Why plug-in solar is banned here

Not yet legal, expected around mid-2027, no date set: see the tracker.

The 2012 notice

On 12 January 2012 Energy Safety, then part of the Ministry of Economic Development, gazetted the Electricity Regulations (Prohibited Electrical Fittings - Inverters) Notice 2012 (NZ Gazette). It bans "the manufacture, importation, sale (including an offer to sell), and use (including installation)" of inverters "fitted with a lead and plug to allow electricity to be supplied into an electrical installation through a socket outlet", including the type sold as a grid-tie inverter. WorkSafe enforces it now, and says it doesn't cover inverters connected through the switchboard by an electrician (WorkSafe).

The notice calls these inverters electrically unsafe: power fed in at a socket bypasses the protection on that circuit, could overload its cable, and could stop an RCD from doing its job.

The installation standard

The Electricity (Safety) Regulations require grid-connected solar to be installed to AS/NZS 4777.1, a standard shared with Australia (regulation 60). The 2024 edition requires fixed wiring to a dedicated circuit, and its section 3.2.3 "explicitly prohibits the use of 3-pin plugs and sockets", as the Electricity Authority puts it (its paper). Standards New Zealand's 2025 draft guideline for home solar says the same of balcony kits.

What the new rules have to answer

• The live plug. Pull it out while the panels are making power and the pins must not be live.
• The circuit. Power fed in at a socket adds to what the circuit's cable carries, so the kit's size matters.
• Power cuts. The inverter must switch off when the grid does, so line workers are safe.
• Earthing. New Zealand's MEN earthing differs from Germany's, which the review flags.

Germany answered these with a product standard of its own, DIN VDE V 0126-95, and the UK with an interim product specification. The Electricity Authority says New Zealand agencies are studying both (its paper).

Plug-in kits are not legal to connect in New Zealand yet. When they are, follow the new standard and the maker's instructions, and ask a registered electrician if you are unsure about your wiring.

When it is legal, what would a kit be worth to you? Run the numbers.

Questions people ask

More guides

• What plug-in solar is

  One or two panels, a small inverter and a cable to a normal socket.

• Cost and savings

  Kit prices overseas, what NZ sellers expect to charge, and payback by city.

• Plug-in batteries

  What a battery adds, what it costs, and what the rules say so far.

• Renters and body corporates

  Why this matters most to people who can't put panels on a roof.

• Plug-in or rooftop

  Size, price, payback and who each one suits.