At a glance
- ACT's electricity policy, released on 18 September 2026, would open a pathway for private parties to finance, build, own and operate new transmission connected to the National Grid.
- Generators, large electricity users and investors are named in the document as parties that might fund new lines themselves.
- Customers paying for a connection could tender that work among accredited contractors instead of using a single supplier.
- Simon Court rejected splitting New Zealand's combined generator-retailers, calling the proposals "incredibly unhelpful, destructive".
- Whoever forms a government after 7 November decides the timetable, and Court described the changes needed as tweaks to regulation rather than major reform.
ACT released its electricity policy at Parliament on 18 September 2026, in a document titled Stability, investment, affordability: The keys to abundant electricity. Energy and resources spokesperson Simon Court presented it as a competition policy: leave intact the gentailers, the companies that both generate and sell electricity; let households sell the power they make to whoever offers the best price; and make lines companies prove consumers are getting value before more cost goes onto their bills. Asked about proposals to split the gentailers, he told reporters at Parliament that breaking up the companies was "incredibly unhelpful, destructive" and introduced sovereign risk.
Since late July the main parties have been setting conditions on the power a new data centre would draw, ahead of the 7 November election. Transpower, which owns and operates the national grid, has taken 30 expressions of interest from data centre developers. Eleven of them have reached assessment or design, about a gigawatt of new load between them, on a count BCG published in August 2026, on top of the data centres already operating in New Zealand. National's additionality test, Labour's four conditions and the Greens' consenting pause would each attach a condition to the project: new generation to match the load, its own connection costs, or a year's pause. ACT's document is not a data centre policy and does not mention data centres. It names large electricity users once, in the section on transmission. Where the other three attach a condition, ACT would open a route for a large user to pay for, build and own a transmission line of its own.
| Party and status | What its position would mean for a large new electricity user | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| National, in government | Bring new, firmed generation with the project, invest in grid stability and pay for transmission upgrades | Plan for the South Island, 14 August 2026 |
| Labour, in opposition | Secure its own renewable supply, pay its own connection costs, cut demand at peak stress, use water efficiently | AI in New Zealand's Interests, 9 September 2026 |
| Greens, in opposition | Wait through a one-year pause on consenting new AI data centres | Green Party release, 26 July 2026 |
| ACT, in the governing coalition | Fund and own new transmission itself, under a pathway open to private parties. The document does not mention data centres | Stability, investment, affordability, 18 September 2026 |
Source: National, plan for the South Island; Labour, AI in New Zealand's Interests; Green Party release; ACT, Stability, investment, affordability, at the dates shown.
Private parties could finance and own new transmission lines
ACT's section 03 says New Zealand needs more transmission lines and that "at present, building transmission is too hard". The barrier it names is regulatory: "Private companies can own transmission infrastructure, but there is no complete regulatory and commercial pathway allowing an investor to finance, build, own and operate a new transmission line as part of the interconnected grid."
"That leaves Transpower as the default pathway even where generators, large electricity users or investors are prepared to fund new lines themselves," the document says.
ACT's remedy is "a clear pathway for private parties to finance, build, own and operate new inter-nodal transmission connected to the National Grid, subject to common technical and reliability standards and coordination with the system operator". Inter-nodal lines run between points on the shared grid, not the dedicated spur that feeds one site, and ACT's document does not define the term. Costs would be recovered "through voluntary agreements with the generators and consumers using the line, rather than automatically loading the cost onto every electricity consumer".
Speaking to RNZ, Court pointed to Northland, which he said could generate two to three times the solar power it uses but has what he called a "rather unreliable connection to the grid". If a local consortium wanted to fund its own connection so it could export to Auckland, he said, "they should be enabled to do that."
Large power users raised transmission charges earlier in the campaign. The Major Electricity Users' Group, whose membership includes Amazon Web Services and Datagrid, called for fairer transmission charges in a manifesto published on 14 September 2026.
Connection work would go to tender among accredited contractors
Connecting anything to the network costs money and time, and ACT would let the customer paying for it choose who does the work. Its section 04, "Break the connection bottleneck", covers "a new home, subdivision, factory, solar farm or other development".
ACT would "establish open and objective accreditation for qualified connection contractors". Where a customer is paying for a connection, extension or upgrade, "they would be able to tender eligible work among accredited providers rather than being locked into a single supplier". Court framed it around lines companies, telling RNZ that "private property developers tell me that for too long they have to wait for their local lines company to turn up", and saying lines companies would keep responsibility for safety and for network operation.
Transpower's connection process page says large assets over 50MW will usually need to connect directly to its own assets where there is capacity, and puts a new greenfield connection at "costing upward of $20 million" where no suitable connection assets are available near the site or there is a capacity issue. Large-scale complex connections "may take longer than three years to commission". That is the bill a campus of this size faces, and it is a Transpower bill. ACT's accreditation proposal covers customer-funded connection work, and the examples in the document are connections at the distribution end.
Datagrid pre-paid Transpower for four Southland transformers
Datagrid pre-paid Transpower for four transformers for its Makarewa connection in Southland. The payment covers the transformers. Detailed design continues, and Transpower's process still runs through application, works agreement and construction.
Under ACT's policy a customer in that position could tender the connection work among accredited contractors, and could fund a line of its own. Neither change is in force.
Batteries and demand response would be tested before consumers pay
A large data centre can supply two of the three alternatives ACT wants tested. Section 05 sets the principle that "consumers should not be charged for an expensive network upgrade when a battery, flexible connection or demand-response solution could solve the same problem for less", and ACT "would require material network reinforcement projects to demonstrate that credible alternatives have been properly tested before their costs can be recovered from consumers".
A campus can agree to have its supply curtailed when the network is tight, and it can cut its own draw at peak. Labour's four conditions would ask a data centre to cut demand at peak stress, and the additionality test Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced in July covers grid stability investment. ACT would make network operators, Transpower and the lines companies alike, show those options had been tested before a reinforcement's cost reaches consumer bills.
What to watch
The status of the policy. This is ACT's election policy, not government policy. Court told RNZ that tweaks to the Electricity Act would need further policy work, and that the Commerce Commission would be empowered to oversee transmission.
Who forms a government. New Zealand votes on 7 November 2026. ACT's transmission pathway, National's proposed firmed-generation condition, Labour's four conditions and the Greens' consenting pause are each contingent on the result.
The next customer-funded connection. Any project that signs a works agreement with Transpower before the election does so under today's rules.