Business power in Otago: what sets your price

Which lines company is your Otago business on?

Your network sets the delivery part of your bill (what lines charges cover), and Otago has four of them, plus a fifth serving parts of Frankton, Wānaka and Cromwell.

*Average connections in the year to 31 March 2025 (Commerce Commission).

Some Queenstown business areas are on a separate network. Lakeland Network is owned by The Power Company and managed by PowerNet. It supplies more than 5,400 customers, including developments such as Remarkables Park, Shotover Park and Hanley's Farm, plus subdivisions in Wānaka and Cromwell.

Why did Aurora's charges rise 21% in April 2026?

From 2021 to 2026, Aurora was on a customised price path that let it recover up to $563.4 million for network improvements, with annual revenue increases capped at about 10%. On 1 April 2026 it moved back to the standard path with a one-off adjustment. Prices rose 21% on average, including 3.8% from higher national transmission charges. Commerce Commission smoothing rules should moderate increases over the next three years.

Aurora prices three networks separately, and they moved differently:

• Dunedin: slower growth means fixed costs are spread over fewer new customers.
• Central Otago/Wānaka: business customers carry a larger share because their peak demand has grown faster than households'. Aurora says the impact is biggest for larger businesses.
• Queenstown Lakes: some of the biggest increases. These reflect the price path change, higher transmission charges, new Transpower investment specific to the region, and lower-than-expected use spreading fixed costs thinner.

Aurora's existing peak windows are 7am to noon and 5pm to 10pm. From May to September, those are the hours when its network is most constrained.

Can Queenstown's grid keep up?

Transpower installed two new transformers at Frankton in May 2025 and upgraded the Cromwell–Frankton line and towers in May 2026. Together these lifted available supply by at least 60% in summer and 40% in winter.

Transpower says that won't be enough for expected winter demand in ten years' time. It is now investigating a new 110 kV line from Cromwell to a new substation near Arrow Junction. The investigation alone takes about three years, and projects like this generally take five to eight years to investigate, consent and deliver.

In the meantime, the local networks are working to manage peaks:

• Lakeland Network has signed an agreement to progress Queenstown's first grid-scale battery at Remarkables Park, starting at 6.25 MWh and designed to grow to more than 24 MWh.
• Aurora is exploring flexibility services in Central Otago/Wānaka and Queenstown.

If you're opening or expanding a site, raise capacity with the network early.

What about rural and North Otago?

OtagoNet. Its long rural lines are exposed to weather. On Commerce Commission figures it has about 4.4 connections per kilometre of line, the second-lowest density in the country. A day after the October 2025 windstorm, 9,500 OtagoNet customers were still without power. In July 2026, heavy snow affected around 30 poles on the 33 kV line between Clarks Junction and Hindon.

Network Waitaki. Based in Oamaru, it peaks in summer when irrigation runs (its 2026/27 price change and customer discount are on our Canterbury page). Network Waitaki also says the transmission supply into Oamaru is constrained and short-term fixes are exhausted; it sees a new 220 kV grid exit point, owned by Transpower, as the most cost-effective long-term solution.

The Power Company (West Otago). Businesses share in its annual discount. For general connections, that is a percentage of fixed charges plus 1.35 cents per kWh, including GST, credited on September or October bills.

Across the region, EECA's 2023 study covered 51 large process-heat sites in the dairy, meat, industrial and commercial sectors. Together they use 746 TJ a year, mostly from coal. Gas in the South Island means LPG (why gas costs are rising). EECA's lowest-cost pathway has biomass meeting 86% of those sites' 2036 needs and electricity 14%, so fuel switching adds some electricity demand.

What should an Otago business check?

• Which Aurora pricing area you're in. Dunedin, Central Otago/Wānaka and Queenstown moved by different amounts.
• How much of your load falls in Aurora's peak windows, 7am to noon and 5pm to 10pm.
• In Queenstown, your capacity plans. Transpower says a new line will be needed within ten years, so raise upgrades early.
• In North Otago, your summer demand; in West Otago, the September or October discount credit.

Manage My Bills reviews commercial connections nationwide from our Manukau office, including how location changes a commercial power price. If your Otago site is on Aurora's Queenstown or Central Otago/Wānaka pricing, send us your bills from before and after the April 2026 change.