDB) owns and runs the local electricity network in a part of New Zealand. It takes power from Transpower’s national grid at grid exit points and delivers it through substations, overhead lines, underground cables and transformers to individual homes and businesses.
EDBs are commonly called lines companies, distributors or networks. New Zealand has close to 30 of them, ranging from large urban networks to small rural ones, and each serves a defined geographic area. Many are partly or wholly owned by community trusts or local councils.
The Australian equivalent is a Distribution Network Service Provider (DNSP).
Retailer vs distributor
New Zealand’s electricity supply chain has four main parts:
- Generators produce electricity.
- Transpower runs the national transmission grid.
- EDBs run the local distribution networks.
- Retailers buy electricity on the wholesale market, sell it to consumers and manage the billing relationship.
For most households, the retailer is the visible brand: they choose it, receive its bill and call it about their account. The EDB is less visible but owns the physical connection. Lines charges are usually passed through on the retailer’s bill.
That split shapes customer contact:
- Retailers handle billing, switching, payment, moves and account questions.
- EDBs handle faults, outages, hazards, new connections and network work.
Customers don’t always know the difference, so many ring their retailer about a fault and are redirected, or find the lines company’s fault line on the retailer’s website. Clear information about who to call, and smooth hand-offs between retailer and distributor, reduce frustration on both sides.
What EDBs do
- Maintain and upgrade the network, which drives planned outages.
- Respond to faults around the clock, through a control room, an outage management system and field crew dispatch.
- Connect new customers, subdivisions, solar and other generation, and increasingly EV charging.
- Manage hazards such as fallen lines and vegetation near lines.
- Report reliability using measures such as SAIDI and SAIFI.
Regulation
Because each EDB is a natural monopoly in its area, the Commerce Commission regulates them under Part 4 of the Commerce Act, through price-quality regulation and information disclosure. Some consumer-owned EDBs are exempt from price-quality regulation but still disclose information.
The Electricity Authority regulates the wider electricity market through the Electricity Industry Participation Code. That includes the Consumer Care Obligations, mandatory from 1 January 2025, which set out how retailers and distributors support medically dependent and vulnerable consumers.
The EDB contact centre
An EDB’s contact centre has an unusual workload: low and steady most of the time, then a call avalanche when a storm hits. It must be available 24/7, prioritise hazard calls and give accurate restoration information. Many EDBs combine an in-house team with an outsourced partner for after-hours, overflow and surge capacity.