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Consumer Care Policy

How Ecosmart cares for our residential electricity customers — including the help available if you're finding it hard to pay, protections for medically dependent consumers, and where to get free, independent support.

Electricity is essential to the wellbeing of you and your household. Ecosmart New Zealand Limited is committed to treating our residential customers with respect and working with you in a fair, collaborative and constructive way — especially if things get difficult.

Ecosmart has a Consumer Care Policy that complies with the Consumer Care Obligations set by the Electricity Authority (Schedule 11A.1 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010). This is that policy. It applies to residential customers on our spot market electricity plans and sits alongside — but is separate from — our electricity supply terms and conditions.

Talking with you

We'll communicate in a way that's clear, timely, understandable and accessible, and we'll adapt to your needs where we reasonably can. If dealing with us in English is difficult, or you'd simply like a hand, you're welcome to nominate a support person to help you communicate with us, or an alternate contact person we can reach if we can't get hold of you. Both must be independent of Ecosmart — just let us know and we'll record it.

We normally send notices and account communications by email, so it's important to keep your email address and other contact details up to date with us.

Helping you choose the right plan

We only offer spot market (wholesale) electricity plans. On these plans the price changes every 30 minutes with the wholesale market, for both the power you import and the power you export. This can be excellent value if you can respond to prices — for example by exporting solar or battery power, or shifting large loads to cheaper times — but spot prices are volatile and can spike, so a spot plan carries more risk than a fixed-price plan.

Everything you need to weigh up a spot plan — how it works, its conditions and drawbacks, worked example bills, and who it does and doesn't suit — is published on our website, so you can review it before you sign up and at any time afterwards. If you talk to us directly, we'll explain our plans and answer your questions honestly, including the downsides. You can compare us with other retailers on Powerswitch, an independent plan comparison site, and the Electricity Authority publishes independent guidance on whether a spot price contract is right for you.

Your usage information

You can ask us for information about your electricity consumption at any time to help you make informed decisions. Every customer can also log in to the Ecosmart app to see live spot prices, usage and spend.

If you're finding it hard to pay

Please tell us early. The sooner you talk to us, the more we can do to help. If you're behind, or you think you might struggle to pay an upcoming bill, we will:

  • work with you to find a way forward, and explain the steps and timeframes involved;
  • offer a payment support plan based on what you can realistically afford;
  • look at whether a different way of using power could reduce your costs;
  • remind you that you can involve a support person or alternate contact; and
  • with your agreement, refer you to a free support agency for financial mentoring or energy efficiency advice (see below).

Free, independent financial mentoring is available from MoneyTalks on 0800 345 123 or at moneytalks.co.nz. Free energy-saving advice is available from Gen Less at genless.govt.nz.

Disconnection is a last resort

We use best endeavours to make sure disconnecting your power for non-payment is a genuine last resort. Before we would ever disconnect a customer for non-payment, we will:

  • have done what's required under the Consumer Care Obligations to help you first;
  • make at least five attempts to contact you;
  • send you at least two written disconnection notices (normally by email) setting out how to avoid disconnection, the support and payment options available, the relevant fees, and where to get help;
  • satisfy ourselves that no one at your property is a medically dependent consumer; and
  • confirm you aren't on, or keeping to, an agreed payment support plan.

We won't disconnect you over a genuinely disputed amount while the dispute is being worked through, and we won't disconnect at an unsafe time — such as a Friday, a weekend, the day before a public holiday, or during severe weather. If you contact us before disconnection, we'll work with you to avoid it, even if you haven't responded to us before.

Once you've paid what's owed or met our reasonable reconnection requirements, we'll reconnect you as soon as reasonably practicable. If a disconnection was a mistake, or affected someone who is (or has applied to be) a medically dependent consumer, we'll reconnect immediately and at no cost.

Medically dependent consumers

A medically dependent consumer is someone who relies on mains electricity for critical medical support, where losing power could risk their life or serious harm. If you, or anyone at your property, is or may be medically dependent, please tell us.

You can apply to be recorded as a medically dependent consumer in any way — by phone, through our contact form, or in writing. We may ask for a confirmation form completed by your health practitioner, and we'll treat the person as medically dependent while we assess the application. We will not disconnect a property for non-payment where we know a medically dependent consumer lives.

Even so, electricity supply can never be guaranteed — faults and outages happen — so it's important that medically dependent consumers have an individual emergency response plan. The Electricity Authority provides resources to help you prepare one at ea.govt.nz/your-power/medically-dependent-consumers. Because our plans are post-pay (we don't offer prepay), your supply won't cut off automatically for running out of credit.

Fees, discounts and bonds

Any fee we charge only ever reflects a reasonable estimate of our actual costs for that service — never a penalty or a way to make a profit. Fees that may apply include disconnection and reconnection, special or manual meter reads, meter tests, and our reasonable costs of recovering overdue amounts. We'll always tell you the amount and the reason for a fee before we charge it, and you can ask us for our current schedule of fees at any time. Third-party charges, such as a bank's credit or debit card fee, are passed on at cost and shown at the time of payment.

Any conditional discount (for example, for paying a certain way) will reflect a reasonable estimate of our cost savings and be explained to you before it applies.

Bonds. We may ask you for a bond as security before we start or continue supplying you. A bond is generally equivalent to about two months' expected charges, calculated on current spot market prices. Because spot prices move, if wholesale prices climb significantly we may talk with you about increasing your bond — this also helps you check that a spot market plan still suits you. We don't pay interest on bonds. We'll refund your bond after no more than 12 months of on-time payments, or when your account closes, less any amount you owe us.

If we can't offer you a contract

If we decline to sign you up — for example, if you don't meet our credit criteria — we'll tell you why, point you to an independent plan comparison tool (Powerswitch) to help you find another retailer, and direct you to support agencies that may be able to help.

Complaints and independent help

If something isn't right, please tell us first — call 07 595 0001 or use our contact form. Our complaints process is free, and we aim to resolve complaints within 20 working days.

If we can't resolve it together, you can contact Utilities Disputes — a free and independent dispute resolution scheme we belong to — on 0800 22 33 40, at info@udl.co.nz, or at udl.co.nz.

How we keep improving

We learn from complaints and customer feedback and use them to keep improving how we care for our customers, and we review this policy regularly.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your account? We're here Monday to Friday, 7:30am – 4:30pm.

Useful links and support

This Consumer Care Policy complies with the Consumer Care Obligations in Schedule 11A.1 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010. Last updated 9 July 2026.