Hawke's Bay Essential Infrastructure Providers (formerly Lifelines)

What are EIPs?

The Emergency Management Act 2026 has renamed and broadened the scope of Lifelines to Essential Infrastructure Providers (EIPs). 

EIPs are the entities whose infrastructure provides services that support basic human needs and are necessary for the normal functioning of society.  These services include, but are not limited to, transport, electricity, 3 waters, and telecommunications.

EIPs can be private companies, central government organisations, or local government departments. Several different entities can be involved in bringing the service to the community from the generation of a resource, management of infrastructure and final distribution to consumers. 

EIP entities are named or described in Schedule 3 of the Emergency Management Act 2026.

EIP infrastructure references the physical assets which make the generation, transmission and distribution of EIP services possible. Examples of common EIP infrastructure include hydroelectric dams, powerlines, roads, and airports.

Hawkes Bay Lifelines Group – What do we do?

“To assist Lifeline utilities agencies with responsibilities under section 60 of the CDEM Act 2002 to meet those responsibilities”
– HB Lifelines Group Terms of Reference

The Hawkes Bay Engineering Lifelines Committee, or Hawkes Bay Lifelines Group, is a subcommittee of Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management consisting of EIPs and close associates working within the region.  Established in 1997, the group seeks to mitigate risk and reduce impacts to infrastructure and levels of service, with the ultimate aim of reducing human suffering during and after an event.

Members attend quarterly meetings to share knowledge and coordinate activities, as well as listen to keynote speakers present on industry, research and recent emergency events.

Coordination of EIPs is important as interdependencies between and within sectors can restrict the level of service for other EIPs. For example, if roads are still impassable after an event, it may not be possible to travel to and fix broken powerlines and restore electricity to a required level of service in that area. Understanding the exposure of infrastructure to hazards and network resilience, along with an entity’s capability to restore damaged infrastructure, is key to a strong event response.

During an event, HB Emergency Management works with the HB Lifelines Group to maintain an up-to-date picture of levels of service – enabling both EIPs and emergency responders to carry out their activities with timely and efficient use of limited resources.

Get in touch.

For more information, please contact enquiries@hbemergency.govt.nz