A switchboard upgrade replaces the board that splits your incoming supply into circuits, along with the protective devices inside it. In practice that means a new enclosure, new circuit breakers and RCDs, the mains reconnected, every circuit re-terminated and labelled, then testing, certification, and inspection. The Conduction Company does switchboard upgrades across Auckland on commercial buildings, offices, retail tenancies, and homes, single-phase and three-phase. Most upgrades happen for one of three reasons: the existing board has no room left for another circuit, it has no RCD protection, or the building's load has outgrown what the mains and board were sized for.
An old switchboard is not a problem until the day you need to add something
Switchboards fail quietly. A board with rewireable fuses and no RCDs keeps working for decades, so nothing forces the issue until somebody wants an EV charger, a heat pump, a commercial kitchen, or another twelve desks. Then the board has no spare ways, the mains are not big enough, and a job that was meant to be a day turns into a switchboard replacement nobody budgeted for.
The Conduction Company sees the same order of events on Auckland commercial sites: the tenant plans the fitout, the fitout needs the load, and the board decides whether any of it is possible. Assessing the switchboard before committing to the rest is a cheap way to avoid finding out late.
What a switchboard upgrade involves
The Conduction Company's switchboard work on an Auckland site normally runs to:
- assessing the existing board, the mains, and the actual load the building draws
- calculating the maximum demand the new installation has to carry
- supplying and installing the new enclosure, main switch, and protective devices
- fitting RCDs or RCBOs to the circuits that need them
- reconnecting the mains and the main earthing system
- re-terminating and labelling every circuit, so the board is readable by the next person
- testing, certifying, and inspecting the completed work
Sizing the board: what New Zealand actually requires
There is no percentage rule in the New Zealand standard. AS/NZS 3000:2018 requires at clause 1.6.3 that the maximum demand of an installation be determined “taking account of the capacity, physical distribution and intended use of electrical equipment”, and that “Consumer mains, submains and other electrical equipment of an electrical installation shall be designed and installed to meet the maximum demand”. Clause 2.2.2 sets out the acceptable methods of working that number out, and adds that where the actual measured maximum demand exceeds the calculated figure, the measured value is the one that counts.
So The Conduction Company starts an upgrade by working out what the building really draws and what it is about to draw, not by reading a number off the old main switch.
Space around a commercial switchboard
The rule most commonly broken on commercial sites is a physical one. AS/NZS 3000:2018 clause 2.10.2.2.1 requires a switchboard to be located so access to it is not obstructed, and to have “A 1.0 m minimum distance from all faces of a closed switchboard that need to be accessed”. Domestic installations get an exception down to 0.6 m. Commercial ones do not.
That one metre is the difference between a switchboard a technician can safely work on and a switchboard behind a stack of pallets. The Conduction Company checks it as part of any commercial switchboard assessment, because an upgrade that lands in a cupboard nobody can stand in front of has not solved anything. The same clause requires sufficient exit paths so a person can leave the vicinity of the board in an emergency, which is a live consideration when an arcing fault happens while someone is working at it.
Three-phase switchboard upgrades
Most Auckland commercial buildings run three-phase, and a lot of larger homes now do too. A three-phase upgrade is the same job with more to balance: the load has to be spread sensibly across the phases, the submains to any distribution boards need checking against the new demand, and the main switchboard has to be legibly and permanently marked “MAIN SWITCHBOARD” under clause 2.10.2.4 of AS/NZS 3000:2018. The Conduction Company does single-phase to three-phase conversions as well, which usually involves the network company and the supply, so it is worth starting that conversation early.
Inspection and certification
Mains work is high-risk prescribed electrical work under regulation 6A(2)(b) of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, and regulation 70(1) requires that all high-risk prescribed electrical work on a low or extra-low voltage installation “must be inspected”. Regulation 65(4) then says no high-risk work may be treated as complete “until a certificate of compliance, along with any record of inspection required for the prescribed electrical work, is issued for it”.
Most switchboard replacements involve mains work, so most switchboard replacements need an inspection. The Conduction Company confirms that for each job before starting, and then does the inspection in house, because Jordan Statham, who owns the company, is a New Zealand registered Electrical Inspector (I 272615) as well as a registered Electrician (E 264206). Dual registration is unusual in the Auckland contractor market, and on switchboard work it removes the wait for somebody else's inspector.
Commercial switchboard testing and inspections
The Conduction Company also tests and inspects existing switchboards on Auckland commercial sites without replacing them: RCD testing, thermal imaging of the board to find hot terminations before they fail, and a written report on the board's condition and remaining capacity. That is often the sensible first step, because it tells a building owner whether they are looking at a repair, a partial upgrade, or a replacement.
How The Conduction Company runs a commercial job
Stage 1. Assessment and a fixed price
The Conduction Company attends site, opens the board, checks the mains, the earthing, the protective devices, and the clearances, and works out the maximum demand against what the building is going to run. You get a fixed price broken into job sections, and a straight answer on whether the board needs replacing or repairing.
Stage 2. Changeover day
The Conduction Company isolates the supply, fits the new board, reconnects the mains and the main earthing system, re-terminates every circuit, and labels the lot. On commercial sites the changeover is normally booked out of trading hours, so the building keeps working.
Stage 3. Testing, certification, and inspection
Every circuit is tested, the RCDs are proved, and the work is certified. Where the job is high-risk prescribed electrical work, The Conduction Company inspects it in house and issues the record of inspection with the certificate of compliance, so the job is complete in the way the regulations define complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a switchboard upgrade?
The Conduction Company's short answer: if any of the following is true, get the board assessed. It still has rewireable ceramic fuses rather than circuit breakers. It has no RCD protection. It has no spare ways, so a new circuit has nowhere to go. Breakers trip for no obvious reason, or the board is warm, discoloured, or smells of hot plastic. Or you are about to add load the building was never wired for, which on a commercial site usually means a fitout, a kitchen, HVAC, or EV charging, and at home usually means an EV charger, solar, or a renovation. None of those on their own proves the board is unsafe, and The Conduction Company will not tell you to replace a board that does not need replacing. They are the signs that make an assessment worth doing.
What is considered an outdated electrical panel?
In New Zealand it is called a switchboard rather than a panel, and The Conduction Company treats a board as outdated when it can no longer be safely extended or protected to the current standard. In practice that means rewireable ceramic fuses instead of circuit breakers, no RCD protection on the socket-outlet and lighting circuits, no spare ways for another circuit, deteriorated or brittle wiring inside the enclosure, and heat damage or discolouration around the terminations. A commercial board also fails on access: AS/NZS 3000:2018 clause 2.10.2.2.1 requires a 1.0 m minimum clear distance at every face of a closed switchboard that has to be accessed, and plenty of older commercial boards sit in a cupboard or behind stock where that is impossible. Age alone is not the test. A well-built older board in good condition with room to grow can be fine.
What is the 80% rule for electrical panels?
The 80% rule is American. It comes from the United States National Electrical Code, where a circuit breaker supplying a continuous load is not loaded beyond 80 percent of its rating. New Zealand has no equivalent percentage rule, and The Conduction Company does not size switchboards to one. New Zealand installations are designed to maximum demand under AS/NZS 3000:2018. Clause 1.6.3 requires that “Consumer mains, submains and other electrical equipment of an electrical installation shall be designed and installed to meet the maximum demand”, and clause 2.2.2 sets out the accepted methods for determining it, by calculation, assessment, measurement, or the limitation method. Clause 2.2.2 also states that if the actual measured maximum demand turns out to be higher than the calculated figure, the measured value is the maximum demand. That is a stricter and more useful discipline than a flat percentage, because it asks what the building actually draws.
What electrical work needs to be inspected?
High-risk prescribed electrical work. Regulation 70(1) of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 states that “All high-risk prescribed electrical work done on a low or extra-low voltage installation or part installation must be inspected”. Regulation 6A(2) defines what counts, and the categories that come up most on a building are mains work on an installation, work on an installation that will not comply with Part 2 of AS/NZS 3000, an installation operating at high voltage, a photovoltaic system, a mains parallel generation system, and an installation in a hazardous area. Regulation 65(4) then adds that high-risk work is not complete until a certificate of compliance and any record of inspection have been issued for it. Because most switchboard replacements involve mains work, most of them need inspecting. The Conduction Company confirms which category a job falls into before starting it, and inspects in house through its own registered Electrical Inspector.
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Excellent work done by the extremely responsive team. Max attended to the job at our house and was extremely good and professional. Great job.
Top notch business. Service was A+++. Arrived on time. Technicians introduced themselves on arrival. Very polite. Extremely efficient. Quietly went about their work. Business booking system was great. Quick and well laid out. Payment system likewise, very smooth.
100% Best Electricians in Auckland, Great Communication, Very impressed with the Service. Excellent advice on healthy home compliance. Impressed with work done, completed to a high standard. Very professional and easy to deal with. Highly recommend TCCO.
We had Ollie and Kegan install a hanging pendant light in our entry way. They were super professional and did a fantastic job. We had great communication with them, really easy to deal with, highly recommend.
We have used these guys a couple of times and have been very pleased each time. They did what was requested, but also left an immaculate job, with extra touches like labels on the switches for our outdoor lights. We will definitely be using Jordan and the team again!
Jordan was prompt to arrive & fixed many things for me that had gone haywire over L4 Lockdown - cooktop, expel-air, switches, lights, fusebox, even had a look at my dishwasher, etc. Professional, friendly & helpful - would highly recommend. Many thanks Jordan.
What a great experience from start to finish. Jordan who came to quote was very helpful and knowledgeable, giving us great ideas for what we could apply in our home. The quote was thorough and detailed, booking was easy, kept us updated the whole time.
Needed a trustworthy electrician for my mother, TCC had lots of great reviews online so we called in and they made the process very easy. Mum loved the guys who showed up to do the job, the service & the work quality were both excellent. Thanks again and you'll hear from us soon.
Not sure whether your switchboard needs replacing?
That is the right question to ask before the fitout, not after it. The Conduction Company will assess the board, the mains, and the load, and tell you plainly whether it needs a repair, a partial upgrade, or a replacement. Get in touch and one of the team will come back to you the same day. The Conduction Company is reachable any hour of the day, every day of the week.