The Government has put back a long-standing ban on fitting a switch or fuse into the main earth and neutral wire of New Zealand homes and businesses, ten months after electrical inspectors first warned the change could leave ordinary, fault-free wiring able to kill.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment confirmed on Thursday 1 October that the prohibition on what electricians call PEN switching has been restored. The Electricity (Safety) Amendment Regulations 2026, which bring the ban back, take effect today, 2 October.
PEN stands for protective earth and neutral. In most New Zealand installations a single conductor from the street does both jobs, carrying the neutral current back to the network and holding the earthed metalwork in a building at a safe voltage. For decades the wiring rules said nothing could be put in that wire to interrupt it.
That changed on 13 November 2025, when the ban was removed as one of roughly 400 updates to electrical safety regulations designed to make it easier to install solar panels, home batteries and electric vehicle chargers. WorkSafe, whose Energy Safety team advised the ministry on the change, said at the time that it would be a “rare event” to insert a switch or fuse and that other safety restrictions remained in place.
The people who check electrical work for a living were not reassured. In December 2025 the New Zealand Electrical Inspectors Association told RNZ the change created a new risk of electrocution. Its president, Warren Willetts, described what could happen if a switch in that wire were turned off. “In this case, when you switch the main neutral off, all the metalwork in your house, your hot water cylinder, your tap, your shower, whatever’s been earthed, now becomes 230 volts plus,” he said in that 5 December 2025 report. He added that a residual current device, the safety switch most homes rely on, would not help.
The association wrote to WorkSafe that it knew of no other country that allowed the practice, and warned that systems could become “lethal, possibly with multiple injuries or fatalities” even when operating normally. Master Electricians called it a “critical safety issue” for consumers and installers.
In late January 2026 the inspectors took their case to ministers. Their letter, reported by RNZ on 11 February, said “The PEN conductor is the single most important wire in any electrical installation.” The then Energy Minister, Simon Watts, said he took feedback from stakeholders seriously, and WorkSafe commissioned an independent review by an international expert.
That review, a 37-page report by a United Kingdom engineer released in April, backed WorkSafe. It concluded the decision was justified but left residual risks, some of which would need extra industry guidance or standards. The inspectors pointed to a line in the same report that read, according to RNZ’s 1 April story, “It is not desirable to switch a PEN conductor under any circumstances.” WorkSafe advised electricians against installing such switches until it published further guidance.
Pressure kept building through the winter. In August, industry bodies including Engineering New Zealand called on the Government to reverse the change before anyone was hurt.
In its notice this week, the ministry said that while WorkSafe had given advice on how the risks of PEN switching could be managed, significant concern remained across the sector about whether it could be used safely. Because of those differing views, the ban has been restored while further work is done on the risks and benefits to inform any future decision.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown told RNZ he had listened to the sector and agreed safety had to come first, and that the decision gave certainty to electrical workers, industry and consumers. He did not rule out returning to the idea. “We know there are arguments that PEN switching could support technologies such as EV charging and improve energy resilience in some situations. Those are benefits worth properly examining,” he said. “But before we consider any future changes, I want to be confident the evidence stacks up and that safety risks have been fully addressed.”
Engineering New Zealand, which raised its concerns directly with the ministry, WorkSafe and the minister, welcomed the reversal. “This is an excellent outcome for public and industry safety. It should also give confidence to both wider industry and the public that expert advice has been listened to, considered and acted upon,” chief executive Dr Richard Templer said in a statement on 1 October.
He credited members of the organisation’s Electrical Engineering Group along with the Electrical Inspectors Association, the Solar Association and Master Electricians for pushing for the change. Engineering New Zealand also thanked the minister and ministry officials for helping keep the country’s electrical safety standards in line with international good practice.
For most households the practical effect is simple. The wiring rules are back where they were before November 2025, and an electrician fitting an EV charger, a solar system or a backup generator cannot put a switch or fuse in the combined earth and neutral wire. Anyone who had such work done in the past ten months and is unsure what was installed can ask a registered electrician or inspector to check it.
The episode also leaves an open question about how technical advice reaches ministers. Industry groups told RNZ the original WorkSafe advice raised doubts about how the agency produced important technical input for the ministry, and the inspectors have argued from the start that they were not properly consulted. The broader push to cut red tape for rooftop solar and home charging continues, including a separate review that found plug-in solar should be made legal for renters and apartment dwellers.
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Did the Government get this right, or should New Zealand be doing more to make home charging and solar easier? Have you had trouble getting electrical work signed off? Tell us in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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