Easements and consents
As part of your application to connect you to our network, we may need an easement (either from you, or your neighbour/s) or another type of consent, such as a resource consent. Factors that determine if we need one or more of these things could be:
  • The type of equipment that is being installed
  • Where the equipment needs to go
  • The type of land in the area 

Equipment (also referred to as assets) that may need to be installed as part of your application:

  • Overhead poles and lines 
  • Underground cables
  • Transformers/switchgear
  • Underground gas pipes. 

More information about easements and the process can be found below.  You can find a diagram of the easement process here.

On this page

Reponsibilities
Supporting documents
Easement process explained
Consents we need
Easement FAQs

Easement Form and Ownership Notice
Easement Agreement
Easement Instrument - Right to convey electricity

Easement Instrument - Right to convey gas
Easement Instrument - Right to convey electricity and gas

We’ll send you an Easement Form and Ownership Notice which outlines the equipment to be installed or altered on your land.

You need to:

  • Fill in your lawyer and surveyor details 
  • Return the form to easements@powerco.co.nz
  • Keep the form for your records 

If our equipment will be installed or altered on your neighbour’s land, you’ll also get an Easement Form and Ownership Notice for them. 

You need to:

  • Tell your neighbour(s) about the electrical works you have planned. 
  • Give the Easement Form and Ownership Notice to your neighbour(s). Ask them to fill in the form so that we have their lawyer’s details. 
  • Return the form completed by your neighbour(s) to easements@powerco.co.nz

We’ll prepare the easement agreement(s) for you and your neighbour(s). 

You need to:

  • We’ll send the easement agreement to you and your lawyer named on the form, and to your neighbour(s) and their lawyer named on the form. *It usually takes us 10 working days from when you return the Easement Form and Ownership Notice to get the easement agreement to you. 
  • It’s up to you to pay your own legal fees as well as your neighbour’s legal fees.   

Return the signed easement agreement(s). ** 

You need to:

  • You or your lawyer/neighbour’s lawyer need to return us the signed easement agreement(s) 

 

**It’s important you know that we can’t start your work until we have the signed easement agreement(s) returned to us. 

You need to:

  • Let us know if you have any questions about the electrical works, eg start date, completion date, payment terms, or anything else. 

A caveat may be put on your land title. If your neighbour(s) signed an easement agreement, a caveat may be put on their land title too. 

The caveat will be removed at the same time the easement is registered. 

Once the equipment is installed on your land and/or your neighbour’s land, the area where our easement will go will need to be surveyed. 

You need to:

  • Get your surveyor to survey our equipment on your and/or your neighbour’s land 
  • Pay your surveyor’s fees for all the survey work 
  • Get your surveyor to send the draft survey plan to us 

We’ll check the survey plan and ask your surveyor to confirm that all our equipment is covered by the easement area. 

Talk to your surveyor or let us know if you have any questions about this part of the process.

Your surveyor can lodge the plan with Land Information NZ (LINZ). 

If you are ready to, you can ask your surveyor to lodge the plan with LINZ for approval.  

Completion certificate issued

Email resourceconsents@powerco.co.nz and ask for a Completion Certificate for your work, if this is required.

 

The easement can be registered.

You need to:

  • Make a time to see your lawyer to sign a LINZ Authority and Instruction form and the Easement Instrument which lets them register the easement on your land title
  • Pay your own legal fees and easement registration costs 
  • Pay your neighbour’s legal fees and easement registration costs if an easement is going to be put on their land title 

The easement will be registered on the land title(s) and at the same time the caveat(s) will be removed 

Let us know if you have any questions about this part of the process.

We have successfully completed the easement and consent process with you. 

It’s important to be safe around our assets on your land. Check out the health and safety info here.  

Easement FAQs

If a Powerco contractor is going to install our equipment on (or near) your property, you’ll get an ownership notice. The ownership notice: 

  • tells you about the type of electrical works being arranged 

  • lists the Powerco equipment that will be installed on or near your land 

  • may have a list of electrical equipment on your land that we don’t own

  • sets out your responsibilities for the Powerco equipment on your land. For instance, you’ll need to make sure equipment is accessible to us at all times so we can maintain it and make sure equipment is not removed, damaged or interfered with. 

If your neighbour is asking you to give us an easement it’s usually because we need Powerco equipment to cross your property so we can supply your neighbour’s house with electricity. 

An easement is a legal right for one person to use another person’s property.  

It gives us the right to install, operate, inspect, maintain and upgrade our equipment on property we don’t own. Easements are registered on the land title so we have the same rights even if the property is sold. 

Often our equipment will cross more than one person’s property – that’s how we get electricity from A to B.  When this happens, there’ll be more than one landowner who we need an easement from. 

If there’s an easement for the Powerco equipment, it’s likely you can’t move or remove the equipment unless we agree. 

If there’s no easement because the Powerco equipment was constructed before 1 January 1993, the Electricity Act applies. It allows owners and occupiers of private property to have works removed or relocated as long as they pay all costs.

There are a few things to consider before any removal or relocations can go ahead: 

  • You’ll need to pay all removal and relocation costs. 

  • The removal or relocation has to be done by a Powerco contractor. 

  • Is there another suitable location for the equipment to go? 

  • Will the removal or relocation affect the supply of electricity to any other customers? 

  • Will an easement be required for the new location? 

You can find out more about relocating existing assets here. 

Powerco equipment constructed before 1 January 1993 won’t have an easement, but they will be 'existing works' under the Electricity Act and Powerco has legal right to access and maintain the equipment.

Yes. There will either be an easement on your land, or the equipment is allowed to be there under the Electricity Act. 

We use easements when we’re putting equipment (such as poles or transformers) on property we don’t own. Easements are registered on land titles, so they remain in place when ownership of land changes hands.

Some older Powerco equipment (constructed before 1 January 1993) won’t have an easement. That’s because they’re ‘existing works’ under the Electricity Act. Powerco can access and  maintain ‘existing works’ under the Electricity Act.