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Wellington

Electricians in WellingtonFor a windy, shaky city with a lot of old houses.

Electrical work in Wellington is shaped by wind, earthquakes and a lot of older housing. Tell us what needs doing and we'll match it with a licence-checked local electrician who does that work. For a damaged line or pole, Wellington Electricity's 24 hour Electricity Emergency Line is 0800 248 148.

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  1. Your postcode and a few quick questions
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  3. They call you to talk it through. No obligation to go ahead.
  • Practising licence and insurance checked before they hear about your job
  • One specialist for your kind of job, not a list of five to ring around
  • Only the electrician who takes your job gets your contact details
Aerial view of Wellington's waterfront and central city on a sunny day.
Photo: Adrien Olichon on Pexels

When a storm takes the power out

  1. Check the outages page before you report

    Wellington Electricity says to look at its outages page first. If your outage is already listed, there's no need to report it.

  2. Unplug the big appliances

    WREMO advises unplugging major appliances when the power goes off, to limit surge damage when it returns, and using torches, not candles.

  3. Treat every downed line as live

    Keep everyone at least 10 metres away and call 0800 248 148. If a tree has come down onto a line, Wellington Electricity says to call 111.

  4. Still off when the neighbours are back on?

    Contact your power company. Crews restore the outages affecting the most customers first, so single-property faults are usually fixed last. If the fault turns out to be on your side of the boundary, that part is a job for an electrician.

What makes Wellington different

One lines company for the city, the Hutt and Porirua

Wellington Electricity manages the local lines for Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua, delivering power to around 176,000 homes and businesses. Power cuts get reported to your retailer. Damaged lines and poles go to its emergency line.

Wind that brings lines down

Wellington Airport records gusts over 96 km/h on about 24 days a year. A Sunday night storm in February 2026 brought the strongest winds since 2013, at 193 km/h, and Wellington Electricity fixed 36 damaged high voltage feeders and more than 1,000 single-property faults afterwards.

A city on a fault line

WREMO says Wellington sits on top of the Wellington Fault, with many other active faults nearby, and the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake largely closed the CBD for a day. Wellington Electricity says it finished an Earthquake Readiness Programme in 2021, strengthening 91 substation buildings.

Your service main, and private poles

The property owner looks after the service main on their own land, with responsibility usually changing at the boundary. Privately owned service poles are the landowner's too, and if one's found unsafe you can have a qualified electrical contractor of your choice repair or replace it.

Character homes and the first state house

Character precincts make it hard to demolish pre-1930s homes, though the new District Plan cut them from 306 to 86 hectares. New Zealand's first state house, at Fife Lane in Miramar, was built in 1937. Houses of that vintage are where rewireable fuses and tired wiring still turn up.

Flats, apartments and renters

At the 2023 Census, 30,390 Wellington City households lived in flats, townhouses and apartments, against 46,134 in separate houses. And 41.37% of households didn't own their home, so healthy homes work for landlords is a steady job here.

Jobs that come up a lot in Wellington

Storm damage on your side of the boundary. Service mains, private poles and outdoor fittings take a beating in a big blow. Once Wellington Electricity has made its side safe, an electrician can repair yours.

Switchboards and rewiring in older homes. Pre-1930s villas and early state houses often need a switchboard upgrade before anything new goes on, and sometimes rewiring.

EV chargers. Wellington Electricity counted about 12,500 electric vehicles on its lines in its 2025/26 price-setting statement, 2,400 more than a year earlier. A charger usually means a new circuit, and in a flat or apartment, a talk with the body corporate first.

Solar with flexible export. Since 11 May 2026, small solar systems here have had flexible export limits. When the local lines are congested, owners are signalled to lower export to 5 kW. Changing your supply's capacity is requested through your power company, not Wellington Electricity directly.

Our take for Wellington homes

Save 0800 248 148 in your phone and know where your main switch is. If you own an older home, we'd get the switchboard and wiring checked before a storm or a quake tests them for you, and we'd ask the electrician to look over the service main and any private pole while they're there. In a flat or apartment, we'd talk to the body corporate before planning a charger or new circuits through shared areas.

Want a specialist to sort it?

Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.

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Your suburb

Suburbs and areas around Wellington

Questions

Straight answers.

Who do I call when the power's out in Wellington?

Check Wellington Electricity's outages page first. If your outage isn't listed, or you're still off once your neighbours are back on, contact your power company. Damaged lines or poles go to Wellington Electricity on 0800 248 148, and a tree on a line is a 111 call.

Who fixes the power pole on my property?

If it's a privately owned service pole, it's the landowner's responsibility. Wellington Electricity says that if one's found unsafe, you can have it repaired or replaced by a qualified electrical contractor of your choice.

The power's back but some circuits are dead. What now?

Check whether an RCD or breaker has tripped and reset it once. If it trips again, or anything got wet in the storm, leave it off and have a licensed electrician check it before you use it.

Can you help in the Hutt Valley or Porirua?

Wellington Electricity's lines cover both, so the outage advice above applies there too. Send us the suburb and the job, and we'll look for a licence-checked Hutt or Porirua electrician in our network who handles it.

Ready for a sparky in Wellington?

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Related help

Helpful next

Electricians in the Wellington regionWellington Electricity, Electra and Powerco numbers, quake and storm advice, and finding a sparky in the region.Electricians across Lower HuttFloodplain, storm outages and 1940s state houses: the electrical jobs that come up most in Lower Hutt.Electricians across PoriruaHealthy homes heating and fans, smoke alarms and older wiring across Porirua's former state housing suburbs.Emergency electricians111, the lines company or an electrician? What to do first in an electrical emergency at home.Switchboard upgradesOld fuses, no RCDs or no room for a charger: when to upgrade, and the certificates and inspection to expect.EV charger installationWall charger or 3-pin cable, the Type B RCD, load checks and the certificates you should get for a home charger.

Where this information comes from

Rules change, so check with the EWRB, WorkSafe or Tenancy Services if something matters to your job. How we write and check these pages.

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