In 1888, Reefton became the first town in New Zealand, and in the Southern Hemisphere, to have a public electricity supply. Wellington became the first city to have a public supply in 1889. By 1917 the government had monopolised the rights to generate all forms of electricity and the following year established several Electric Power Boards, to supply their districts with electricity.
The New Zealand electricity industry has undergone significant reform in the last decades. The first of these reforms was the establishment of the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) in 1987, as a state owned enterprise to operate as a commercial, profit-making organisation. ECNZ was the sole provider of electricity in New Zealand including generation, transmission and retail. The electricity was distributed through local electricity supply authorities.
In 1994 Transpower was separated from ECNZ and created as a state owned enterprise. Then in 1996, ECNZ was split into two more state owned enterprise's - ECNZ and Contact Energy - and a wholesale electricity market was established. Another major reform was the privatisation of Contact Energy in 1999.
The last significant reform was the separation of the lines and energy businesses of the former Electricity Supply Companies and the split of ECNZ into three competing state owned enterprises - Meridian Energy Limited, Genesis Power Limited and Mighty River Power Limited. These reforms were designed to introduce a more dynamic and competitive environment into the generation, distribution and retailing of electricity.
