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.
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 is dependent on electricity for medical reasons, it's critical that you let us know. We'll record it on your account so that we can advise you of any disruptions to your power supply.
You and your doctor will need to complete a Medical Dependency Form, and together you'll need to create a backup plan in case of any power outages at your property.
Download a Medical Dependency form here.
To chat with our Customer Team about your medical dependency, fill in the form on our Contact Us page or phone us on 0800 435 425 and we'll talk you through the process.
You can find more helpful info for Medically Dependent customers in our blog here.
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 energy bills. We can chat with WINZ on your behalf if you’ve given us approval to do so.
Money Talks
This free service offers everything: connections with local food banks, guidance on WINZ processes and entitlements and help managing finances and debt.
GenLess
A great place to find tips and tricks on how to use your electricity efficiently and save money on your power bills.
1737
Whatever it is, the team at 1737 are available to chat any time, 24 hours a day. You'll be able to talk to (or text with) a trained counsellor or talk to a peer support worker.
Helping you communicate with us
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.
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.
We also have an interpreter service available.
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.