Legals

Keeping it above board

Customer Care Policy

June 2024

We’ve created our Customer Care Policy in line with the Electricity Authority’s (EA) voluntary guidelines. It’s our commitment to you, as a Flick customer, to do our very best to support you and continually bring you top-notch service.

Through our Customer Care Policy, we aim to:

Provide you with the tools, tips and information that you need to make the most of the #FlickLife.
Let you know how we’ll communicate with you, and how you can get in touch with us.
Help you understand how we can support you during financial hardship or as a medically dependent customer.
Let you know our expectations of you as an awesome Flick customer.
Build a great relationship with you and learn how we can serve you better.

We’re a Kiwi company with a conscience

We have a voice, and we’re using it for good. We pride ourselves on being the company Kiwis come to because they want to see more change in their world. We stand with and beside all the people of New Zealand. Our solution is your solution. Your side is our side. We’re in this together.

We’re fighting for change in Aotearoa’s electricity market to make things better for Kiwis, their wallets, and the planet.

Our award-winning, human customer service team is based in the heart of Wellington, and we’re here for you, six days a week. With Flick, you’ll get kind and friendly service, but don't just take our word for it - we’re proud as punch to have received multiple customer service awards over the years, including Canstar Blue's Most Satisfied Customers Award 2020 & 2022 (Electricity Providers) and Consumer NZ’s People’s Choice award in 2017, 2018, 2020 & 2021.

Our customer service ethos

We give a Flick. We know that electricity is essential to the wellbeing of you and your whānau, and we’ll treat you with care and respect as we work together to support better outcomes for Kiwis.

We genuinely care for our customers
We connect with our customers on a personal level (you’re part of our Flick whānau, after all!), and we always strive to be respectful, compassionate, and honest.

Our customer experience is underpinned by our people and culture
We invest in the happiness and hauora of the people who look after our customers - our staff - so that they’re able to provide a friendly, helpful and efficient service.

We delight customers with exceptional service
We pride ourselves on doing right by our customers, and delivering a service that goes well above and beyond your expectations. Nothing run-of-the-mill here!

Customer experience is driven by feedback and customer choice
We listen. Our customer service team is based in Wellington, working alongside our technology team, armed with your feedback and ready to deliver you greater choice and control.

When you join Flick

We’re stoked to have you as part of our Flick whānau! First up, we need you to do some things for us:

Read, understand and accept our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Consumer Care Policy.
Understand our pricing plan options and make an informed choice on the plan that best suits your situation.
Let us know if anyone at the address we’ll be supplying electricity to is medically dependent on electricity. More on what this means later in this policy.
Provide us all the necessary details through our online join form to help us assess your application and sign you up as a customer.

If your application to join us has been unsuccessful, we’ll let you know:

The reason why the application has been declined.
Details of pricing plan comparison websites such as Powerswitch which can help you choose another retailer.

Getting the best out of Flick

We want you to get the most out of being a Flick customer. We’ll provide you with the tools, tips and information to make great energy choices.

Pricing and plans
We’ve created our plans to suit our customers' lifestyles. We’ll support you in making the right choice and provide recommendations if we think that you might not be on the best plan for your household. As part of our Flickin’ Best Plan Promise, we’ll proactively review your power usage every 90 days and check whether you’re on the best Flick plan for your household. If you can save money by changing to a different Flick plan, we’ll let you know - and if our review shows that you’re on the right plan for your usage, we’ll let you know that, too.

Flick tools
From our Bill Smoother, to our Carbon Tracker, to the Flick app and Flick dashboard, we’ve got all the tools you need to help you live your best #FlickLife. Check them all out here on our ‘Tools and Features’ page.

Flexible billing
You’re in control with Flick. Choose the payment method, billing frequency and power plan that best suits you, and change them whenever you want from your Flick dashboard. Easy.

FlickLife Friday
FlickLife Friday is our weekly e-newsletter featuring innovative tech, awesome Kiwis doing awesome things, market updates and a sneak-peek behind the scenes at Flick HQ. If you’re not receiving it in your inbox and want to, sign up here!

Social
We’re loud and proud on social media, including Facebook and Instagram. Keep an eye on our pages for epic giveaways, power-saving tips and all the latest industry info.

Our blog
Over the years we’ve collated lots of information to help our customers better understand the electricity industry, and how things work here at Flick. If you’re keen to stay in the know, head over to our blog and have a read!

How we communicate with you

Our track record of customer service speaks for itself. It’s important to us that you feel comfortable reaching out to us for help and we encourage you to let us know what you need from us. We promise to do everything we can to support you, and we’ll always treat you with dignity and respect.

Contacting you
We’ll be in touch from time to time to ensure that you’re getting the most out of being a Flickster. We’re a down-to-earth and friendly team, and our customers trust and value that. We work with our Flicksters, communicating clearly and openly to deliver the best outcomes for them.

Our main communication method is through email, so you’re required to have a valid email address to sign up with Flick. We use email to send out all billing and planned outage information. However, if we need to get in touch with you urgently, or we haven’t heard back from you, one of our friendly team may give you a call or text message.

Contacting Flick
We’re a small, local team based in Wellington and the best way to get in touch is by emailing us at hello@flickelectric.co.nz. Or you can call us on 0800 435 425 (+64 3 288 1288 from overseas) if you’d like to chat to a friendly voice. See our Contact Us page for our office hours.

Languages
Diversity is beautiful, and we’re proud to provide power to people of all cultures, backgrounds and languages here in Aotearoa. We’ll do everything we can to support you if English is not your first language. Our system allows you to list an alternative contact on your account who can act on your behalf if you’re having difficulty with our communications, and we also have an interpreter service available if needed.

Helping you if you're medically dependent

The EA defines a medically dependent customer as a customer who relies on mains electricity for critical medical support, and for whom the loss of electricity may cause death or serious injury.

Medical dependence on electricity could relate to medical equipment, such as a ventilator or renal haemodialysis machine, or other electrical equipment needed to support treatment, such as a microwave to heat fluids for renal dialysis.

The EA has more info on what this means here.

If you or anyone living with you at your home is dependent on electricity for medical reasons, it’s important you let us know so that we can make sure we’ve got this recorded in our system, and we provide you with the right level of support. We may ask you to provide proof of medical dependency at any time.

Our commitments to medically dependent customers:

You won’t be disconnected for non-payment of debt if you’ve been confirmed as being medically dependent by your doctor and the paperwork has been approved by us.
If you fall into arrears, we’ll work closely with you to assist you by referring you to social agencies that could help with your financial situation.
We’ll record your medical dependency status on our system to avoid any disconnection to your property.

Notifying us of your medically dependent status

When you complete our join form, you’ll be asked if you or anyone at the property is medically dependent on electricity - simply let us know at this stage, or by contacting us at any time via email or phone to advise us of your medical condition.

If you’ve identified yourself as being medically dependent, we’ll make note of this in our system and send you a medical form which must be filled in by your doctor, providing us with details of your medical condition. You’ll then need to send the medical form back to us within 40 days.

If we don’t receive the completed medical form from you, we’ll send you a reminder email letting you know that your medical status will be removed if the medical form isn’t completed.
If we still haven’t received your medical forms after 40 days of being issued to you, we’ll remove your medical status from our system.

Preparing for a power outage if you’re medically dependent

It’s important for all of us to be prepared for a power cut. But it’s especially important for our medically dependent customers to have a plan in place. Medically dependent customers need to have a plan that will give you access to some form of backup electricity, to ensure that any power cuts won’t be a risk to your health. You’ll need to chat about this with your doctor, as they (and probably your local District Health Board) will help you work out a plan should a power cut occur, which might include going to a family member’s house or using a generator. And, of course, don’t hesitate to contact your healthcare provider or call 1-1-1 if you’re concerned about the health of yourself or someone in your household during a power cut.

Helping you if you're a vulnerable customer

At Flick, we broadly define vulnerable customers as those encountering financial, health and functional vulnerability. It’s important to note that vulnerability is complex and can affect us all in many ways throughout the course of our lives. If you’re encountering any sort of vulnerability, we want to make sure that we’re identifying this as early as possible so that we can support you.

Our definition of vulnerability includes, and is not limited to:

Financial vulnerability – including difficulties with cash flow, covering all expenses, or needing to significantly limit power use to cover other bills.
Health vulnerability – including those for whom loss of power at their property may pose a threat to their health or well-being, and health risks related to age, health or disability. Please note: this is distinguished from medically dependent customers who rely on electricity for critical medical support to prevent serious harm to health. Medically dependent customers are captured in the separate ‘Medically dependent customer’ category above.
Functional vulnerability – including any situation that causes a customer difficulty
to interact or pay for services, due to cognitive ability, literacy skills, language, communication skills, physical or intellectual disability, time available, grief and stress.
Make sure you let us know if you experience any sort of vulnerability or need any support – that way we can help!

Preparing for a power outage if you have a health vulnerability

If you have a health vulnerability and you’re concerned about being without power for any length of time, it’s a great idea to familiarise yourself with close neighbours so that you can call on them for help if you need it. It’s a great idea to be prepared because a power outage can strike when you least expect it – make sure you’ve got a torch or other light source handy, as well as lots of warm blankets (especially in the chilly winter months). And, if you’re feeling at all concerned, head over to our website and find your local lines company – they’ll have all the info about what’s going on if there is a power cut.

Helping you if you have difficulty paying your bills

Sometimes life happens, and that can make things hard if you’ve got bills to pay. We get it - we're humans, and we've been there too.

Our commitments:

We’re a compassionate and understanding crew, and we’re here to help.
We’ll work with you to find a way to pay off any outstanding balances to us. This might include additional time to pay large bills or holding a payment until your next pay comes in.
We understand how hard it can be to keep up with bill payments and that’s why we don’t charge late payment fees.

Our expectations:

Talk to us as soon as you think you might have difficulty paying a bill. This gives us time to work with you to find the best solution before any debt builds up, or you incur unnecessary bank fees for failed payments.
We expect you to engage with us in good faith to avoid or minimise non-payment issues.
We’ll need you to work with us to come to an arrangement to reduce any outstanding balance over time. If that’s not possible due to personal circumstances, you’ll allow us to seek financial support on your behalf.

Missing a bill payment
Step 1: It’s important for you to get in touch with us as soon as you know that you won’t be able to meet a payment, or a payment has been missed – we’re here to help and get you back on track as soon as possible. We’ll go through the options to help you catch up on the missed payments, and we’ll also check you’re on the best pricing plan for your situation.

We’ll ensure that your arrangement is kept in place on the condition that your future bills are successfully deducted when the bills are due.

Step 2: If we don’t hear from you – you’ll receive an email reminder that the payment is overdue along with some helpful information on budgeting services and other options available to you if you need them. We’ll try to reach you by phone if we don’t hear from you, and if you’re not available we’ll leave a voicemail message.

Step 3: If we still can’t reach you by phone – we may send a contractor to your property to check that everything is OK, and this service incurs a $125 fee. At this stage, it’s super important you contact us to make an arrangement for repayment. As always, you can expect that we’ll treat you with dignity and respect, and we’ll work with you to get the financial support you need.

Step 4: If no arrangement is made for repayment or referral to Social Services are not taken up – you may receive a final notice. If you receive a final notice, it means that disconnection is close.

• We’ll give you a minimum of 10 days notice before your power is turned off, along with a final pre-disconnection notice at least 24-hours prior to turning off the power.

• We won’t disconnect you on a Friday, the day before a public holiday, or in instances where a same-day reconnection would be difficult.

Disconnection of your power is the absolute last resort and not something we do lightly. We’ll reconnect the property as soon as the outstanding balance is cleared, or if anyone on site is subsequently identified as being potentially medically dependent.

What other support is available?
With your permission, we can link you to social agencies to assist you during energy hardship, including:

WINZ
Budgeting support
The New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services on 0508 283 438 for advice on bill management
Money Talks on 0800 345 123 or https://www.moneytalks.co.nz/ for free and confidential budgeting advice.

How you can make a complaint

Our internal disputes process is in place to help resolve any issues or complaints. To register your complaint please contact our team on 0800 435 425 (or +64 3 288 1288 if you’re overseas) or email complaints@flickelectric.co.nz. If, for some reason, we’re unable to resolve your complaint within 20 working days, you can take your complaint to Utilities Disputes Limited at info@utilitiesdisputes.co.nz.

To discuss any privacy-related issues or questions you can contact our in-house Privacy Officer at privacy.officer@flickelectric.co.nz. Our Privacy Policy is available for you to read at any time.

Our fees

You won’t find any fees for late payment on our fee schedule. Energy hardship is a real issue for many households in Aotearoa, and we don’t believe it’s fair or right to penalise customers for missing a payment.

We also set our fees at a level so that we’re only recovering the costs which we incur in providing the service - nothing more.

Reconnection/Disconnection Request
Remote – Business Hours: $25 After Hours: N/A
Manual – Business Hours: $110 After Hours: $235

Tariff Change
Remote – Business Hours: $25 After Hours: N/A
Manual – Business Hours: $170 After Hours: $250

Site Visits
Field Site Investigation – Business Hours: $100 After Hours: N/A
Credit – Business Hours: $125 After Hours: N/A

Metering
Meter Relocation – Business Hours: $175 After Hours: $255
Meter Replacement – Business Hours: $175 After Hours: $255
Meter Reseal – Business Hours: $175 After Hours: $255
Decommission – Business Hours: $155 After Hours: $235
Meter Test – Business Hours: $200 After Hours: $280
EG Meter Replacement – Business Hours: $175 After Hours: $255

Faults (If Internal Fault)
Fault Call Out – Business Hours: $100 After Hours: $180
Tampering – Business Hours: $100 After Hours: $180
No Comms – Business Hours: $175 After Hours: $255
Fault to the Meter – Business Hours: Free of charge After Hours: $80

Additional
Turndown (Missed Appointment, Wiring not completed) – Business Hours: N/A After Hours: Full Job Fee

What our Flick whānau has to say

We work hard to make sure we’re doing the very best we can for our customers. We aim to provide a service that goes above and beyond, because that’s exactly what we want in an electricity provider, too! So, how are we doing? Here’s what a few of our Flicksters have to say about being with Flick:

“Hi Flicksters, thanks for providing your service. I really enjoy being part of a group that cares for the environment as well as for their customers.”
"I cannot recommend Flick enough to all my friends and family! The service has been absolutely faultless for the past 2 ½ years that I have had Flick as my power provider so I do want to express my appreciation - thanks for that!”
“Morgan was absolutely brilliant this evening when we phoned to see what was involved in changing over to Flick for our power. We have just moved house and wanted to change power suppliers. Her explanation of the service and how much we can be saving by changing over to Flick, reading our bill, making payments, using 'Volt' (Bill Smoother). Morgan made the whole process an enjoyable one. Well done Morgan. Five-star service."
“Thanks Flick for being awesome, and pushing the big guys around. Keep doing what you're doing.”
“I've been a Flick customer for some time and really enjoy reading the market update blog. It's been great to hear the hard work you guys have been putting in to make the entire electricity marketer fairer."