06 Aug 2026
New Zealand’s electricity use hits all-time high as temperatures plummet
This morning New Zealand’s electricity use broke a record set only yesterday, with an average of 7,415 MW of power being used during this morning’s peak.
That’s up from 7,247 MW yesterday morning, an increase of 168 MW – about the same as the size of Hamilton’s electricity use.
“The very cold temperatures across the motu, and particularly in the top of the North Island combined with low wind meant that while it was particularly tight on the electricity system, the power stayed on for Kiwis,” says Transpower’s Chief Executive James Kilty.
Earlier this week Transpower issued several notices to industry as part of its standard operating process to ensure the sector was aware of expected demand.
“Thank you to everyone in the industry for the great response this week. To generators for ensuring that all units that were available to generate were, to the large industrials that reduced demand first thing this morning, to lines companies for being ready to remove controllable load from the system and to Transpower’s transmission business for ensuring the grid and HVDC link were ready. Finally, to our System Operator staff working in our control rooms managing the system, thank you for your efforts to keep the power on.”
“We are keeping a close eye on the cold temperatures tonight and particularly tomorrow morning when we are expecting similar levels of electricity demand.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Transpower’s Communications team on 021 195 8613 or [email protected].