founded 1999 headquarters new plymouth new zealand area served 39 000 sq km 1 services electricity distribution natural gas distribution owners qic limited 58 % amp limited 42 % number of employees 330 full time equivalent website www.powerco.co.nz powerco is the second largest gas and largest electricity distributor in new zealand . it is one of only two companies to distribute both electricity and natural gas through their network the other being vector limited . 1 its network delivers electricity and gas to households around the north island from the national electricity transmission network transpower and the natural gas transmission system owned and operated by vector limited . powerco arose from the energy reforms in new zealand in the 1990s . it can trace its history back to a number of local power boards and gas companies that operated throughout the north island . the company is 58 % owned by qic limited an investment firm owned by the queensland government and 42 % owned by amp limited . 2 contents 1 business 2 key dates 3 electricity network statistics 4 references 5 external links business edit the new zealand electricity reforms of the 1980s split the electricity industry broadly into four sections generators transmitters distributors and retailers . six main generator businesses contact energy genesis energy mercury energy meridian energy trustpower and nova energy generate electricity and supply it to new zealand s national grid operated by transpower . transpower transmits high voltage electricity to grid exit points or substations around new zealand for transmission to households and businesses . the local distribution network mostly consisting of underground wires and or overhead wires that transmit electricity to end users like households and businesses are owned and operated by local distribution companies mostly regionally based . 3 powerco is a distributor whose business is completely separate from generation national transmission and retail selling delivered electricity to end users . it operates a 30 000 km local electricity distribution network supplying 320 000 households industries and businesses from transpower s national grid and a 6 000 km natural gas distribution network supplying 102 000 households industries and businesses from vector s transmission system . its electricity network currently supplies the following regions tauranga and the western bay of plenty district thames coromandel hauraki matamata piako and south waikato districts taranaki region wanganui and rangitikei distircts palmerston north city and manawatu district southern tararua district south of and including mangatainoka wairarapa powerco s natural gas distribution network covers taranaki manawatu palmerston north horowhenua district hawke s bay region hutt valley porirua wellington city 4 key dates edit april 1993 new plymouth energy the electricity division of the new plymouth district council merges with taranaki electricity former taranaki electric power board to become taranaki energy limited . 5 1994 taranaki energy acquired the hawera gas company . 5 october 1995 taranaki energy limited merges with wanganui based powerco the former wanganui electric power board to become powerco limited . 5 september 1997 powerco acquires hawera based egmont electricity . 5 april 1998 government pass electricity industry reform act . powerco decided to become a network business or lines company and the following changes are made electricity retail business customer base sold to genesis power gas retail business sold to natural gas corporation natural gas corporation s taranaki gas networks sold to powerco powerco s five hydro power stations sold to trustpower powerco purchases wairarapa electricity s network business formerly part of the wairarapa electric power board august 2000 powerco merged with centralpower itself formed by the merger of centralpower for former manawatu oroua power board and electropower the former electricity division of palmerston north city council . 5 june 2001 powerco purchases the hutt valley and porirua gas networks from agl . 6 february 2002 powerco purchases the electricity assets of united networks limited in tauranga eastern and southern waikato thames and coromandel plus gas networks in wellington horowhenua manawatu and hawke s bay . 7 2004 powerco purchased siemens energy services tauranga based contracting division november 2005 powerco sold its new zealand field services contracting business to tenix alliance 2008 divestment of powerco australia group tasmania gas distribution to babcock & brown infrastructure electricity network statistics edit powerco network statistics as of 31 march 2015 8 parameter value total network eastern network tauranga coromandel and south waikato western network taranaki whanganui manawatu and wairarapa total circuit length 27 833 km 10 384 km 17 449 km 66 kv 169 km 169 km 33 kv 1 484 km 456 km 1 028 km 22 kv 122 km 122 km 6.6 11 kv 16 587 km 5 893 km 10 694 km single wire earth return swer 86 km 69 km 17 km low voltage 230 400 v 9 384 km 3 798 km 5 587 km street lighting 2 737 km 1394 km 1 343 km customer connections 327 386 150 443 176 943 system maximum demand 860 mw 440 mw 412 mw system electricity delivered 4 715 gwh 2 332 gwh 2 383 gwh references edit a b our business . powerco . 19 august 2011 . retrieved 20 august 2011 . our people . powerco . 14 july 2015 . our business new zealand s electricity market . powerco . 14 july 2015 . our business our networks . powerco . 14 july 2015 . a b c d e http web.archive.org web 20010511053541 www.powerco.co.nz about story.htm http web.archive.org web 20030227164137 www.powerco.co.nz 0 2480 ff.htm http web.archive.org web 20030413170629 www.powerco.co.nz 0 3070 ff.htm edb information disclosure powerco limited year ending 31 march 2015 pdf . 31 august 2015 . retrieved 4 april 2016 . external links edit official website v t e electricity companies in new zealand generation contact energy genesis energy mercury energy meridian energy nova energy trustpower king country energy new zealand energy transmission transpower distribution north island centralines counties power eastland network electra horizon energy distribution northpower powerco scanpower the lines company top energy unison networks vector waipa networks wel networks wellington electricity south island alpine energy aurora energy buller electricity electricity ashburton electricity invercargill mainpower marlborough lines nelson electricity network tasman network waitaki orion otagonet joint venture the power company westpower retail contact energy ecotricity electra energy electric kiwi energy direct energy online genesis energy giving energy globug king country energy megaenergy mercury energy meridian energy nova energy opunake hydro p2power paua to the people payless energy powershop pulse energy tiny mighty power trustpower regulation and operation commerce commission electricity authority energy efficiency and conservation authority ministry of business innovation and employment transpower electricity sector in new zealand list of power stations in new zealand retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title powerco & oldid 732163587 categories power companies of new zealandoil and gas companies of new zealand navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 30 july 2016 at 01 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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