Kia ora koutou
Ka mua, ka muri – walking backwards into the future.
This whakataukī/Māori proverb captures our current transition as we honour the legacy of the past, evolving and improving on it – walking backwards into the future. It’s been a big year of change and we’re enormously grateful for your ongoing support and commitment. You’ve asked us to be more ambitious and lead our sector more, and we can only do this by standing on your shoulders.
2024/25 highlights
Last year was one of rapid activity in a time of change. Our own changes included the retirement of Peter Berry, who leaves an enduring legacy of quality and care for one another. I’m very proud to pick up the baton from Peter and continue this vision that NZ electricity practitioners can be the best in the world at what we do. I believe this vision and the sense that EEA is a community pursuing this together is our path forward.
Standing committees and working groups
The EEA’s reputation for trusted expertise, industry know-how, and neutrality rests largely on contributions made by our national Standing Committees and working group members. A huge thank you to all our committee members (and their employers) who help us develop our sector’s rules and best practice guidance and keep them up to date. All of us benefit from having fit for purpose guidance and regulation that works.
Conference and the EEA training programme
The EEA Conference in September 2024 was a record-breaking event with more exhibitors and delegates than ever, and quality presentations and workshops. We look forward to seeing you at EEA2025 – it promises to be just as good, if not better than last year. Thanks to everyone who submitted abstracts for our consideration; we received over 120 quality submissions to review over the next couple of weeks.
Our training programme continues to grow as we share knowledge and expertise to support professional development. The past year included a mix of masterclasses, certificates and micro credentials and a new course in the Professional Certificate in Power Systems Design. We also delivered roadshows to support better understanding of why the rules are in place, while in the background updating guidance to ensure they continue to be useful and relevant. In the past year we have published new guides and updated existing ones, with three due to be published soon.
Visit the Knowledge Network for a full suite of publications.
Workforce capability is one of our key strategic focus areas and we will increasingly push for and deliver knowledge and capability that meets our members’ current and future technical needs. This focus extends beyond our own membership as we continue to provide support for external programmes and organisations that contribute to the collective improvement of health and safety in our sector.
And as we enable our future workforce, we continue to celebrate existing talent across the industry. This year we handed out six university scholarships and gave seven awards to outstanding individuals and projects. In addition, our Annual Power Exchange for Young Engineers (APEX) in November was a tremendous success. We make this event available for free and aim to expand support for young electricity workers – including those progressing through the Polytechnic system.
Advocacy and influence
We continue to ensure our sector has a strong and influential voice. Last year we engaged on many policy and regulatory changes across health and safety reform, common quality, connection processes, consumer data rights, consumer pricing, voltage, NZ Standards, infrastructure planning, industry qualifications, and vocational education reform. Our new focus on closer relationships with regulators paid off, giving us more direct influence and even the ability to craft subordinate legislation. No better way to ensure industry gets something that works!
One focus has been developing a relationship with the EWRB to help them better understand our sector and shortcomings with the new step-change regime. We know this is important to our members and continue to agitate constructively.
FlexTalk
Our FlexTalk programme of work tests and demonstrates technical best practice, standardisation and system integration for demand flexibility. Operationalising demand flexibility is a huge opportunity for EEA members and the industry. This project enables us to help industry integrate innovation in a proven, efficient and standardised way. It’s also an excellent example of connecting and leading sector-wide collaboration on shared challenges.
Website and knowledge network amalgamation
We launched our new website in November – bringing the Knowledge Network and corporate website together. Like you, we are disappointed it wasn’t plain sailing. The good news is that after an independent review we have a plan, and you should see an improved user experience in the next few months.
Looking ahead
We are excited to release our refreshed strategy on 20 May which prioritises three strategic focus areas: technical best practice; workforce capability and connecting the sector.
Our new strategy rests on your feedback provided in last year’s member and non-member surveys. To be future-fit and inclusive, our organisation needs to modernise and transform. Our transformation roadmap will set out our plan for doing that over the next 18-24 months. We will publish both on our website in May 2025.
Thank you again for your support and commitment to our shared EEA vision. The membership contact will shortly receive an automated order notification for your 2025/26 membership subscription; this will be followed by a detailed tax invoice.
We look forward to continuing to work hard with you and for you, and welcome feedback as we move into the next membership year.
Ngā mihi
Nicki Sutherland
Chief Executive
