EEA2026: Certainty, capability and some great conversations

Last week the DEG team spent three days at the NZICC for EEA2026. The event brings together over 1,200 leaders and technical experts from across New Zealand's electricity sector. This year's theme, Powering Prosperity: He Puna Waiora, focused on how the sector can lift productivity, build new capability and adopt new technologies while continuing to deliver trusted outcomes. For a business whose job is certainty, that landed well. EEA Conference 2026 | Auckland +2

Our stand carried a simple message: we certify the equipment lives depend on. It was also the first public outing for ASTIR, our asset compliance platform. ASTIR gives every asset a QR-coded record, with certificates on demand, automated reminders and a live compliance dashboard. Test, record, prove. Nothing overdue, nothing missed.

The best part of the week was time with clients. Network companies, contractors and fleet owners stopped by, and the conversations were practical: what's coming up in their testing programmes, where the pressure points are, and how compliance can support operations rather than slow them down. We came away with a full notebook and a few demos to book.

The programme was strong. Several themes stood out:

• Capability. Powerco spoke on moving from compliance to confidence through a common competency framework and capability-based assurance. That shift from ticking boxes to proving capability is exactly where accredited testing earns its place. confer
• Asset management. Northpower on asset management maturity, Wellington Electricity on a cohort model for its pole fleet, and Unison on building a single source of truth through integrated asset data and digital twins. confer
• Resilience. PowerNet shared lessons from the Clutha and Southland windstorm response, and Transpower covered black start readiness. confer

The common thread was trust in asset data. Networks are making bigger decisions, faster, on the strength of what they know about their equipment. Independent, IANZ-accredited testing under ISO/IEC 17025 and 17020, backed by records that follow the asset for its whole life, is what makes that data trustworthy.

Thanks to the EEA and the organisers for a well-run event, and to everyone who stopped by. If we didn't get time with you, get in touch and we'll show you ASTIR.