AWARDS FINALIST: Counties Energy – Reimagining energy to power thriving communities
Counties Energy is powering one of New Zealand's fastest-growing regions, surpassing 50,000 connections while transforming from a traditional lines company into a customer-focused energy and technology business that is helping shape the future energy system.
As a 100 per cent consumer-owned electricity distributor, the company has balanced rapid growth with strong network performance, reducing average outage duration from 157.07 minutes in FY22 to 79.2 minutes in FY25 and improving outage frequency from 2.828 to 1.315 over the same period.
Counties Energy says these gains have been driven by targeted network investment, advanced digital capability, smart meter-enabled network visibility and a data-led approach to asset management that is improving reliability, resilience, and customer outcomes.
Counties Energy has been named a finalist in the Energy Distributor of the Year category at this year's New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards, recognising a period of significant growth, innovation, and transformation.
Network visibility
The company says it has expanded network visibility through five-minute voltage, frequency, and consumption data, as it benefits from 95 per cent smart-meter coverage on its network.
That near real-time visibility has improved outage detection and restoration verification, as well as hosting-capacity assessments and demand management.
During the assessment period, Counties Energy continued the rollout of a suite of network and customer platforms, including an advanced distribution management system, a capacity hub, and a redesigned outage hub.
The company says these tools improve network planning, connection assessments and customer communications during outages.
A major focus has been the development of flexibility services to make greater use of existing network capacity.
This year, Counties Energy launched the Karaka Harbourside Smart Energy Pilot with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, establishing New Zealand's first smart-energy neighbourhood. The 80-home project is testing how smart technology, customer participation and real-time energy orchestration can reduce peak demand, lower emissions, and increase customer control, supported by Counties Energy's developed Gridex platform.
The distributor is also rolling out hot-water demand flexibility capability across about 36,000 installation control points, providing almost 36 MW of demand-side flexibility.
Partnerships
It has also established partnerships with Unison Networks and The Lines Company aimed at sharing digital capability, standardising hosting-capacity calculations, and developing common approaches to network services and flexibility.
In addition, the company has launched initiatives including the Franklin energy-sharing pilot, vehicle-to-grid connection capability compliant with AS/NZS 4777 standards, and trials of distributed energy resource orchestration technologies.
As an organisation guided by its customer-obsessed value, Counties Energy has continued to enhance customer experience through transparent communication, real-time network information and improved digital services. Customer-focused investments such as the redesigned Outage Hub and expanded engagement channels have contributed to strong satisfaction results, with overall customer satisfaction at 81 per cent, new connection satisfaction at 81 per cent, and unplanned outage satisfaction at 89 per cent.
At the same time, through ongoing investment in wellbeing, professional development and workplace culture, Counties Energy continues to strengthen employee engagement and build a high-performing workforce, with engagement increasing from 83 per cent in 2024 to 85 per cent last year.
The annual Energy Excellence Awards will be held in Wellington on 19 August. The Energy Distributor of the Year Award is sponsored by Axos Systems.