Contact Energy has given 1,000 Kiwi families with newborn babies a small but powerful gift when they need it most, by providing them with three months of free power.

On 21 March, Contact invited customers who have had – or are soon to have – a newborn baby join their family to receive a “fourth trimester” of free power. Within 24 hours and 48 minutes all 1000 spots were snapped up.

Contact’s Chief Retail Officer Matt Bolton was delighted but not surprised by how quickly the offer was taken up by Contact’s customers. “We know it takes a lot of energy to raise a newborn. We can’t help our customers with babies’ sleep patterns, but we can provide them with the energy to keep them and their families warm and healthy. This is just one small way we can help make home the best place it can be.

“We want to improve home life for New Zealanders and the Fourth Trimester initiative helps our newest pēpi and their whānau get through an incredibly overwhelming period. It’s nice to deliver meaningful, tangible benefits to these families.”

Contact saw whānau from up and down the motu rush to apply for the Fourth Trimester – the first sign-up at 4.04pm on Monday 21 March was in Dunedin and the final spot was snapped up in Auckland at 4.48pm on Tuesday 22 March.

Mr Bolton said Contact had “a renewed focus” on delivering its promise to build a better future for Aotearoa. He said that throughout 2022, Contact would deliver new social initiatives to help New Zealanders, including the most vulnerable, have a better home life.

“Fourth Trimester is one small way we are working to ensure Kiwi whānau feel warmer, safer and happier at home. We hope to be able to deliver these amazing benefits to more New Zealanders in future as we help to create the best homes in the world.”

He said Contact expected the 1000 families with newborns would receive more than 2 million hours of free energy over the three months. “It’s a good start, and we hope to extend the programme beyond this initial group in the future too.”