Engaging with our communities

We're committed to engaging with the communities we serve; to understand their needs and inform the decisions we make about the future of our networks.

You’ll find many of our community engagement activities and partnerships, as well as information about where we’re investing in the electricity or gas networks in your area on the community map link below

 

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Goals and targets FY26

Here's what we want to achieve for Pou whakakotahitanga over the short, medium and long-term.

Short term (1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026)

  • Delivering value for customers - Expand our trial of low voltage network batteries to also include ground mounted units, allowing their use in areas with underground electrical services.  Follow up on learnings from our earlier pilot trial to identify further locations for applying low-voltage batteries.
  • Delivering value for customers - Procure flex services to allow the substantial deferral of at least $20m of network capacity projects, gaining the associated benefits from avoiding emissions associated with manufacturing and installing network assets, without compromising customers' service quality.
  • Delivering value for customers - Improve Customer Experience across Powerco's electricity footprint by achieving a minimum Customer Satisfaction score of 60%. 
  • Delivering value for customers - Maintain net promoter score of >50 to measure our quality of gas customer service and customer experience.
  • Delivering value for customers - Improve Customer perception of Powerco’s Brand and Reputation though a 5-point increase from a score of 40% in FY25.
  • Delivering value for customers - Improve pricing methodology and contributions policy - as reviewed in the Electricity Authority scorecard. 
 

Long term (3+ years)

  • Delivering value for customers - Establish and embed a Distributed System Operator (DSO) programme for Powerco where we partner with customers to optimise opportunities for distributed energy resources and other flexibility applications.
     

What we did during FY25

  • During FY25, we installed four low voltage network battery configurations, as a proof of concept for deferring higher cost upstream lines investments and to prepare for a future larger scale roll-out. The units will alleviate power quality issues to customers in the suburb by storing electricity in its batteries and then releasing it to the suburb when demand exceeds supply.
  • We maintained our overall Customer Satisfaction score of 59%.  Whilst this in isolation did not meet our target of a 5-point improvement in Customer Experience across our electricity footprint, customer satisfaction with quality of supply and communication both improved by approximately 2-points.
  • We maintained our net promoter score of >50 which is a quality measure for our gas customers' service and experience.
  • Customers’ perception of Powerco’s Brand and Reputation remained steady with a score of 40%.  This did not meet our target of a 5-point increase but remains a goal for FY26.   
  • During FY25, an Executive Team-endorsed Customer Insight Framework, was developed.  This will embed customer research into BAU decision making and be publicly available via our Asset Management Plans. 
 
  • The Electricity Authority did not release a scorecard during FY25 - the next updated scorecard is due in FY26.  During FY25 we have made significant steps to improve our pricing methodology which will be implemented in the FY26 pricing update.  
 
  • During FY25 our long-term DSO transformation goals and plan were agreed with our Board.  All of our DSO1.0 targets were delivered. Initial potential for $127m deferable capex was identified over the next 10 years (through flex services and associated initiatives).
 

What we did during FY24

  • We achieved our customer experience target with a Customer Satisfaction score for FY24 of 59% (up from +52 in Q4 FY23 which was the 1st time we measured it in this way). 
  • During FY24, we achieved a net promoter score of 63 for gas customers receiving a new connection. This is our highest rating since we first started measuring this in 2016 and well above our target of +52.
  • Increased numbers of Powerco employees are now aware and engaged with our Te Raa framework. This has resulted in an increase in the quantity and quality of tangata whenua interactions.  Our relationships with identified tangata whenua are being increasingly viewed as partnerships rather than transactional relationships. 
  • We did not meet our target of publishing customer insights relating to customer views on reliability, price, sustainability, service experience and use/planned uptake of new technologies.  Foundational systems and processes to implement a meaningful customer insights programme were established during FY24 and tested through customer satisfaction research.  We are well placed to expand our research programme in FY25 and be in a position of publishing findings.
  • During FY24, we undertook a gap analysis against the international integrated reporting framework. Look out for our report in FY25 - our first step on the journey to more integrated style reporting.

Supporting links

Community Engagement
Community partnerships
Investing in your community's electricity network
What we do
Sustainability document library
Powerco pānui newsletter

Supporting customers to be energy efficient

Our target: To implement a support plan for vulnerable customer groups by the 2023 financial year.

Our mahi: We partnered with WISE Charitable Trust to provide free coaching for households at risk of energy hardship.

Learn more

The pillars of our work