Emergency Reserve scheme

Background

The Emergency Reserve scheme was enabled by an Electricity Authority Code amendment that came into effect on 1 March 2026 and is intended to strengthen power system reliability by enabling paid demand-response during acute system stress events, acting as a penultimate step before instructed involuntary demand management. 

Transpower, in its role as System Operator, is responsible for developing and implementing Emergency Reserve as a new ancillary service.

Co-design panel

A co-design panel was established to provide practical, operational and market insights to test design assumptions, identify implementation risks (operational, commercial and technical), build shared understanding of how Emergency Reserve differs from existing ancillary services, and help inform draft amendments to policy and procurement documentation, and contractual arrangements. . 

We are pleased to have the following members on our panel: 

• Alan Eyes – New Zealand Steel 
• Craig Parker – Mercury NZ Limited 
• Darren Gilchrist – Oji Fibre Solutions 
• James Carberry – Simply Energy 
• Marcus Sin – Counties Energy 
• Michael Jefferson – Enel X 
• Peter Algie – Ritchies Transport 
• Vince Smart – Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority 

The panel also included John Hancock acting as the Independent Chair. 

The panel has participated primarily through a series of three facilitated co-design workshops and by supporting the review of outputs. Transpower will retain access to panel expertise through to implementation as needed.

Workshops were held in May and June 2026. Slides from the workshops have been published in the documents section below. Minutes from each workshop will also be published when available. 

Workshop details

Documents

Communications