By Live 24/7 Orion fault line
Power out in Christchurch or central Canterbury?
Call Orion on 0800 363 9898, 24 hours a day. Your retailer cannot dispatch a crew. For a fallen line, sparks or any fire risk, dial 111 first, stay at least 8 metres clear, then ring Orion.
The live network status board is at oriongroup.co.nz/network-status. Check it first, the cut may already be logged.
Orion at a glance
The numbers that explain your network bill
Connection points (ICPs)
~210,000
Christchurch + Selwyn district
Network conductor
~13,000 km
Significant underground share
24/7 fault line
0800 363 9898
Free-call, NZ-wide
Post-quake rebuild capex
NZ$1B+
Decade of reinvestment
Where Orion owns the wires
Coverage area: Christchurch metro plus the Canterbury Plains
Orion's franchise sits between the foothills of the Southern Alps and Pegasus Bay. North of the Waimakariri river the network transitions to MainPower, south of the Rakaia to EA Networks.
| Area | Density profile | Network type |
|---|---|---|
| Christchurch CBD + four avenues | High density, commercial | Underground (rebuilt post-quake) |
| Inner suburbs (Riccarton, Merivale, Cashmere, Sumner) | Suburban | Mixed, increasingly underground |
| Outer suburbs (Halswell, Hornby, Belfast) | Growth suburban | Mostly overhead, new builds underground |
| Banks Peninsula (Akaroa, Lyttelton, Diamond Harbour) | Sparse rural + harbour towns | Predominantly overhead |
| Selwyn District (Rolleston, Lincoln, Darfield) | Fastest-growing district in NZ | Mix, new subdivisions underground |
| Canterbury Plains rural | Dairy + arable irrigation | Overhead, long feeders |
Source: Orion Asset Management Plan and Commerce Commission Information Disclosure. The Selwyn District holding stake in Orion reflects the network footprint extending well beyond Christchurch city limits.
The role, decoded
What Orion actually does (and does not do)
Orion is the regulated electricity distributor for central Canterbury. Distinct from the Orion Group's other businesses (which include metering, fibre and contracting subsidiaries), the lines company runs the poles, wires and crews.
What Orion owns and operates
- · 66kV sub-transmission lines from Transpower GXPs at Islington, Bromley and Hornby.
- · 11kV and 33kV distribution feeders, with significant underground share post-quake.
- · Distribution transformers, pillar boxes and seismic-rated zone substations.
- · Low-voltage service mains to your meter.
- · The 24/7 control room and fault crews based in Burnside.
What Orion does not do
- · Generate electricity (Manapouri hydro and Tekapo schemes belong to the gentailers).
- · Set the c/kWh on your bill (that is your retailer).
- · Own your smart meter (Intellihub, SmartCo, Metrix and others do).
- · Bill end customers (your retailer does, with Orion\'s charge passed through).
- · Operate north of Waimakariri or south of Rakaia.
The hidden 30 to 45 per cent
How the Orion lines charge shows up on your bill
Roughly 30 to 45 per cent of a Canterbury household bill is the Orion lines pass-through. Christchurch winter peak demand (cold mornings + heat pumps) is among the steepest in NZ, which is exactly what the ToU multiplier rewards or punishes.
| Component | Standard user (residential) | Low user (residential) | What drives it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed daily charge | ~70 to 110 c/day | ~15 to 30 c/day (capped by regulation) | Sub-network: urban / suburban / rural |
| Variable energy charge | ~7 to 11 c/kWh | ~11 to 18 c/kWh (low-user offset phasing out) | Volume + winter ToU window |
| Peak ToU multiplier | Up to ~3x on winter weekday mornings | Same multiplier applies | Cold-start heat pump load (~7-9am) |
Indicative ranges drawn from Orion's Pricing Methodology and Commerce Commission Information Disclosure. Christchurch is the most heat-pump-saturated city in NZ following the post-quake removal of gas reticulation in red-zone suburbs. The 7-9am peak multiplier is structural and worth designing your day around.
The reliability premium
Orion's lines charges look modest by NZ standards. Part of the explanation: the network is now young (most of it rebuilt or hardened post-2011), so depreciation is recoverable on a long horizon. The Commerce Commission allowed Orion to recover quake capex over 30+ years, smoothing what would otherwise have been a step change in bills.
What most pages will not tell you
Three structural facts that change how Orion affects your bill
You are partly paying for an earthquake rebuild
Roughly NZ$1 billion of Orion capex went into rebuilding the network after the 2010-11 earthquakes. The Commerce Commission allowed Orion to spread this over a long depreciation horizon, smoothing the bill impact, but the recovery is still flowing through your monthly lines charge in 2026 and will until ~2040. The upside: a network that survives shaking, undergrounding bias, and SAIDI numbers among NZ's best.
Council ownership = ratepayer dividend, not consumer rebate
Orion is 89 per cent owned by Christchurch City Holdings (the council's investment arm) and 11 per cent by Selwyn District Holdings. Dividends flow back to councils, which use them to offset rates. Unlike trust-owned LCs (WEL, Unison, Top), there is no direct consumer rebate, but every Christchurch ratepayer is implicitly subsidised by Orion's profitability.
Christchurch is the most electrified city in NZ
Post-quake, much of gas reticulation in damaged suburbs was not rebuilt. Heat pumps replaced gas heating. Result: Christchurch has the highest residential heat-pump saturation of any major NZ city, and the steepest winter weekday morning peak. Orion's ToU multiplier is calibrated for this. Households that pre-heat between 5 and 7am, or use hot-water timer to off-peak, save NZ$200 to $400/year versus default cold-start patterns.
How to reach Orion
Orion contact methods, by the reason you are calling
| Reason | Channel | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Power cut, fallen line, network fault | 0800 363 9898 | 24/7, free-call |
| Life-threatening hazard | 111, then Orion | 24/7 |
| Appliance damage claim | Damage claim via oriongroup.co.nz | Online, 4 to 8 week processing |
| Planned outage notification | Live network status | Notice 5 to 10 working days ahead |
| New connection or upgrade | oriongroup.co.nz/connect | Business hours |
| Solar export or EV charger approval | oriongroup.co.nz / distributed generation | Business hours, 4 to 8 week assessment |
| Billing question | Your retailer (Orion does not bill end customers) | Retailer's hours |
| Unresolved complaint | Utilities Disputes | After Orion's final written answer |
Where your time actually pays
What a Christchurch household should actually do about Orion
Orion is one of the more rational networks to live on, but you still leave money on the table if you ignore its time-of-use signal and the dividend cycle.
Avoid the 7-9am cold-start peak, every winter weekday
Christchurch's 7-9am morning peak (heat pumps starting cold) is the single steepest residential demand window in NZ. Set the heat pump to pre-heat from 6am, or use a hot-water timer to off-peak. A ToU plan (Electric Kiwi, Octopus) makes the Orion peak structurally visible and gives the rebate path for shifting load.
Lock in solar approval before the install, not after
Selwyn District is one of the fastest-growing residential solar markets in NZ. Orion publishes a public distributed generation connection process. Get the network approval letter before paying your installer's deposit. Inverter sizes above the standard threshold need an impact assessment and may end up curtailed at the meter.
Damage claim, every time
Orion publishes a structured form. Surges from network equipment failure are typically accepted; storm-driven events more often rejected (force majeure). Include photos, original receipts, the timestamp from the live status map, and a registered electrician's report linking the failure to the network event. Expect 4 to 8 weeks.
The Selectra expert answers
Frequently asked questions about Orion
Orion's 24/7 fault line is 0800 363 9898, free-call across New Zealand. Use it for any power cut, downed line, sparking transformer or noticeable flicker in Christchurch or Selwyn District. For an immediate hazard, dial 111 first.
The 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes destroyed substantial network assets, particularly underground cable in liquefaction-damaged suburbs. Orion responded with a multi-year, NZ$1 billion-plus rebuild using seismic-rated substations and a deliberate undergrounding bias. The Commerce Commission allowed Orion to spread the recovery over a long depreciation horizon, which is why your monthly bill in 2026 still reflects part of that cost, and why SAIDI/SAIFI reliability statistics are now among the best in NZ.
Orion is council-owned. Christchurch City Holdings Limited (the council's investment arm) holds 89.3 per cent and Selwyn District Holdings holds 10.7 per cent. Dividends flow to councils, which use them to offset rates rather than issue direct consumer rebates. The Commerce Commission regulates Orion's prices and quality through the Default Price-Quality Path (DPP4 covers 2025 to 2030).
Roughly 30 to 45 per cent for a typical residential ICP. The mix is a fixed daily charge (around 70 to 110 c/day for standard users, far lower on the regulated low-user tariff) plus a variable c/kWh charge with a steep winter weekday peak multiplier (~7-9am cold-start window). Your retailer collects it and pays it through to Orion under DPP4.
The claim goes to Orion, not your retailer. Use the contact form at oriongroup.co.nz/contact, asking for the damaged appliance process. Include photos of the appliance, original receipt, age, the outage timestamp from the live status map, and a registered electrician's report linking failure to the network event. Processing 4 to 8 weeks. Equipment-failure surges have higher acceptance than storm-driven outages.
The post-quake red-zone rebuild largely did not restore gas reticulation. Heat pumps replaced gas heating, and Christchurch now has among the highest heat-pump-per-household ratios in NZ. Heat pumps cold-starting at 6 to 7am simultaneously create a sharp combined load spike. Orion's ToU multiplier (up to ~3x on the 7-9am window) is the price signal asking customers to pre-heat or stagger that load.
No. Orion is an electricity-only distributor. Gas reticulation in Canterbury is the responsibility of First Gas. Call 0800 733 835 for gas faults, or 111 for any immediate danger.
No. Orion is the regulated monopoly distributor for Christchurch and Selwyn District. You can switch retailer (Mercury, Genesis, Contact, Electric Kiwi, Octopus, Frank and others) any day, but the Orion lines charge is passed through unchanged. North of the Waimakariri river the network belongs to MainPower; south of Rakaia to EA Networks (see the coverage notes above for the dedicated guides).