Most of ECNZ's remaining liabilities were resolved in the late 2000s, and ECNZ is now[update] a residual entity with the sole remaining task of winding up a series of land title issues.
The first phase of deregulation saw the New Zealand Government corporatise the NZED and form the state-owned enterprise ECNZ.
[4] In 1994, Transpower was separated from ECNZ and created as an SOE to own and operate the national grid.
In 1996, ECNZ was split into two SOEs, ECNZ and Contact Energy, and on 1 April 1999 ECNZ was split into three electricity generation SOEs: All three remain in existence, along with Contact Energy and Manawa Energy (formerly Trustpower, which was split into an electrical retailer business and a separate generation company (Manawa).
ECNZ was originally proposed to be wound up by 2009, but resolving the few remaining land title issues has taken years longer than originally expected.