Most appliances from the UK will work in New Zealand. However, our 3-pin plugs or power points are different from the UK, so you'll need adaptors, which are readily available from electronic stores. TVs in New Zealand use the PAL system, so the standard UK system will not work here. Your DVDs (Zone 2) however may not work on certain DVD players. New Zealand is Zone 4, but if you have a multi-zone DVD player, this should not be a problem. Digital television is still fairly new to New Zealand with about 45% of homes now receiving it. If you own a digital television, we suggest you make further inquiries regarding its compatibility in NZ.
Our electrical system is different so American TVs, stereos, fridges etc will not work here unless you convert them to our 240 volt/50 cycles per second power system (it's fairly simple to change the plugs on lamps to fit into our 3-pronged sockets), and in some instances, use a converter (as is necessary for larger appliances). Televisions here operate on the PAL system, different from the NTSC US system; as well, there are different bandwidths for VHF and UHF so in some instances converting an item is not possible - not all TVs, videos, DVDs or stereos will work even when the plugs are converted. Likewise, a DVD purchased in New Zealand may not run on an American DVD player as we operate and produce DVDs in the Region 4 DVD zone.
This answer was last updated on 16 July, 2012.
Search knowledge base
If you still can't find an answer to your question within the Knowledge Base, you can send us an online query.