This is a breakdown of an average household electricity bill. This is from the Electricity Authority where you can find other useful information. 

Generation - Producing the electricity you use. 

Transmission - Building and maintaining the national electricity grid which moves electricity around New Zealand. 

Distribution - Building and maintaining the power lines that deliver electricity from the grid to your local area, and then to your home. 

Metering - Reading and maintaining your electricity meter. 

Retail - The operating costs of the retailer you’re with. That’s us! 

GST - New Zealand’s Goods and Services Tax. GST is 15% of the pre-GST cost, which equates to 13% of the GST-inclusive amount. 

Levies - Organisations who operate the electricity market, including the Electricity Authority. 

This is a breakdown of an average household broadband bill and is indicative only. 

Network or local fibre company – The network costs for connecting your home to the world through infrastructure like fibre or copper cables, or cellular towers.  

Retail - The operating costs of the retailer you’re with. That’s us! 

GST - New Zealand’s Goods and Services Tax. GST is 15% of the pre-GST cost, which equates to 13% of the GST-inclusive amount. 

This is a breakdown of an average household gas bill and is indicative only. 

Wholesale gas and carbon – Natural gas is produced from fields in the Taranaki region. Gas is purchased from the wholesale market. Carbon credits are also purchased to offset the emissions. 

Transmission – Gas is processed and goes into a network of transmission pipelines transporting gas across the North Island. 

Distribution - The regional network has pipes that deliver gas from the transmission pipelines to your local area, and then to your home. 

Retail - The operating costs of the retailer you’re with. That’s us! 

GST - New Zealand’s Goods and Services Tax. GST is 15% of the pre-GST cost, which equates to 13% of the GST-inclusive amount. 

Other - Including reading and maintaining your gas meter and levies or fees charged by regulators to cover their costs. 

Here's a full list of our service fees.

You can view your usage in the Contact app or through MyAccount online. (Residential customers only)

Here are some instructions on how to find your usage once you get there.

Find out why your payment may not be showing up.

Go to your digital bill in My Account.

If your bill is based on an estimate, there will be a note at the top: “All or part of this bill is based on estimated usage.” 

If you have both gas and electricity, each section will be labelled showing what is based on an estimated reading, or an actual read.  

On your paper or PDF bill, you’ll see a note – ‘estimated reading’. It will be next to “Electricity reading type”.  Above this, we’ll let you know when to expect your next meter read. 

Smart meter – If your bill was due to be sent when there was a power cut, our automated system will have given an estimate based on how much power you normally use.  

Standard meters – If you were due to have your meter read, our meter readers may not have been able to visit your property, such as when there is severe weather.

See the difference between smart and standard meters.

You can submit a meter reading in My Account. 

All about understanding your broadband charges

The quickest way to view your bill is to sign into My Account.

Once you have signed in, go to the View bill page and you’ll see the amount due and the due date, as well as the details of your most recent charges. From here you can also download your PDF invoice, or previous invoices by clicking on the Previous bills tab. See our PDF invoice explainer.

As well as your digital bill, we’ll send you your PDF invoice via email or post. Please note, if you opt to have your bill posted to you, there is a fee for each paper bill posted to you.

Sign in or register for My Account.

You can check which plan you’re on by signing into My Account.

Here you’ll see the name of your current plan and any additional services that you have, like broadband or gas.

You can also find the name of your plan on your PDF bill. It is not shown on your digital bill.

There are a few reasons why your bill might be lower than normal. 

• You’ve been spending less time at home at home than usual, or had people move out/away.
• The weather has warmed up so you’re using the heater less often.
• Your recent bills have been estimated ones or cover a shorter period than what you’re used to.

If none of these things ring true, or you have something else you’d like to chat through, please get in touch. We know that a low bill can sometimes mean a customer is limiting the amount of electricity being used as they may find it difficult to pay bills. If you are worried about this, here are some options we have to help you.

To monitor your energy usage, sign in to My Account and visit the ‘My Usage’ page to see your energy usage by the hour, day or month. (The usage graph usually takes a day or two to update, so you won’t be able to see what you got up to yesterday.)

All about:

• what causes high bills
• How do I view my usage
• how to keep energy costs down.

There’s lots of reasons why energy bills are more in winter. Anything that heats or cools something will use more electricity or gas. Even if you don’t turn on the heater often, there’s other ways your energy consumption may go up in winter.  

We tend to use more electricity and gas in winter to:  

• keep warm using heaters and electric blankets, and taking hot showers  
• cook hot meals and make hot drinks 
• keep the lights on for longer with less daylight hours 
• do more at home instead of going out – watch tv, cook more  
• dry the laundry in a tumble dryer 
• heat water – hot water cylinders and spas use more energy to keep the water warm in cooler temperatures  

You can watch how much energy you’re using in My Account or our app. The dollar usage graph shows when you’ve used the energy and how much it cost. See more about the dollar usage graphs.  

See our energy saving tips to help keep your energy costs down.  

The GenLess website also has great information about being your energy use down.

Find out which of your appliances use the most energy.

There’s a couple of reasons why your bill may cover a longer period than it usually does:  

• You’ve moved in or out of a property – this may increase the bill period from 30 days to 45 days.  
• A delay to your meter reading – occasionally there may be an issue with getting your meter reading.  

If you need it, we may be able to give you extra time to pay your bill or set up an instalment plan for payment. Find out what do to if you can’t pay your bill or need more time to pay.  

Find out why it appears you have been charged twice for your broadband.

All about what you can do if you're having trouble paying your bill.

There’s lots of different ways you can pay your bill:  

• Direct debit – this is the easiest way to pay. You can set up a regular payment to cover the full amount each month when your bill is due. Find out more on Set up a direct debit or How to change your direct debit.
  
• Internet banking – How do I pay my bill using internet banking.
• Card – you can make a one-off Credit Card by signing into My Account or on our app. (Card processing fee applies). 
• In person - you can pay by cash or eftpos at an NZ Post Shop. There’s a charge for paying over the counter. This is added to your next bill. Make sure to bring a printed copy of your bill in with you. 
• SmoothPay – this evens out your energy payments throughout the year. We’ll direct debit the same amount from your bank account on your bill payment date. All about SmoothPay.

Find out what to do if:

• you can't pay your bill
• your direct debit has bounced
• you've tried to pay but are having trouble  
• you have already paid but can't find a missing payment
• you paid the wrong account
• you need support

You can see the due date and the amount due on your bill in My Account.

We have different billing options to suit you.

You can choose to pay your energy bills weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Monthly billing

Monthly billing is based around when we get your meter reading. Once we have your meter reading we'll create your bill and the due date is 14 days from then.

If you have a regular payment method set up, like direct debit or SmoothPay, you’d need to get in touch to change your payment date.

Weekly / Fortnightly billing

For these options you’d need to be on a direct debit and the balance will be direct debited 3 business days after the bill has been created. These options also mean you can align your payments with when you get paid if you want to.

Please note, customers with broadband are unable to choose Weekly or Fortnightly billing.

Monthly billing

Monthly billing is based around when we get your meter reading. Once we have your meter reading we'll create your bill and the due date is 14 days from then.

If you have a regular payment method set up, like direct debit or SmoothPay, you’ll need to get in touch to change your payment date.  


Weekly / Fortnightly billing

As you're on a direct debit, the balance will be direct debited 3 business days after the bill has been created.

If you need more time to pay your bill, please get in touch. We’re here to help.

If you have a credit on your account, and meet our eligibility criteria, you can request a refund via our mobile app, My Account, (on our website) or over the phone via our automated voice service.

To be eligible for a refund you should: 

• have a credit balance on your account of at least the refund amount 
• have no outstanding balance across any of your accounts with us 
• not be on SmoothPay or ControlPay 
• have a bill based on an actual meter reading rather than an estimate 

Refunds under $300 usually arrive in your bank account within two days, but they can take up to five business days to appear. 

Refunds over $300 will be processed within five business days 

To see if your refund has been approved you can check your transactions on the Our Apps or My Account online on the dashboard or by selecting ‘view bill’ from the menu. 

Refunds are generally processed within five business days as long as you meet the eligibility criteria. If you haven’t received your refund you may not be eligible. 

Things that may prevent a refund from being processed: 

• You have requested the refund of a network dividend or sign-up credit 
• You are on SmoothPay or ControlPay
• A refund has already been requested and is being processed 
• A bill has been issued on your account before the refund could be processed 
• You have not had a recent reading on your meter in the last 90 days 

If it’s been more than five days and you haven’t received your refund, you can contact us on Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to follow up.

SmoothPay is designed to spread the payments on your account over the year which means you should have a credit on your account in the warmer months. We do not generally offer a refund on credit amounts if you are on SmoothPay.

You can still request a refund online via My Account or via our app, and we will check if we can approve the refund without impacting your repayments. We will not approve the refund if it reduces your balance below the amount needed to cover your payments over the year.  

If your refund request does not get approved, you can cancel SmoothPay but you will not be able to rejoin for a 12-month period and will need to pay your bills another way. 

Customers on ControlPay cannot get refunds.  

SmoothPay refunds will be processed within five working days.

To see your refund:  

• log in to My Account
• open the main menu 
• select ‘View Bill’  

You’ll see your approved refund in your transaction list.