Why We Exist
The Short Version
The current energy system wasn’t built for community-led, renewable solutions — and it’s failing too many. WE Share exists to create a new model: affordable, community-owned power, built from the ground up.
Communities around the world are beginning to recognise that sustainability and resilience can’t be delivered from the top down. They have to be built from the ground up — through local ownership, practical innovation, and shared responsibility.
WE Share is part of that shift: a transformational approach that places communities at the centre of the energy future they want to create.
The current energy system wasn’t built for community-led, renewable solutions — and it’s failing too many. We exist to change that.
A System Under Strain
Rooftop solar. Home batteries. Peer-to-peer trading. These technologies are already here — but the electricity system they rely on isn’t ready.
New Zealand’s electricity distribution network was built for a one-way flow of power, from central generation plants to passive consumers. It was never designed for households that generate and store their own energy.
Today, that system is aging, expensive to maintain, and ill-equipped for the shift to distributed generation. Making it fit-for-purpose will take billions — and unless communities are part of the solution, the benefits may never reach those who need them most.
Meanwhile, power prices continue to rise. For many households, this means cutting essentials or living in cold, damp homes. Energy poverty is growing in New Zealand — not because there isn’t enough energy, but because the system isn’t designed to serve everyone.
We acknowledge that any energy future in Aotearoa must honour Te Māori Waitangi and include Māori as partners in governance, innovation, and shared benefit. WE Share is committed to working alongside tangata whenua in the design of localised energy solutions. Our commitment to Te Māori means partnership in both governance and benefit-sharing.
To make this possible at scale, WE Share is asking the Electricity Authority of New Zealand to recognise and establish a new category for community power systems — a framework that enables locally owned, values-based energy networks to operate safely within the national market while serving the needs of their communities.
WE Share’s Core Belief
Access to energy isn’t a luxury. It’s a right — because no one should be left behind in the energy transition.
We exist to dismantle the barriers that prevent people from choosing energy sovereignty. That means making it affordable. Making it understandable. And making it possible for communities to own and control their power — in every sense of the word.
We believe energy access must be fair, transparent, and community-led — not controlled by distant systems.
We don’t believe in waiting for the perfect policy or the next top-down program. We believe in building from the ground up — and in partnership with those already driving change.
How This Takes Shape
In simple terms: WE Share provides a community-aligned framework that helps people take part in the energy transition in ways that are fair, practical, and locally meaningful.
On Waiheke, this work takes shape through real, practical steps with households — supported by aligned sector and research partners operating within community-defined boundaries. Our role is to put strong legal, financial, and participatory foundations in place so a community-owned approach can grow over time, while the community itself shapes how it works in everyday life.
This framework reflects what matters most to the community:
- Energy that is generated, used, and shared locally where possible
- Approaches that reduce barriers and support financial accessibility
- Clear, inclusive processes grounded in community values
- Structures and learnings that can guide future community-led initiatives
Our long-term focus is to help shape a community-owned model for how energy participation, benefit, and stewardship can work locally — not through asset ownership or authority, but through values-based design and giving people a meaningful voice in how the system works.
This isn’t a theoretical idea. It’s real, practical work developing step by step on Waiheke — shaped by the community, supported by aligned partners, and guided by strong values.
Our Principles in Practice
Community Ownership
Decisions and benefits stay local.
Equity
Everyone can participate, not just those with resources.
Resilience
Local systems reduce vulnerability to outages and shocks.
Transparency & Safeguards
Clear rules and open processes ensure fairness and trust.
Why Us
Waiheke already has a strong base of solar adoption, with hundreds of local households producing and storing their own power. Within that, more than 60 households are now engaged in early WE Share–aligned participation, creating a meaningful foundation for community-led energy work and giving partners a clear starting point for exploring the first stages of a local Virtual Power Plant / Community Power model on the island.
More than 60 solar and battery systems have already been installed on Waiheke by local households and installers, forming a practical foundation for community-led energy participation. A further 50 systems are now underway for integration into values-aligned, community-centred energy models supported by our sector partners.
Alongside this, aligned organisations — including technical, retail, and research partners — are working within community-defined boundaries to explore how local participation, shared benefit, and new energy models can operate in practice. These partners bring industry expertise, while the community shapes how the model takes form on the ground.
Within the Platform One stewardship ecosystem, WE Share provides the legal, financial, and participatory foundations that help ensure this work remains values-based, non-extractive, and community-aligned. The practical activity happens through households, partners, and local actors — WE Share simply provides the framework that keeps the work coherent, transparent, and grounded in community priorities.
We are not trying to replace the existing energy system. We are working within it — carefully and collaboratively — to expand what becomes possible when communities, sector partners, and long-term stewardship frameworks work alongside each other.
The goal isn’t to scale an organisation — it’s to strengthen a community-led approach that reflects what matters to Waiheke first and foremost. When the model is grounded in real benefits for local people, it naturally becomes something other communities may choose to adapt for their own context.
What is happening on Waiheke is not a prototype. It is a living example of what can take shape when a community works alongside aligned partners within a clear, values-based framework — practical, meaningful participation designed to serve local people above all else.
Call to Action
Join us in shaping a system that works for everyone — where local people have a voice, benefits stay in the community, and no one is left behind.