Business electricity in Auckland, NZ: how Vector and Counties Energy charge commercial sites, the 2025-26 price rises, the Entrust dividend and grid pressure.
Quick answer
Auckland business power costs depend mostly on Vector, which runs the lines from Wellsford to Papakura. Counties Energy covers the south. Vector's lines prices rose 21% in April 2025 and 7.8% in April 2026. Sites above 69 kVA pay capacity and demand charges, and eligible central, east and south Auckland connections receive an annual Entrust dividend.
Lines network
Vector · Counties Energy
Main business centres
Auckland CBD · Manukau · East Tāmaki · Albany · Henderson · Papakura · Pukekohe · Warkworth
Two networks carry almost all of Auckland's power. Your address decides which one you're on.
| Lines company | Where it runs | Ownership and regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Vector | Wellsford to Papakura: the CBD, North Shore, West Auckland, Manukau, East Tāmaki, Warkworth | 75.1% owned by the Entrust consumer trust; prices regulated by the Commerce Commission |
| Counties Energy | Pukekohe, Waiuku, Drury, Karaka, west and south Papakura, continuing into north Waikato | Consumer-owned; exempt from price-quality regulation |
Vector supplies about 635,000 homes and businesses over more than 19,000 km of overhead lines and underground cables. Counties Energy's network is bordered by Vector to the north and WEL Networks to the south. Not every address follows that map, though. WEL, the Hamilton-based lines company, also supplies some subdivisions in Auckland and Warkworth. The network recorded against your ICP is the one that sets your lines charges.
Vector splits businesses at 69 kVA of connection capacity.
Under 69 kVA (most shops, offices and cafés). You're on "general" time-of-use pricing. From 1 April 2026, peak runs from 7am to 11am in June to August and from 5pm to 10pm in May to September, every day including weekends and public holidays. From October to April, every hour is off-peak. Vector keeps peak pricing to the cooler months because that's when most of its network is constrained.
Above 69 kVA (larger sites, cold stores, manufacturing). You're in one of Vector's commercial groups, based on whether you connect at low voltage, through a Vector transformer, at high voltage or directly from a substation. These sites pay:
The demand charge is the one to manage. A handful of heavy half-hours in the working day sets that charge for the whole month.
A lot. The Commerce Commission's 2025–2030 price-quality path lifted Vector's revenue cap from $710 million to $859 million. Vector's lines prices rose by a weighted average of 21% on 1 April 2025. They rose another 7.8% on 1 April 2026. Both figures exclude transmission, which Vector passes through separately, allocated by grid exit point.
Counties Energy is consumer-owned and sits outside that price path. Its prices follow its own methodology and aren't covered by these figures.
Entrust, the consumer trust that owns 75.1% of Vector, pays an annual dividend to connections in its district. The 2026 payment of $377 landed on 23 September 2026 for more than 374,000 households and businesses. It was paid by direct credit or as a power-bill credit.
To qualify, you had to be the named account holder at an ICP on Vector's network inside the Entrust District at midnight on 12 August 2026. The district is the old Auckland Electric Power Board area: central Auckland, Manukau, northern Papakura and eastern Franklin. Most of the North Shore and West Auckland were in a different power board's area and aren't in it. Some properties inside the district aren't on Vector's network either. The dividend comes from the trust regardless of retailer, so it isn't a reason to pick one supplier over another.
Auckland depends on power generated elsewhere. Transpower's Waikato and upper North Island region, which includes Auckland, accounts for nearly 40% of the country's electricity demand. More than 1,000 MW of generation in that region has closed since 2012, so more power now travels from distant hydro and geothermal stations. Transpower also flags the possible retirement of the remaining Rankine units at the Huntly power station.
Transpower has installed voltage-support equipment at Hamilton (2023) and Ōtāhuhu (April 2025, about $144 million). A second stage is due to go to the Commerce Commission later in 2026. Corroded sections of the Huntly–Ōtāhuhu 220 kV line, a key link carrying southern generation into Auckland and Northland, also need replacing. Transpower is preparing its case for that work. Grid investment like this flows into the transmission share of your bill.
Scale. Auckland has 35% of New Zealand's business locations and employees (Stats NZ, February 2025). A chain with shops on both Vector and Counties Energy faces two different tariff structures, so offers should be compared site by site.
Reticulated gas is available too: Vector's gas network supplies about 120,600 homes and businesses. But Gas Industry Co's 2026 study says falling domestic supply could force commercial and industrial users onto higher-priced alternatives or out of business. If you're planning new heating or process equipment, factor that in; our business gas and LPG page covers the options.
Running a Vector site above 69 kVA? Send us a recent bill and we'll look at what your capacity and demand charges are costing you.
Vector's lines run from Wellsford to Papakura. Counties Energy's network covers Pukekohe, Waiuku, Drury, Karaka and west and south Papakura, and continues into north Waikato. A few subdivisions are on other networks, such as WEL Networks, so check the network named against your ICP.
It does if you were the named account holder at an ICP on Vector's network inside the Entrust District at midnight on 12 August 2026. The district covers central, east and south Auckland. Most of the North Shore and West Auckland sit outside it, and so do properties inside the district that aren't on Vector's network.
Sites above 69 kVA pay a daily fixed charge, a capacity charge per kVA and a per-kWh volume charge. They also pay a demand charge based on the average of their ten highest kVA readings between 8am and 8pm on weekdays each month. Power factor charges can apply, and high-voltage and larger connections can also pay excess demand charges.
From 1 April 2026, small business time-of-use connections pay peak rates from 7am to 11am in June to August, and 5pm to 10pm in May to September, every day. Everything from October to April is off-peak.
The Commerce Commission's 2025–2030 price path lifted Vector's revenue cap from $710 million to $859 million, which drove the 21% rise in April 2025. The April 2026 increase was 7.8%, and Transpower charges are passed through on top.
Primary sources first. Every figure on this page comes from one of these, each with the date we last accessed it.
Last updated by the Manage My Bills Energy Team.
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