How to find underground power cables on your property
The network cable is recorded. The one running to your shed almost certainly isn't.
Your local lines company owns the network cable in the road and the service cable up to your point of supply, and holds plans for both. Cables beyond that point - to a shed, pump, gate or garden lighting - are private and are rarely recorded anywhere. Always have power located before mechanical digging.
Type your address to see who serves itOpen the mapIdentify your lines company
Electricity distribution in New Zealand is carved up geographically between lines companies, also called EDBs. Whoever distributes to your address holds the cable records - not your electricity retailer, who only bills you.
Find the lines company for your area in the directory below.
Request a locate from them
Lines companies take locate requests directly and through beforeUdig. Ask specifically about the service cable to your property as well as the network cable in the road.
Find your point of supply
The point of supply is usually the meter box or a boundary pillar. It marks where the lines company's ownership ends and yours begins, which tells you which parts of the run will be on their plans and which will not.
Look for the visible clues
Pillars, pole risers where an overhead line drops underground, cable route markers and joint bay covers all indicate a buried run nearby. Subdivisions converted from overhead to underground are particularly worth checking, because the conversion records are often thinner than the original network records.
Use a certified locator before any mechanical dig
Of everything under a residential property, power is the one where getting it wrong can be fatal. Plans are not a substitute for having the cable detected and marked on the ground, and no plan guarantees depth.
See who serves your address before you request anything.
Pin your worksite and UtilityFinder shows every operator whose network reaches it, with contact details and locate-request links in one place.
Electricity lines companies in New Zealand
Electricity distributors by region. Open an operator for contact details, their locate-request link and their fault number.
Nationwide
Northland
3 operators
Waikato
4 operators
Bay of Plenty
3 operators
Hawke's Bay
3 operators
Manawatū-Whanganui
3 operators
Wellington
2 operatorsTasman
1 operator
Nelson
1 operator
Canterbury
5 operators
Otago
2 operators
Not sure which of these serve your address? Pin your worksite on the map and UtilityFinder will narrow it down for you.
What the records won't tell you
- Private cables - to sheds, pumps, gates, pools and garden lighting - are almost never recorded by anyone.
- Direct-buried cable in older subdivisions may have no accurate as-laid record.
- Depth varies with ground conditions and later resurfacing, and is never guaranteed by a plan.
- Network plans stop at the point of supply and say nothing about the consumer mains across your section.
Every plan you get back is indicative. Records show where an asset was recorded, not where it is today - so treat a plan as a reason to dig carefully, never as permission to dig confidently.
Common questions
- How deep are underground power cables in New Zealand?
- There are minimum cover requirements for new work, but existing cable depth varies widely with ground conditions, later excavation and resurfacing. Never treat a nominal depth as a safe assumption.
- Who do I contact to locate power cables?
- Your local lines company, either directly or through a beforeUdig enquiry. For precise marking on site, engage a certified underground service locator.
- Are the cables to my shed on the lines company's plans?
- Almost certainly not. Anything past your point of supply is private wiring, and unless an as-built was lodged with a building consent there is usually no record of it at all.
Keep going
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Six different services, six different owners, six different requests.
How to find gas lines on your property
First question: is there a gas main in your street at all?
How to find water mains on your property (NZ)
Where the public main sits, where your private pipe takes over, and who to ask for each.
How to locate buried cables in New Zealand
EM locator basics, practical detection methods, and what to do once you have found a cable.
Utility markout colours in New Zealand
Orange means power - how to read the marks your locator leaves on the ground.
See what's underground at your address.
UtilityFinder maps NZ utility operators on a single interactive map. Pin your worksite and start your plan search in seconds.