Smart meters in New Zealand, explained

Most New Zealand properties now have a smart meter, and most people found out because a card was left in the letterbox rather than because they chose one. Here is what it changed and what it did not.

What it measures

An older accumulation meter is a counter. It records one number that only goes up, and someone has to come and look at it. Everything between visits is either estimated or unknown.

A smart meter records consumption in intervals — typically half hours — and sends them in over a mobile or radio network. Same electricity, far more resolution, and no visit.

The three things that actually follow from that

Estimated bills stop. This is the change most households notice. No more run of low estimates followed by a catch-up bill that arrives like a punch.

Your usage becomes visible. Most retailers will show you consumption by day, and often by half hour, through an app or the website. That is the single most useful diagnostic there is for a bill you do not understand. It will show you the hot water cylinder cycling, the heat pump running, and the two-hour evening peak that a time-of-use plan would charge more for.

Plans that price by time become possible. Off-peak rates, free hours and spot pricing all need interval data. Without it there is nothing to price against.

The three things that do not follow

It does not lower your rate. A smart meter on a flat-rate plan produces the same bill the old meter would have, more accurately.

It does not belong to your power company. Metering equipment providers own and maintain meters and contract with retailers. That is why switching retailer does not involve changing the meter, and why a meter fault is often not something your retailer can fix on the phone.

It does not read anything but electricity. It measures consumption at the connection. It does not know which appliance is which, and the patterns people find unnerving are inferences from usage rather than observation of a household.

If you have one, use it

The most valuable thing a smart meter gives an ordinary household is the half-hourly graph, and almost nobody looks at it. Twenty minutes with it will usually explain a bill better than any amount of reading, because it shows when, and when is what separates a hot water problem from a heating problem from a plan that is simply priced badly for you.

Once you know your shape, you can compare properly. The national average price as at May 2026 was 42.04c per kWh including GST, and we publish the equivalent figure for each of the 42 towns MBIE surveys, including how much of it is the lines charge you cannot move.

We compare 8 power companies. Which plan types each of them offers, and whether they need interval metering, is part of what the results show.