Large commercial, industrial and residential

Connecting your large site or residential development

If you’re building a large residential development (100 lots or more) or you’re building or upgrading a large commercial or industrial site (750kVA or more) contact us by filling in the form below.  

We’ll do an initial assessment of what will be required to connect you before you engage your Powerco-approved contractor to carry out the work. 

Make sure you get in touch with us early in your planning process to avoid delays.  

How much network upgrade work is required will depend on factors like how much power your site needs, where our network is in relation to your site and who else is already using power in the area. If your project needs our National Grid operator Transpower to upgrade one of their Grid Exit Points, design and construction can take several years.   

Here’s an indication of what you can expect: 

6 - 12 months to build a network line or cable to deliver electricity to your site. 

18 - 24 months to upgrade one of our substations transformers. 

24 - 36 months to upgrade switchboards or construct substation housing 

12 - 24 months to upgrade a circuit that connects one of our substations to a Transpower substation. 

2 - 4 years to upgrade a Transpower Grid Exit Point.

You’ll find an overview of the design and construction process below.

Design and construction process

  • Step 1

    High level feasibility

    Fill in the form below and our planning engineers will review your high-level requirements. If our network doesn’t already have the capacity to support your site, we’ll let you know the upgrade work that will be required to enable your load. 

    If the work required to connect you is straightforward, we’ll advise you to engage a Powerco-approved contractor to design, quote and build your connection.  

    If the network upgrade work required is more complex you’ll proceed to step two – working with electrical engineering experts to design the connection. 

  • Step 2

    Design the connection

    If you want to proceed with your project we’ll let you know whether we’d like you to work with us - or we’ll ask you to engage your own electrical engineering consultant - to develop a detailed design and cost estimation.  

    If you’re working with a consultant, they’ll have the support of our planning and protection teams. We’ll then review your design and request changes if needed. 

  • Step 3

    Agree how the connection will be built

    Once the design is finalised, we’ll be able to give you an indication of the capital investment we’ll need from you and any other commercial requirements (such as distribution pricing and easements).

  • Step 4

    Build the connection

    Our team will be available to support your build – you’ll have an account manager and a project manager to help throughout. 

Concept request form