To all EEA members
Today the Government announced a change to the Electricity (Safety) Regulations to expand the allowable low voltage supply range from 230V ±6% to 230V ±10%. This change has been long anticipated by many in the sector and is expected to take effect in Q3 2025, with a gazette date to be confirmed.
The Electricity Authority has welcomed the change and issued an open letter to distributors [Open letter to Distributors] outlining its expectations for how distribution companies should respond. The letter encourages lines companies to:
- Update internal policies and connection standards to reflect the new permitted voltage range.
- Review current export limits and hosting capacity thresholds, especially where blanket caps may have been applied due to the previous voltage constraints.
- Update publicly available information under Part 6 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code, including DG connection standards, congestion maps, and curtailment policies.
The rationale behind this change is:
- To support greater adoption of rooftop solar, battery systems, and EV chargers, enabling more customers to participate actively in New Zealand’s electricity system.
- To bring the statutory voltage limits into alignment with appliance standards, which have been based on ±10% for many years.
- To reduce unnecessary curtailment and defer costly LV network upgrades while improving outcomes for consumers and distributed energy investors.
The Authority has also signalled that it will monitor industry adoption of the new limits and may consider further measures if uptake is too slow.
The EEA will be incorporating these regulatory changes into our new suite of connection guidelines, which are currently under development as part of the Streamlining Connections programme. These guidelines will provide updated technical and procedural guidance to support efficient, consistent, and future-ready DER integration across networks.
This change aligns with the work EEA members have been doing to modernise voltage management and support the integration of consumer energy resources (CER). It also reinforces the importance of continued collaboration across engineering, operations, planning, and customer teams.
We thank those in our community who engaged and provided technical evidence either through the EEA or directly with MBIE and the Authority on this issue.
We encourage members to:
- Review the Authority’s open letter to distributors
- Begin internal discussions on how this affects your network and customers
- Reach out to the EEA if there is value in collective action or coordinated guidance to support implementation
We will continue to keep members informed and are happy to host a future session if there’s interest in sharing network responses and implementation approaches.
