PRESS RELEASE   Annual Connection will make its return to the South Island in 2025, with help from a team of three host companies. Ōtautahi/Christchurch electricity distribution network The Orion Group is proud to join forces with fellow Canterbury-based EDB EA Networks, with support from Connetics Ltd. to host Annual Connection at Canterbury Park, October 21-23, 2025. Annual Connection, managed …

                    “I keep telling the team we’re not going to defend the title, we’re going to win the competition. It’s a totally different mindset.”   As foreman for the The Lines Company line mechanic team, entered in Annual Connection 2024, Wiremu Te Tawharo is keeping his crew focused and motivated.   …

Jono Ackroyd, Cable Jointer Competition Manager When Jono Ackroyd entered the electrical supply industry (ESI) 24 years ago, he was entering the family business. “I was employed in 2000 by a community owned co-op company called Electricity Ashburton, now trading as EA Networks. My father had worked there for nearly three decades as a civil construction cable jointer. Like many …

Sparks are set to fly in the Waikato later this month as New Zealand’s best line mechanics and cable jointers go head-to-head in a competition designed to showcase the electricity supply industry skills that keep the country connected. Annual Connection 2024 will see cable jointers and line mechanic teams from energy companies around the country competing over three days and judged …

  Warren Hedley, Line Mechanic Competition Manager Warren’s history with Annual Connection dates back 20 years to 2004 when he competed in the line mechanic competition, taking out a couple of first places in different contests. He then took on a judging role for eight years, before stepping up to line mechanic competition manager. “I’m thoroughly loving this role, firstly …