New Zealand already gets almost 93% of its electricity from low-carbon sources—a major achievement. Over the 12 months from June 2025 to May 2026, hydropower supplied about 59% of electricity, geothermal almost 22%, wind 9%, and solar 3%. Fossil fuels supplied roughly 7%, comprising nearly 6% from gas and around 1.5% from coal. The next challenge is to electrify transport, heating, and industry, which will require much more clean electricity while further reducing fossil-fuel use, climate emissions, and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in New Zealand?

The latest figures do not show whether electricity consumption is growing year on year, but they do show that electricity consumption per person remains well below its historical peak. The 2026 figure is about 8,200 kWh per person, compared with a record of 10,450 kWh in 2004—a shortfall of roughly 2,250 kWh, or 22%. Low-carbon electricity generation is about 7,600 kWh per person, around 620 kWh, or 8%, below its 1995 record of approximately 8,230 kWh. These gaps are concerning: a high clean-electricity share should be accompanied by expanding supply to meet electrification and growing demand from technologies such as AI.

Suggestions

New Zealand can build on its strong low-carbon foundation by accelerating solar deployment on rooftops and at utility scale, alongside further geothermal, wind, and hydropower development. Expanding transmission, storage, and flexible electricity use would help bring more clean generation into service and support rising consumption. New Zealand should also consider nuclear electricity as a potential addition to its long-term clean-electricity strategy, drawing on countries with experience delivering nuclear power. The goal should be a substantially larger supply of reliable, low-carbon electricity, not simply maintaining a high percentage of today’s consumption.

History

The supplied historical changes highlight hydropower’s expansion and year-to-year fluctuations. In the late 1970s, generation rose by about 2.7 TWh in 1975 and 2.5 TWh in 1979, with a 1.9 TWh decline in 1976. The 1980s brought further gains of just over 2 TWh in both 1983 and 1986. During the 1990s, strong increases in 1993–1995 and 1998 were interrupted by declines in 1992, 1997, and 1999. The 2000s likewise mixed substantial gains—about 3.2 TWh in 2002 and 3.6 TWh in 2004—with falls of 2.8 TWh in 2001 and 3.9 TWh in 2005, before a 1.9 TWh recovery in 2009. More recently, generation fell by 2.2 TWh in 2012, rose by 2 TWh in 2022, and fell by 2.8 TWh in 2024, reinforcing the importance of expanding and diversifying clean-electricity supply.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Jun 2025 – May 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.