23 January 2026
File Ref: 251316
Spencer Jones
[FYI request #32795 email]
Dear Spencer
Thank you for your Official Information Act request received on 9 November 2025. You
requested:
Under the **Official Information Act 1982**, I request **anonymised aggregate information**
from the **Electricity and Gas High-Risk Database (EGHR)** in relation to **advanced
electricity meter (smart meter) instal ations and upgrades** between **1 January 2018 and 1
September 2025**.
This request is made in the **public interest**, given the scale of smart meter rollout and the
limited information released to date on associated safety and compliance outcomes.
On 4 December 2025, we extended the time limit for deciding on your request by an
additional 30 working days.
Requested Information
The information held in the Electricity and Gas High Risk Database (EGHRD) about the installation
of smart electricity meters is limited. EGHRD is used by electrical inspectors to enter information
related to high-risk prescribed electrical work (PEW) – as defined by regulation 6A of the Electricity
(Safety) Regulations 2010 (ESR). It also holds information about high-risk gasfitting. It provides a
record of the work, not the installation.
Electrical inspectors who carry out inspections of high-risk PEW are responsible for entering
specified information about the high-risk PEW which they inspected. These records comprise
limited information based on the certification issued in respect of the work.
However, the installation or maintenance of a revenue meter is not high-risk PEW which means the
work does not have to be inspected unless it involves high-risk PEW – for example if there is
potential to affect the integrity of the neutral or result in the transposition of the neutral and any
active conductor.
Even if the work is high-risk PEW, EGHRD does not require that details of specific equipment –
including metering equipment – are included in the EGHRD record. Consequently, records in
EGHRD that refer to smart meters represent a very small proportion of the total number of
consumer connections in New Zealand.
1. EGHR – Anonymised Aggregate Summary (Smart Meters)
Please provide an anonymised summary table of all EGHR records relating to smart meter
installations or upgrades (e.g. new installations, replacements, 3G→4G/5G upgrades) over the
period 1 January 2018 – 1 September 2025, showing, to the extent recorded: * Year and/or quarter (e.g. 2018 Q1, 2019 Q2, etc)
* Number of smart meter-related PEW records
* Network/distributor or retailer (if recorded)
* Meter type or technology (e.g. 3G, 4G, 5G, dual-band, AMI – if recorded)
* High-risk category (e.g. residential, commercial, relocatable, if applicable)
* High-risk category:
* Compliance outcome (e.g. certified, failed, re-inspected, cancelled)
* Whether any associated incident notification was logged with WorkSafe (yes/no counts only – no
case-level detail needed).
I am not seeking any personal identifiers, addresses, or individual certifier names – aggregates
only.
PO Box 165, Wellington 6140
The following table gives the numbers of records of PEW which refer to the installation or
replacement of smart meters. As requested, it is broken down by quarters between January 2018
and September 2025. September 2025 data is included to provide a full quarter.
This table provides a breakdown by installation type as recorded in EGHRD by the responsible
person.
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Q1
Commercial
3
2
3
3
Domestic
15
1
2
16
49
35
106
56
Educational
2
Health-care
Industrial
Miscel aneous
1
Non-domestic
accommodation
Q1 total
19
1
2
18
49
35
109
61
Q2
Commercial
1
3
2
1
5
Domestic
2
6
18
25
16
107
64
Educational
7
Health-care
Industrial
Miscel aneous
Non-domestic
1
1
accommodation
Q2 total
0
2
6
19
29
18
108
77
Q3
Commercial
3
2
1
Domestic
4
15
35
26
27
95
51
Educational
1
Health-care
1
Industrial
1
Miscel aneous
Non-domestic
1
accommodation
Q3 total
0
4
15
35
30
28
98
53
Q4
Commercial
3
1
1
3
Domestic
3
2
21
36
34
107
67
Educational
Health-care
1
Industrial
Miscel aneous
2
Non-domestic
accommodation
Q4 total
3
2
24
37
35
107
73
–
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Total Commercial
3
0
3
4
7
2
9
9
Domestic
18
9
44
105
134
185
375
171
Educational
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
Health-care
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
Industrial
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
Miscel aneous
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Non-domestic
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
accommodation
Year total
22
9
47
109
143
188
388
191
The following table provides a breakdown of records of PEW by high-risk category as defined in
regulation 6A. The number of records identified in this table is greater than the number in the
previous table. Inspectors can, and frequently do, identify more than one high-risk category that
applies to the work.
High-risk category
Relevant records
Not to AS/NZS 3000 Part 2 - 6A(2)(a)(i)
3
High voltage instal ation except mobile & relocatable mining equipment - 6A(2)(a)(ii)
0
Mains paral el generation - 6A(2)(a)(iii)
637
Photovoltaic system - 6A(2)(a)(iv)
1047
Hazardous area except an ERZ0 or ERZ1 of a mine - 6A(2)(a)(v)
2
Electrical medical area – 6A(2)(a)(vi)
1
Fittings that control earth potential rise, not part of any relocatable mining
0
equipment - 6A(2)(a)(vi )
Equipment, other than relocatable equipment, in an ERZ0 or ERZ1 of a mining
0
operation - 6A(2)(a)(vi i))
Mains work - 6A(2)(b)
235
Animal stunning or meat conditioning - 6A(2)(c)
0
AC railway signal ing equipment not to ECP 60 & AS/NZ 3000 - 6A(2)(d)
0
Construction of relocatable mining electrical equipment containing fittings that
0
control earth potential rise - 6A(2)(e)
Connection of a supply of electricity to an underground mining operation - 6A(2)(f)
0
Adjustments of gas monitors or protection fittings in a mining operation - 6A(2)(g)
0
Other – as stated in 'Work Description'
0
There is no relevant information about the network or the retailer, or about meter type or
technology; there is no requirement for this information to be recorded in EGHRD.
The outcome of the inspection is not recorded in EGHRD as the person making the connection
must, before making the connection, be satisfied that the installation or part installation is safe to
connect, relevant testing has been done and, if required, has been inspected.
There is no relevant information about incidents and incident investigations; this information is not
recorded in EGHRD.
A search of information contained in EGHRD was done in stages by first selecting records related
to PEW which contained the terms ‘smart’ and ‘meter’ or ‘advanced’ and ‘meter’. The total number
of records created in EGHRD for PEW between 1 January 2018 and 30 September 2025 is 585,697.
A search on the following terms ‘3G’, ‘4G’, ‘5G’, ‘dual band’, and ‘AMI’ found no instances of any of
those terms.
Records where the date of certification is before 1 January 2018 were then eliminated. A cut-off
date of 30 September 2025, rather than 1 September of that year, was used to maintain
consistency between quarters.
Information contained in the remaining records were then examined to eliminate those which were
not related to the installation of a ‘smart meter’.
3
2. 5G-Capable Smart Meters – Aggregates
For the same period (1 January 2018 – 1 September 2025), please provide:
* The total number of 5G-capable smart meter installations or upgrades recorded in EGHR; and
* A breakdown by year (and by distributor/retailer if available); and
* Any available aggregate data on compliance failures or re-inspections relating specifically to 5G-
capable meters.
There is no relevant information. The search of EGHRD, described above, showed up no records
which give any indication that they relate to 5G-capable meters.
3. Search and Export Methodology
Please describe, in summary form:
* The search terms and filters used to extract the above data from EGHR (for example, how
“smart meter”, “AMI”, “meter upgrade”, “5G” or similar were identified);
* Any limitations on the data (for example, if meter type is not consistently recorded or only coded
indirectly); and
* The total number of raw EGHR entries identified before any filtering for relevance to smart
meters.
The sections above describe limitations on the information held in EGHRD and the search
methodology, including the number of EGHRD records.
4. Record Retention and Disposal (Public Records Act)
If you consider that no EGHR records can be identified as relating to smart meters for the
requested period, please:
* Provide a copy or citation of the disposal authority or retention schedule (under the Public
Records Act 2005) that governs EGHR high-risk PEW data; and
* Confirm the expected retention period for those records; and
* State whether any EGHR records that might have included smart meter installations or upgrades
for the period 2018–2025 have been destroyed, transferred or archived, and if so, when and under
which disposal authority.
Relevant records related to smart meters have been identified.
This reply addresses the information you requested. 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
PO Box 165, Wellington 6140
