Powered by people, invested in you

Meet Tiaan, Waipā Networks Project Manager and proud Te Awamutu local. He is one of five project managers who plan and deliver electrical upgrade projects across our network.

Delivering projects across our network, Tiaan, Manga, Paul, Renier and Bhavish look after the lifecycles of several projects, from scoping, ordering equipment, scheduling outages, and keeping customers informed. They focus on getting work done safely and quickly, choosing solutions that make sense for everyone. The team’s been busy with a series of projects across the network, big and small, from Tamahere to Kāwhia.

The big projects, like our new 33kV substation in Cambridge or planning future network architecture for Te Awamutu, ensure our network keeps up with a fast-growing district, while continuing to provide a reliable and resilient electricity connection for everyone.

OWNED BY YOU, INVESTED FOR YOU
Waipā Networks is 100% customer owned. That means we don’t have external shareholders – our customers are our owners. Every decision we make and every dollar we invest is about creating value for our communities, not paying dividends offshore.

These projects are not just about increasing capacity by building bigger and better things. They are about ensuring that as the Waipā district grows, the benefits flow directly back to you – in fewer outages, quicker restoration, safer infrastructure, and future-ready technology. Installing stronger poles and smart grid technology are long-term investments with immediate benefits for people’s well-being, while also enabling business growth across the region.

In Cambridge, we’ve been upgrading ageing infrastructure and enabling businesses to expand through a busy works plan that spans across the town from Watkins Road to Vogel Street, not forgetting our recent works on Alpha Street. The works on Vogel Street include replacing overhead lines with underground cables to enable future development at the rest home, ensuring the community has access to the best facilities as Cambridge continues to grow.

In Te Awamutu, we’re currently upgrading the feeder that supplies Pirongia and Frontier Estate Subdivision on the edge of town. The physical works can be seen along Alexandra Street, but, like most of our projects, the areas that are impacted and benefit from the works extend much further. You might see work happening in one place, but an outage in another. Like a spider web, lines run in all different directions until they reach transformers and switching gear. It’s at that point where we can isolate the outage with the aim of switching fewer people off while we complete our work.

WORKING FOR OUR PEOPLE
As locals themselves, our other project managers continue to look at projects with the aim of maximising the benefits to ensure the power stays on now and in the future. Because at Waipā Networks, when we invest in reliability, we’re not just investing in poles, wires, cables and substations – we’re investing in you, our customer-owners. Being customer-owned means there are no outside shareholders to satisfy — the value of these investments comes straight back to the people of Waipā through a stronger, more reliable network today, and a future-proofed system for tomorrow.