19 December 2025
File Ref: 251184
Spencer Jones
[email address]
Dear Spencer
Thank you for your Official Information Act (OIA) request received on 9 November 2025. You
requested:
Pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982, I hereby request the following information
from WorkSafe New Zealand regarding advanced electricity meters (smart meters)
installed in New Zealand:
1. Incident / Investigation Records (1 January 2018 – 31 December 2022)
Any incident reports, investigations, notifications or enforcement actions received by
WorkSafe (or its predecessor Energy Safety function) where an advanced electricity meter
was identified as involved in or contributing to:
electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio-frequency (RF) disturbance;
voltage transients, surges or “dirty electricity” associated with the meter;
appliance damage, equipment malfunction or property damage directly attributed to a
smart meter fault or replacement.
For each recorded event (to the extent available): date received, distributor/retailer, meter
make/model (if recorded), nature of event (appliance damage, EMI, replacement, etc.),
status/outcome (closed, enforcement, resolved, ongoing).
2. Test / Approval / Guidance Documents (1 January 2015 – 31 December 2022)
Copies of any internal guidance, test specifications, contractor reports or technical
evaluations held by WorkSafe (or MBIE’s Energy Safety team) relating to smart meter
immunity to EMI, surge immunity (IEC 61000-4-4, 61000-4-5), voltage transients or other
power-quality issues associated with smart meters.
Copies of any meter approval, certification or audit documentation work that WorkSafe
reviewed or referenced in relation to smart meters, including any test results for meter
make/model approvals.
3. Record-Keeping / Search Methodology Disclosure
A summary of the systems and databases searched in providing your response in respect
of items 1 & 2 (e.g., incident management systems, document repositories, email
archives), including the date ranges and keywords used.
Confirmation whether any relevant records have been disposed of under the public records
disposal authority (under the Public Records Act 2005) and, if so, under what authority and
when.
On 4 December 2025, we extended the time limit for deciding on your request by an additional 15
working days.
Requested Information 1. Incident / Investigation Records (1 January 2018 – 31 December 2022)
I have interpreted this question as referring to advanced electricity meters (or smart meters)
installed in New Zealand even though it referred only to advanced electricity meters.
WorkSafe has interrogated its Energy Safety case management system and identified that since 1
January 2015 it has received four notifications about incidents which were found to have directly
involved an “advanced” or a “smart” electricity meter. This does not include incidents which were
primarily related to faults with other fittings or how they were installed. Pro-forma reports on
those events have been produced.
PO Box 165, Wellington 6140
A broad search of the Energy Safety case management system Identified events which used the
words “smart meter” or “advanced meter”. We then eliminated events which refer to “
gas meter”
and events outside the date range.
Following this we screened for the following keywords: “
electromagnetic”, “
interference”, “
EMI”,
“
radio”, “
frequency”, “
disturbance”, “
RF”, “
voltage”, “
transient”, “
surge”, “
dirty”, and “
appliance”.
We then eliminated events which primarily involved fittings other than the meter, and events
where was no “
appliance damage, equipment malfunction or property damage directly attributed
to a smart meter fault or replacement”, nothing that other criteria had already been applied.
This identified the following documents in scope of your request.
Item
Document Title
Decision
OIA – 251184 (Jones) – ESI 201223-01_Redacted
Release with redactions
OIA – 251184 (Jones) – ESI 180321-04_Redacted
Release with redactions
OIA – 251184 (Jones) – ESI 181017-04_Redacted
Release with redactions
OIA – 251184 (Jones) – ESI 190829-07_Redacted
Release with redactions
The documents in the table above are being released, subject to certain information being withheld
under the following section of the OIA:
9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons
In making the decision to withhold information under section 9 of the OIA it has been considered
that the public interest in release does not outweigh the reasons to withhold it.
2. Test / Approval / Guidance Documents (1 January 2015 – 31 December 2022)
A search of the Energy Safety case management and file management systems on the words
“smart”, “meter” and “advanced” as well as “transient”, “EMI”, “immunity” and “61000” identified
no information within scope and therefore, is being refused under section 18(g) of the OIA.
3. Record-Keeping / Search Methodology Disclosure
Summaries of the respective searches are given in the sections above. There has been no disposal
of records within scope of your request.
This reply addresses the information relevant to the first part of your request. You may ask the
Ombudsman to investigate and review this decision, and further information is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. If you require further assistance, please contact
[email address]. Yours sincerely
Rob Pope
Head of Inspectorate
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