Here to help
Electricity is essential to the wellbeing of you and your whānau, so if you're facing any sort of financial, health or functional vulnerability, we're here to help.
Vulnerability is complex and can affect us all in many ways throughout the course of our lives, and we want to make sure that we're giving you the assistance you need, when you need it.
Our Customer Care Policy outlines our commitment to you, as a Flick customer, to do our very best to support you and continually bring you top-notch service. Our policy complies with the Consumer Care Obligations set by the Electricity Authority.
If you have any questions about our Consumer Care Policy or our compliance with the Consumer Care Obligations, fill in the form on our Contact Us page or phone us on 0800 435 425.
Having trouble paying your power bill?
Sometimes life – and a cost-of-living crisis – throws challenges your way, and that can make it hard to keep on top of your electricity bills. We get it, and that's a big reason why we don't charge late payment fees or exit fees.
Our priority is to do right by you, so if you think you might have difficulty paying a bill, email our Payments team as soon as you can so that we can help.
We'll work with you to:
Find a payment option that fits with your needs
Help you to keep your power bill to a minimum
Check you're on the best pricing plan for your situation
Set up our Bill Smoother tool to help make your power bills easier to manage
Seek financial support on your behalf, if you need us to
It's really important that you communicate with us so that we know what's happening in your world, and we're giving you the support you need.
Are you medically dependent on electricity?
If you or someone in your home, either staying with you temporarily or permanently, is dependent on electricity for medical reasons and the loss of electricity may cause serious harm, it's critical that you let us know. You can read more about how the Electricity Authority defines medical dependency on their website.
We'll record it on your account so that we do our best to ensure that you continue to have power and can advise you of any planned or unplanned disruptions to your power supply.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you think you or anyone living with you is medically dependent. You can do this by:
Calling us on 0800 435 425; or
Completing a Medical Dependency form, which you can download from the link below, complete, and return to us by email at hello@flickelectric.co.nz.
Please ensure that the entire form is completed, including the section that needs to be filled in and signed by the medically dependent individual’s health practitioner (usually a doctor).
If you have any questions about medical dependency or the form above, fill in the form on our Contact Us page or phone us on 0800 435 425 and we'll guide you through it.
You can find more helpful info for Medically Dependent customers in our blog here.
Helping you communicate with us
We're proud to provide power to people of all cultures, backgrounds and languages here in Aotearoa.
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, or if you need help communicating with us.
To help you communicate with us, you can appoint an alternate contact person, or a support person to your Flick account.
An alternate contact person is someone we'll reach out to if we can't get in touch with you when we need to. They can also help you communicate with us in certain situations, like if you're having trouble paying a bill. This person can be a family member, friend, or your nominated support person.
A support person is someone that can help you communicate with us, providing support to you in situations where you’ve let us know you’d like to involve them. They can also engage with us directly to discuss anything on your account, but they won’t be authorised to make any changes to the account.
For our medically dependent individuals, we can reach out to the nominated alternate contact or support person if we can't reach out you in the event of any planned or unplanned power outages.
If you’d like to appoint an alternate contact person or support person and have this added to your Flick account, call us on 0800 435 425 to tell us their name and contact details. Before you do this, please make sure you have their permission to nominate them and share their information with us.
We also have an interpreter service available if you need it.
Helping you through
There's lots of support available to make life a little easier – please know you're not alone.
Work and Income NZ
WINZ might be able to help you cover your energy bills by providing you with financial assistance. You can contact them on 0800 559 009 to find out if you're eligible. We can chat with WINZ on your behalf if you’ve given us approval to do so.
Use MyMSD to book a time for someone to call you, or call them for general enquiries on 0800 559 009.
Money Talks
This free service offers everything: connections with local food banks, guidance on WINZ processes and entitlements and help managing finances and debt. You can contact them on 0800 345 123.
GenLess
A great place to find tips and tricks on how to use your electricity efficiently and save money on your power bills.
Get in touch with them through their online contact form.
The New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services
Get in touch with them on 0508 283 438 for advice on bill management.
Resolving complaints
When we say we give a Flick, we mean it, and we want to make sure we’re doing right by our customers. If, for any reason, you have a complaint or dispute with us, let us know as soon as possible so that we can do our best to resolve it.
Contact our team by email at complaints@flickelectric.co.nz or phone us on 0800 435 425 (+64 3 288 1288 if you're overseas), and we’ll take you through our free internal complaints process.
You can read about the steps involved in this process in our Terms and Conditions under section 14, ‘Resolution process and contact details’.
If we’re unable to resolve your complaint within 20 working days, you can take your complaint to Utilities Disputes, who provide a free independent complaints resolution service. They’re available to chat on 0800 22 33 40.
For 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.
FAQs
What is 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.
What is a 'medically dependent' customer?
A medically dependent customer is someone 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.