Source: Radio New Zealand
The Electricity Authority will soon require distributors to pay rebates to reward customers generating electricity, such as rooftop solar. Supplied/SolarZero
Electricity networks around the country will soon provide rebates for power exported during peak periods – but not every power company will pass those on to consumers directly.
From 1 April, the Electricity Authority will require distributors to pay rebates to reward customers generating electricity, such as rooftop solar, when the power network faces highest demand.
Vector was offering 5.24c per kWh for 7am to 11am export in June, July and August and 5pm to 10pm export in May through to September. WEL Networks is offering 6.35c per kWh from 7am to 9.30am and 5.30 to 8pm between 1 June and 31 August. Powerco is offering 7c on weekdays from 7am to 11am and 5pm to 8pm between 1 April and 30 September. Scanpower’s rebate reaches 13c.
Power companies separately offered their own prices to customers exporting power, and these could vary a lot.
The Electricity Authority said ensuring customers were fairly rewarded for supplying power to the network was part of its work programme.
“In January we announced the decision that electricity distribution businesses – lines companies – will need to pay rebates when households and small businesses supply power to the network at peak times, from April 1.
“This applies to those with a network connection size up to 45kVA and that can export up to 45kW of electricity back to the network.
“The electricity distribution companies’ rebates will be passed on to consumers through the electricity bills they receive from their retailer. While these rebates will be repackaged by the retailer, they may not be itemised on consumers’ power bills as a clear amount of money back. Some retailers itemise their bills more than others.”
Larger companies also needed to offer time-of-use pricing to encourage people to shift use to off-peak times.
Genesis chief revenue officer Stephen England-Hall said the company took into account distribution charges and rebates when it set its plans and pricing for customers.
“Customers on our day/night or other time-of-use plans typically benefit from lower network charges during off-peak periods, and these are already reflected in the appropriate tariffs.
“Effective from 1 July 2026, the Electricity Authority’s new regulations regarding export rebates will require retailers to offer time-varying plans that ‘provide a financial benefit’ to customers for export patterns that reduce pressure [on] the electricity system, including at peak times.
“Our range of products and plans will be updated to reflect this and enable customers to choose the one that suits them the best.
“We regularly review and update our pricing and product features, and will take the form and scale of these new rebates into account in this process.”
Mercury said it set buyback rates using a range of inputs including expected wholesale costs, network charges and network rebates. “We will factor these rebates into our time-of-use plans which we are due to launch in the next couple of months.”
Lisa Hannifin, chief customer officer at Meridian, said it offered customers 17c for solar export across all periods of the day.
“We’re pleased there are now more incentives available to encourage customers to export at peak times. We’re currently upgrading our billing system, which will allow for this new rebate to be incorporated into our solar plans and expect this will be reflected in our products from the middle of the year.”
At Octopus, chief operating officer Margaret Cooney said the full rebate should be passed on when it became available.
“The rebate will vary by network depending on what the circumstances are in that network and how much value they’re essentially getting based on the state of the grid and times of the year in which it’s of value to them.
“Some of them are much more generous than others, but we think it’s a great start. And I think one of the things that we hope to see is that networks learn that value of the distributed energy providing a more cost-effective solution rather than just building out more poles and wires.”
She said the rebates were intended to reward customers for what they were doing so it made sense to pass them on.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/24/will-you-get-a-solar-rebate-from-your-power-company/