Source
https://www.ea.govt.nz/your-power/bill/ — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Electricity Authority (2026) — Your power bill: what an average household power bill pays for
The regulator's own decomposition of the NZ household power bill into 7 cost components — lets NI split the ~40 c/kWh grid price into behind-the-meter-avoidable vs largely-fixed-network portions
The Electricity Authority (Te Mana Hiko, the NZ electricity market regulator) publishes the breakdown of an average monthly household power bill into seven cost types, refreshed annually at the end of June. This capture (retrieved 16 Jul 2026) carries the current split: Generation 38.5% · Distribution 24.5% · GST 13% · Retail 11% · Transmission 8% · Your meter 4.5% · Levies 0.5%. It refines the model’s grid-electricity avoided-cost baseline (RD_018 ~40.6 c/kWh) by showing which slices a self-generating community actually avoids (generation + retail energy margin) versus which are recovered through largely-fixed network/meter charges. It is the PRIMARY EA source behind the same split quoted second-hand (from a Sep-2024 snapshot) in OT_065. Primary regulator source, figures read verbatim → data_quality: verified.
Summary
The Electricity Authority’s “Your power bill” page presents the composition of an average NZ household electricity bill as a percentage split across seven system-cost types, alongside plain-language definitions of each and an example regional tariff (variable + fixed charge). It is the authoritative NZ answer to “where does each dollar of my power bill go?”, updated annually at the end of June (this capture reflects the end-June 2026 update). Its NI value is decomposing the delivered grid-electricity price into an avoidable energy/retail component (what a self-consuming community stops paying) and a largely-fixed network/meter component (recovered through daily fixed charges and lines rates that a still-connected community keeps paying) — the split that governs how self-consumed and exported kWh should be valued in the engine. It cross-checks cleanly against RD_018’s lines-vs-energy retail split. This page carries the primary figures for the split that OT_065 quotes second-hand from a Sep-2024 snapshot.
Key claims
- claim: "Average NZ household power bill component split (percentage of the average monthly household bill): Generation 38.5%, Distribution 24.5%, GST 13%, Retail 11%, Transmission 8%, Your meter 4.5%, Levies 0.5% (sums to 100%). These are the 'seven types of electricity system costs that contribute to your monthly power bill'. Note on the page: 'This information is updated annually at the end of June' — this capture reflects the end-June 2026 figures."
source_location: "Infographic 'What an average household power bill pays for' + 'The electricity system' section (PDF p.2)"
- claim: "Plain-language definition of each bill component (verbatim): Generation = 'Producing the electricity you use'; Transmission = 'Building and maintaining the national grid'; Distribution = 'Building and maintaining the power lines that transport electricity from the grid to your home'; Retail = 'Your power company's operating costs'; GST = 'The GST-inclusive amount of tax we all pay'; Your meter = 'Reading and maintaining your electricity meter'; Levies = 'Organisations who operate the electricity market'."
source_location: "Infographic labels, PDF p.2"
- claim: "Example regional rates (Average for Wellington): Variable charge $0.280 per kWh; Fixed charge $1.38 per day. Electricity price is set by the retailer, usually in cents per kilowatt-hour, plus a fixed (daily) charge that covers maintenance on the grid and network."
source_location: "Regional power prices widget (PDF p.4) + 'Pricing and rates' section (p.5)"
- claim: "Recent bill-increase attribution: 'The average monthly bill has increased by $13 since February 2025. On average, 56% of this increase is due to lines charges and 44% is due to other costs, including retail, energy and metering.'"
source_location: "Average increase breakdown, Regional power prices widget (PDF p.4)"
- claim: "Bill-presentation regulation: 'There are currently no requirements for bills to be presented in the same way or to separate out different charges, so not all power bills look the same.' From 30 October 2026 information on bills will be clearer and more consistent, with charges explained in plain language, making it easier to compare plans."
source_location: "'How to read my bill' section (PDF p.3)"NI relevance
This is the regulator’s own decomposition of the NZ grid-electricity bill, and it lets the engine treat the grid price not as a single avoided-cost number but as a stack of components with different avoidability behind the meter.
- Decomposing the avoided-cost baseline. The model uses a delivered grid price (~40.6 c/kWh national, RD_018) as the value a self-sufficient community avoids per self-consumed kWh. This source shows that only part of the bill is genuinely per-kWh-avoidable: Generation (38.5%) + Retail margin (11%) ≈ 49.5% of the bill is the energy/supply component a behind-the-meter kWh displaces, while Transmission (8%) + Distribution (24.5%) = 32.5% network is recovered largely through fixed daily charges + lines rates that a still-grid-connected community keeps paying, and Your meter (4.5%) + Levies (0.5%) are fixed regardless of consumption. This supports the design rule already in the wiki (from RD_018/REG_005) that only the energy component is fully avoidable behind the meter — self-consumption is worth ~the energy+retail slice, not the whole retail tariff.
- Independent cross-check on RD_018. Mapping this split onto RD_018’s lines-vs-energy retail decomposition (15.2 c lines + 25.4 c energy-and-other of 40.6 c GST-incl): EA network (Tx+Dx) = 32.5% → 37.4% ex-GST (32.5/87) vs RD_018 lines 15.2/40.6 = 37.4% — an exact match; EA everything-else (Gen+Retail+Meter+Levies = 54.5%) → 62.6% ex-GST vs RD_018 energy-and-other 25.4/40.6 = 62.6%. Two independent official sources agree on the ~37% network / ~63% non-network split of the ex-GST bill, strengthening confidence in the grid-price decomposition.
- Self-consumption vs export valuation. The generation-heavy avoidable slice (~49.5% of the bill) is why self-consumed kWh are worth far more than exported kWh (buy-back ~11–23 c, URL_014/CR_022) — the community avoids the full generation+retail supply cost by self-consuming but only earns the wholesale-linked buy-back by exporting. This source quantifies the “why” behind that asymmetry.
- Escalation signal. The “$13 increase since Feb 2025, 56% from lines charges” note flags that network charges are the current driver of NZ bill inflation — relevant to how the avoided-cost baseline should be escalated over a project life (RD_018 carries the 2004–2026 retail series; this attributes the recent rise mostly to the fixed-network slice a connected community cannot avoid).
- Supersedes the OT_065 secondary quote (temporal shift). OT_065 (Rewiring Aotearoa 2024) carries the same EA split second-hand from a Sep-2024 snapshot (Generation 32 / Distribution 27 / Retail 13 / Transmission 10.5 / GST 13 / Metering 3.5 / market ~1). This page holds the primary, current end-June-2026 figures; between Sep-2024 and Jun-2026 the shares moved — Generation rose 32→38.5%, Distribution fell 27→24.5% — a genuine annual-refresh change, not a correction. Use URL_023 for the current split; OT_065 for the Sep-2024 as-accessed reading and its distributed-value method.
- Caveat. National averages only (plus one Wellington example) — component shares vary by distributor/region and this page gives no per-DSO breakdown; the figures are a snapshot refreshed each end-June.
Research targets
Research gaps
- RT_367 (new, optional, low): per-region / per-distributor component split of the household bill (the EA “What an average household power bill pays for” underlying dataset / EMI regional breakdown) — would let NI decompose the regional grid price rather than only the national average; this page gives national + one Wellington example rate only.
Resolved
- RT_234 (RESOLVED → this page): the Electricity Authority residential bill-component breakdown is now held and read verbatim; national split captured (Gen 38.5 / Dx 24.5 / GST 13 / Retail 11 / Tx 8 / Meter 4.5 / Levies 0.5). ⚠ Note: the retrieved end-June-2026 figures differ materially from the approximate split recorded on the old RT_234 backlog row (Gen 32 / Dx 27 / Retail 13 / Tx 10.5 / GST 13 / Metering 3.5 / market 1) — a genuine temporal shift (the EA refreshes the split each end-June), so the verbatim page figures above supersede that stale estimate; they also supersede OT_065’s Sep-2024 secondary quote (annotated on OT_065’s page, not deleted).
Notes
Primary Electricity Authority web page (ea.govt.nz/your-power/bill/), captured 16 Jul 2026 as a PDF plus the rendered infographic image — read verbatim, data_quality: verified. The 7-way percentage split is carried on the infographic image, not in the PDF text layer; the url_023_ea-power-bill-breakdown-infographic.jpg raw is kept in the source subfolder as the provenance for those image-based figures. Multi-file source (PDF + jpg) → stored in the url_023_ea-power-bill-breakdown/ subfolder (L26 multi-file rule); frontmatter sha256: pins the PDF (d80c17da…).
Supersedes OT_065’s secondary quote. OT_065 (Rewiring Aotearoa 2024) quotes the same EA split second-hand from a Sep-2024 snapshot — Generation 32 / Distribution 27 / Retail 13 / Transmission 10.5 / GST 13 / Metering 3.5 / market ~1. This page carries the primary, current end-June-2026 figures — Generation 38.5 / Distribution 24.5 / GST 13 / Retail 11 / Transmission 8 / Meter 4.5 / Levies 0.5. The change is a genuine temporal shift (the EA refreshes the split each end-June), NOT a correction of an error: between Sep-2024 and Jun-2026 Generation rose 32→38.5% and Distribution fell 27→24.5%. OT_065’s verbatim Sep-2024 reading is retained on its page (annotated, not deleted); the primary EA split is now held here.
Connections
Links to
Referenced by
EDT domains (1): D01: Renewable Energy & Storage Systems