What does power actually cost right now?

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16 regions, cheapest year first

Two windows, because one would mislead you. The past year (Jul 2025–Jun 2026) has been unusually cheap — about 60% of the 5-year average nationally (8.3 c against 13.7 c). Quoting only the recent year would flatter us; quoting only the long run would hide how cheap it is now. Both are here — and the dry year is below, because an average over 5 years quietly thins it out.

The last three columns are on the 5-year window. "Cheapest" and "dearest part of the day" are the average across those stretches — not the lowest and highest prices reached. The peak ratio is how much dearer the dear stretch is than the cheap one: the higher it is, the more there is to gain from shifting usage.

Individual half-hours go far wider than any average. Over this period the settled price reached a low of 0.0 c/kWh and a high of 573 c/kWh. That spread is the whole point of a spot plan — it is where the gain is if you can shift usage, and the risk if you cannot.

A dry year is what the risk looks like. Over the 12 months to Aug 2024 — the worst 12-month stretch in this data — wholesale power averaged 23.1 c/kWh nationally — about 2.8× the past year. Aug 2024 alone averaged 47.7 c. New Zealand runs on hydro, so a dry winter is not a freak event. Every region page shows its own.

Each region is shown at the grid exit point that serves it, named on its own page. Island and national figures are the mean across these 16 reference points — one per region — rather than an average over every grid node, most of which are small industrial connections. Historical prices are the Electricity Authority's final (settled) half-hourly prices, to 30 July 2026. Live prices are wholesale dispatch prices and are indicative. Source: EMI FinalEnergyPrices.