New simple connection

Pricing

When you add a new connection or upgrade an existing connection on the electricity network, you will pay:

• The cost of the connection at the point of supply (connection fee);
• Contribution towards costs of increasing capacity in the shared network (development contribution); and
• The cost we incur when preparing a detailed quote (assessment fee).

Development contribution

Civil work and traffic management

New electricity connections may require civil work and/or traffic management. You have the option to organise this yourself, using appropriately qualified providers who can meet the relevant standards and requirements. Alternatively, we can arrange it for you through our service providers. We are happy to talk through the options with you during the assessment of your connection request. 

For some complex works that involve critical network infrastructure, we may need to use our specialist contractors to complete parts of the civil work. This ensures the safety and integrity of the network. Where this applies, you cannot, unfortunately, organise those specific aspects independently. If this is the case, we will let you know during the connection process. 

If you choose to organise your own civil works, Vector will need to carry out quality assurance inspections to ensure those works meet the necessary safety and network requirements. A fee applies for this inspection process, which we’ll discuss and confirm with you as part of your connection costs.

Refunds

Sometimes we complete work faster than anticipated, for example, less traffic management days are needed. This may result in a partial refund of the contribution that you paid. Ordinarily we’ll process any refunds after the completion of the work when we know what work was (and was not) required.

Network capacity charges:

Vector charges capacity costs to connection applicants. The rates in the table below are for information purposes only and reflect the cost of capacity determined in accordance with new regulations set by the Electricity Authority, using the best information available at the time of preparation.

For the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, we will be charging for capacity costs on the basis set out in the table above (development contribution), which is broadly in line with our historical development contribution approach.

We are required to charge capacity costs from 1 April 2027 in accordance with new regulations set by the Electricity Authority. Between 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, we will test the rates and the information used to prepare those rates in the table below and on completion of that testing make any necessary adjustments. Therefore, the actual rates that will be used for charging capacity from 1 April 2027 will be published in due course.

For the avoidance of doubt the rates in the table below are for information purposes only and the rates we will use for capacity charging are yet to be determined.  The nominal capacity increment is the estimated added capacity used to derive the posted capacity rates.

Active pioneer schemes

A pioneer scheme is a refund mechanism that electricity distributors are required to set up from 1 April 2026 so that the customer who initially funds a qualifying network extension can be reimbursed by later customers who connect to and use that same extension.

This means that initial connections may receive refunds if others connect later and subsequent connections may be charged to contribute to earlier shared infrastructure.

If a pioneer scheme is relevant to your connection, we will explain this clearly as part of your quote.

The table below shows details of the current active pioneer schemes:

Our process

The process and timeframes may vary depending on a number of factors, including:

• Whether an existing network connection supply point is available
• The type of network connection supply point required, which depends on the available capacity
• The number of connections you require and whether these are temporary or permanent
• The available capacity as well as fuse and phase requirements (your electrician will provide these details)
• The size of the current job queue for new connections
• The conditions of the work site and the complexity of the job 
• When traffic management services are next available (as these are managed by third parties) and the availability of equipment required 
• Other technical, legal, regulatory and administrative factors (including resource constraints)