One transaction is the first developer-led greenfield levy
Bell Gully has helped National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFF) with two transactions to help expand the country’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network and to support a residential development in Waikato.
NIFF will administer $52.7m in zero-interest government loans to EV charging network ChargeNet and electricity generator and retailer Meridian Energy. The loans will be matched by $60m in co-investment from the two companies.
“The private sector is reluctant to invest in charging infrastructure until there’s sufficient demand, but demand won’t grow until the lack of public chargers stops putting buyers off. Just as the previous National-led Government did with the ultrafast broadband network rollout, we’re taking action to break that deadlock”, said transport minister Chris Bishop in a media release. “Concessionary loans bring forward private investment in public EV charging infrastructure by lowering the cost of capital, while keeping the taxpayer’s contribution to a minimum”.
He added that the average loan per charge point was $20,000, but with repayments, the net cost to the Crown was about $10,000 per charger – approximately a quarter of the cost of a direct grant.
“We’re also changing our planning rules to make the installation of public EV chargers a permitted activity under the RMA, meaning in most cases no consent is required – another factor that will help to speed up delivery”, Bishop said.
The combined funding will be applied to the launch of 2,574 new public charge points, consisting of 1,374 DC fast chargers, and 1,200 AC chargers. Bell Gully said these would more than double New Zealand’s public EV charging network by bringing the national total to about 4,500 chargers.
According to co-lead partner Sarah Anderson-Butler, the network represented “a critical part of the transition to a lower-emissions future on our roads”.
“About half the new chargers will be spread across Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, the Wellington region, Christchurch, and Dunedin, with the other half throughout the regions, so drivers outside the main centres will benefit too”, Bishop said. “New Zealand currently has a bit over 1,800 public charge points, which is among the lowest charger-to-EV ratios in the OECD. Another 161 charge points are also in progress. Combined with the investment being announced today, the national total will be around 4,550. The government is working towards 10,000 charge points by 2030, roughly one for every 40 EVs”.
Anderson-Butler and fellow partner Anna Buchly led the firm’s team in working on the EV charging agreements. They were supported by senior associate Finnbahr Boyle and lawyers Kristi Fleming, Saskia Lee and Theo Lotu-I’iga.
Bell Gully also advised NIFF on what the firm described as the first developer-led greenfield levy to back the development of about 1,500 new homes at Te Awa Lakes residential development near Hamilton.
The government has approved a levy to finance up to $50m of water and transport infrastructure for the 2,500-property greenfield development. The Te Awa Lakes development is the third infrastructure project to apply a funding structure enabled under 2020 Infrastructure Funding and Financing (IFF) legislation; moreover, it is the first IFF transaction to support housing development.
Bishop said the levy would be administered by the Hamilton City Council and would be repaid over 30 years starting 1 July 2027. The levy would be fully disclosed to potential buyers.
“The IFF Act was originally enacted to make it easier for developments to get off the ground through innovative approaches to funding infrastructure that bypass these constraints. The model works by establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for a project – separate from council’s balance sheets. The SPV then repays any finance raised by charging a levy to homeowners and landowners who benefit from the infrastructure”, Bishop said. “Essentially, the IFF Act model allows growth to pay for growth”.
Partners Anderson-Butler, Zac Kedgley-Foot, and Mat Brown headed up the Bell Gully team working on the housing transaction. They received assistance from lawyers Stuart Leslie and Jack Lee.
“It’s great to see the range of project types being funded under IFF expanding and for IFF funding to be accessed by a developer to unlock housing infrastructure that our communities need”, Anderson-Butler said.
Per Bishop, the IFF Act Amendment Bill introduced last November 2025 would further enhance flexibility.
“We are making the Act more viable and flexible so developers, councils, and other infrastructure providers can get on with building the infrastructure our growing communities need. We expect to pass this Bill into law before the election”, he said.
