Will my business lose power when I switch electricity retailer?

No. As at October 2026, a business that switches electricity retailer in New Zealand keeps the same lines company, the same ICP, the same meter and the same physical supply. The switch is a change to the registry record of which retailer is responsible for your connection, settled between the two retailers with a meter reading. The Electricity Authority's advice is that once you have chosen a new power company it arranges the transfer, and "on average, it takes just 3-4 days for the switch to take place".

The one job that can touch your site is a meter change, and only if the plan you are moving to needs a meter you do not have. Everything else that can cut power to a kitchen, clinic or cold store, from a storm to a lines company's planned maintenance, happens whether you switch or not.

What changes when you switch, and what stays the same?

The Authority describes the industry's parts plainly. Distribution companies "provide and maintain the power lines that carry electricity from the grid to your home or business", and "retailers sell electricity to residential and business customers". A switch changes the seller.

What an ICP number is explains how to read the registry entry for each of your sites.

Why can't a switch itself interrupt the supply?

Because the Code's switch process has no physical step in it. Schedule 11.3 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code applies a standard switch when a new retailer (the "gaining trader") has an arrangement to start trading at an ICP where another retailer (the "losing trader") already trades. The gaining trader advises the registry manager of the switch request. The losing trader must respond within 3 business days, set a switch date no more than 10 business days after the registry notice, and complete the switch "by providing final information to the registry manager", including the event date and "a switch event meter reading as at the event date". Both retailers must then use the same reading, and the gaining trader may dispute it only if its own figure differs by 200 kWh or more.

Disconnection is recorded separately. Under Schedule 11.1, an ICP status of "Inactive" indicates that "the ICP is electrically disconnected" or that supply to it has been interrupted, and that status is managed by the trader or the distributor. Nothing in the standard switch process changes it: a connection that is active with one retailer is active with the next.

It is also routine: the Authority's market data shows 2,331 commercial connections switched retailer in September 2026, and 35,009 in the 12 months to September, a 16.42% annual switch rate.

When does a switch involve work on site?

Only when the meter has to change. The Authority's advice is that "you may need a smart meter to switch to a new plan or power company", and that if you do not have one "the power company may be able to install one for you, but there may be a cost". Its Meters page adds that "it's not a legal requirement to have a smart meter in New Zealand", that "some power companies require you to have a smart meter to be on certain power plans", and that smart meters "record half-hourly power use and provide automatic meter readings to power companies".

A time-of-use or demand-based plan needs that half-hourly data, so a site still on a legacy meter may be offered the plan on condition of a meter upgrade: demand charges explained covers why. A meter change is physical work at your switchboard, so it is the moment to ask the retailer three things: whether the installation needs the supply off, for how long, and which day and hour it will happen. A café can take that at 7am far more easily than at noon.

For larger sites that switch through the Code's gaining trader process, the Code even schedules the meter handover: if metering equipment is being removed, the gaining trader must give the losing trader or the metering equipment provider "an opportunity to interrogate the metering installation immediately before" removal (Schedule 11.3, clause 16). A meter change on a switch is a planned, coordinated job, not something that happens unannounced.

What does cut the power to a business?

The Authority is direct: "Even though power companies aim to supply constant electricity, it cannot be guaranteed." Unplanned outages happen when "distribution or transmission infrastructure is damaged from bad weather, natural disasters or equipment failure", or, very rarely, when there is not enough generation to meet demand. Planned outages "can be scheduled to complete necessary maintenance work on distribution networks or Transpower's national electricity transmission grid", and "affected properties may have their power cut if there is no way to reroute the supply of electricity".

None of it depends on who your retailer is. The Commerce Commission's summary for all electricity distributors shows the actual risk in the year to 31 March 2025:

Source: Commerce Commission, Total electricity distribution, year to 31 March 2025, covering 2,317,808 customer connections. The Commission's explanatory notes say the reliability figures include only Class B (planned) and Class C (unplanned) interruptions, are not normalised, and have not been adjusted for major events such as extreme weather. CAIDI is SAIDI divided by SAIFI.

Read across the rows: the average connection lost about four hours of supply in the year, and slightly more of it was planned maintenance than faults. Planned work is the part you can prepare for, and the Authority says "you would be advised of a planned outage by your retailer, local lines company or Transpower". That is the one real continuity task in a switch: one of the three parties that would warn you has just changed, so make sure the new retailer holds the contact details of whoever needs to hear about an outage. Your network sets most of your reliability: lines charges explained covers who runs it, and the regional guides name the lines company for each area.

Is moving into new premises the same as switching?

No, and this is where businesses get caught. Schedule 11.3 of the Code "prescribes 3 processes for switching ICPs". The standard switch applies where another retailer is already trading at the ICP. The switch move process applies where the gaining trader takes on "an ICP for which no trader has an agreement to trade electricity", the usual position once a tenant has closed the account. If the previous occupier also had the supply disconnected, the registry shows the ICP as Inactive, and your retailer has to arrange a reconnection as well as the registry change.

So for a new site: look the address up on the Authority's Your meter tool, which shows "your ICP number, power company, meter type and other information about your electricity connection"; sign with a retailer before the move date; and ask it in writing to confirm the ICP will be active on the day.

What should a kitchen, clinic or cold store do before switching?

1. Confirm each site's ICP is active, and that the ICP on the new agreement matches it. The Authority has published a compliance case in which a retailer "incorrectly assigned an incorrect ICP that had a similar address" and the consumer paid for their neighbour's electricity; a business with several similar addresses should check the number itself.
2. Ask whether the new plan needs a different meter. If it does, book the installation for your quietest hour and ask how long the supply will be off.
3. Give the new retailer the outage contact. The name and number a planned-outage notice should reach, not just the accounts inbox.
4. Line up the switch date with your contract. The Authority's advice is that on a fixed-term contract "there may be a break fee to switch before the fixed term ends"; the contract renewal checklist covers the clauses to read before you give notice.
5. Expect a final bill from the old retailer built on the switch-date reading. Under the Code it may still contact you about fees you owe and the final reading. Check that bill against how to read a business power bill before you pay it.

None of the five involves a ladder. Business electricity explains how a comparison runs, the savings calculator starts from your address or ICP, and the switch it leads to is a registry entry, not a site visit. More business power answers cover what usually comes next.