Business electricity in Gisborne and Tairāwhiti, NZ: how Firstlight Network prices commercial lines, the 2026 rises, the Powerco sale and supply resilience.
Quick answer
One lines company, Firstlight Network, supplies every business in Tairāwhiti, and Powerco has owned it since 31 July 2026. Its costs are high per connection because the network is remote, low-density and lightly used. On 1 April 2026 commercial fixed charges rose about 12% and variable charges about 8%.
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Firstlight Network
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Gisborne · Tolaga Bay · Tokomaru Bay · Ruatōria · Te Karaka · Matawai
There's one lines company for the whole region: Firstlight Network. It covers Tairāwhiti and Wairoa, supplying about 26,000 homes and businesses across 11,952 km². It also owns the region's 110 kV lines, the steel pylons and poles that connect the East Coast to Transpower's national grid.
Ownership has just changed. Powerco, which supplies about 365,000 homes and businesses across the North Island, became Firstlight's owner on 31 July 2026. For now it's business as usual: the same local team, fault line and website. The network will rebrand as Powerco once the two companies' systems are integrated, which Firstlight expects to take several months. Prices remain regulated by the Commerce Commission.
Firstlight is candid about it. Its customer density is among the lowest in New Zealand, and low-density networks need more assets per customer. It also says its customers face some of the highest retail electricity prices in the country, partly because of that low density. Average use per customer is among the lowest nationally. Firstlight puts that down to socio-economic circumstances, the absence of a large industrial base and the relatively mild climate. Fixed network costs are spread across fewer kilowatt-hours.
More than 90% of Firstlight's costs are fixed. It is gradually moving more of its revenue into fixed daily charges, and it passes transmission costs through as fixed charges too. For 2026/27, transmission charges rose 20%.
Commercial and industrial connections are priced by capacity band:
| Price category | Connection capacity |
|---|---|
| COM0050 | Under 50 kVA |
| COM0100 | 50 to 100 kVA |
| COM0300 | 101 to 300 kVA |
| COM0500 | 301 to 500 kVA |
| COM1000 | 501 to 1,000 kVA |
| COM4500 | 1,001 to 4,500 kVA |
| COM6500 | 4,501 to 6,500 kVA |
Each band has a fixed daily charge plus time-of-use rates, and the rates differ by size:
From 1 April 2026, commercial and industrial fixed charges rose by an average of 12%, and variable charges by an average of 8%. Firstlight says all its industrial customers face fixed capacity and time-of-use prices. Those customers have told it they have limited ability to change when they use power. If your operation can move load out of the morning peak, it's worth checking whether your retail plan passes those time bands through.
Weather is the main risk. Firstlight recorded 44 "extreme" weather days in the year to March 2023, during Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, when rainfall ran around 50% above the long-term average. It recorded another 44 the following year. Long rural feeders through steep country and forestry keep showing up among its worst performers. Firstlight is working through a plan to get back within the Commerce Commission's reliability standards.
The grid upstream matters too. Cyclone Gabrielle damaged Transpower's Redclyffe substation in Hawke's Bay. In September 2025 Firstlight reported that a new, larger transformer there, built to a 1-in-450-year flood standard, had lifted import capacity for Hawke's Bay, Tairāwhiti, Wairoa and the East Coast from 130 MW to 250 MW. A $47 million rebuild of Redclyffe itself was approved in April 2026. Work starts in October 2026 and is due to finish in December 2027.
Firstlight forecasts electricity demand in Tairāwhiti and Wairoa to rise 68% by 2050, driven by population growth, new developments and the electrification of transport and industry. Its long-run planning includes a third 110 kV line to Gisborne, proposed for the early 2040s. That future cost is already part of how Firstlight values network capacity today.
Reticulated natural gas is available in Gisborne through Firstgas, served from its Bay of Plenty pipeline. For the gas year from 1 October 2025, Firstgas raised transmission capacity fees at Gisborne and Ōpōtiki by more than elsewhere, because revenue from that area may not cover the avoidable cost of serving it. Its distribution charges for business gas customers rise by an estimated 11.4% to 11.5% from 1 October 2026. Before swapping a gas boiler for electric heating, check which Firstlight capacity band the extra load would move you into.
Send us a recent bill to have your Firstlight capacity band and time-of-use rates checked against your actual usage, and see how we compare business electricity rates on your actual connection.
Firstlight Network, which covers all of Tairāwhiti and Wairoa. Powerco became its owner on 31 July 2026. The local team, fault line and website are unchanged for now, and Firstlight will rebrand as Powerco once their systems are integrated.
Not straight away. Firstlight says the charges that took effect on 1 April 2026 continue, and any new pricing takes effect on 1 April each year, with the next review in early 2027. Its prices remain regulated by the Commerce Commission.
By capacity band, from under 50 kVA up to 6,500 kVA, with a fixed daily charge and time-of-use rates. Connections up to 100 kVA pay peak rates from 7 to 11am and 5 to 9pm on weekdays. Larger connections have a morning peak from 7am to noon and an evening peak from 5 to 9pm.
Firstlight says its customer density is among the lowest in New Zealand. That means more poles and wires per customer, while average use per customer is among the lowest in the country. More than 90% of its costs are fixed, so it is moving more of its charges into fixed daily prices.
It's exposed to the weather. Firstlight recorded 44 extreme-weather days in the year to March 2023, during Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, and again the following year. It is working to get back within the Commerce Commission's reliability standards.
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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