How New Zealand EDBs are putting collaboration into practice
New Zealand’s transition to a more electrified, data‑driven energy system has generated a need for greater collaboration between electricity distribution businesses (EDBs) to improve efficiency and consumer outcomes.
This collaboration is already well established in New Zealand, with EDBs working together through models like Smartco’s co‑development approach - something unique to the New Zealand market.
EDBs working with Hiko by Smartco are sharing development costs, standardising approaches, and learning from each other. The result has been solutions designed around New Zealand’s energy landscape, with faster implementation and lower costs for each participating network.
Solutions for shared challenges
EDBs in New Zealand are already co-developing solutions to their shared challenges, for faster delivery and more efficient operations. The team at Hiko works alongside network planners and engineers to achieve this.
“The big advantage for us is Hiko’s understanding of the data set and how to produce insights from it,” says Mac Karalus, Network Planning Engineer at Mainpower. “It means rather than managing the data and developing analytics, we just get the insights that we need to plan and manage the network.”
“Fault resolution is faster, and we can give the customer more information throughout the process. When a customer comes to us for a new connection, our connection studies are faster and more accurate, because we've got more data around the low voltage network. We’re managing and planning the network proactively rather than reactively, and therefore improving the customer experience,” adds Karalus.
What collaborating for shared success looks like
In December, a group of EDBs attended a series of workshops to scope out a load estimation feature development with the Hiko team, to make sure it would meet everyone’s needs.
“It was great being able to hear from other networks,” says Karalus. “It’s important that EDBs learn from each other to avoid duplication of effort, and to become as efficient as we can. So it’s been really good to talk directly to other EDBs using Hiko, understand how they're using it and what value they're getting from it as well.”
“The next step for us is to keep building on that collaboration with other EDBs. It makes sense to learn from systems that have been successful rather than trying to reinvent it all ourselves,” he adds.
A shared resource
The best solutions come from an experienced data team working with EDBs who have a deep knowledge of New Zealand’s unique energy landscape.
"At the end of 2025, we pivoted to focus on operating as a shared service for EDBs, to enhance collaboration. By leveraging our scale, we're enabling networks to work more efficiently, together.
"Smartco, through our platform Hiko, is committed to providing a world class platform for home grown collaboration to New Zealand EDBs on a shared-cost basis," says Guy Marquet, Smartco Chief Executive.
Beyond the data, risk and cost are also shared among partner EDBs, making projects more feasible. As more networks participate, per-network cost decreases and efficiency gains flow through to end consumers.
A third of New Zealand's distribution networks are already working in this collaborative model. As the industry continues to navigate the energy transition, this approach will be crucial for delivering efficient, affordable outcomes for New Zealanders.