Contact PrePay

To be eligible, you need to:

• Be a residential customer on electricity supply only.
• Have a mobile phone in order to receive text alerts.
• Be set up for email correspondence.
• Have an eligible and actively communicating smart meter.

Subject to satisfactory credit check. When you sign up, we’ll check all of this and let you know if you’re eligible. 

 

Medically dependent customers:

If you are medically dependent on electricity, for safety reasons we strongly recommend that you do not use Contact PrePay. To avoid the risk of self-disconnection, post-pay is the better option. If you still want to choose PrePay, please discuss this with your health practitioner for their advice. Please phone us on 0800 80 9000 to discuss.

 

Contact PrePay is not available:

• In conjunction with SmoothPay and ControlPay.
• On unmetered contracts that are jointly or collectively owned.
• On Time of Use contracts.
• For properties with an unacceptable level of vacant consumption (as determined by us).
• For customers with distributed generation.
• For customers who also receive gas and/or broadband from us at the same property.

Contact PrePay is available on most electricity plans including fixed term plans, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria. You’ll also be able to take advantage of most of the offers associated with the plan you choose, such as dollars off your bill.

Broadband discounts are not available with Contact PrePay.

• Fees apply to all payments made by credit or debit card. As text top-ups are only made by credit/debit card, fees apply to every top-up you make.
• There are no disconnection and reconnection fees for Contact PrePay customers (except for the initial reconnection of a vacant property that has been disconnected).
• We won't charge you for text notifications/alerts we send you.
• There is no joining fee or bond required.

No. Our Contact PrePay electricity rates and daily charges are the same as they normally are for whatever plan you choose.

You can do this:

• Online (through My Account or directly on our website)
• On the Contact app
• By text

And pay using:

• Credit card or debit card (payment fees apply)
• Internet or telephone banking
• Automatic payment

Payments may take up to one business day to process and be applied to your PrePay balance.

 

How much do I need to top-up?

Your first top-up amount must be at least $30. There is no minimum amount for subsequent top-ups, however, if you receive a low balance disconnection alert or when you have been disconnected, you must top-up so that your balance is at least $30 in credit. There is no limit to how often you can top-up.

This will depend on the payment method:

• Credit/debit card payments will be applied in a couple of hours (this includes text top-up).
• Phone/internet banking and automatic payments will be processed on the next business day. Note: Payments made on the weekend won’t display until Tuesday.

We’ll notify you by text when your balance is low. If you get a low-balance disconnection alert, you must top-up that day, ensuring your account is in credit by at least $30, to avoid disconnection.

You can check your balance anytime via:

• Online by signing into My Account
• Contact app

 

How to check your power usage

You can access your usage by navigating to the Usage menu item in the app or My Account.

 

Electricity and broadband

For electricity and broadband, you will be able to view monthly, daily and hourly usage. You'll always see your monthly usage first, and can choose daily, or hourly using the buttons at the bottom of the screen. There is also a toggle to see your usage in dollars as well as kWh.

The meter data can take a few days to load, so your usage graph will be a few days behind your current consumption.

 

Standard or non-communicating meters 

If you have a standard or non-communicating meter, you can see your monthly usage in kilowatts only. 

 

To view different usage periods

You can select different months on the usage graph to see different usage periods, and if you wish to view daily usage for a month, just tap on the month bar and click ‘day’ or ‘hour’ at the bottom of the page.

It may take a few days before you’ll start to see your balance reduce to reflect your power consumption, as it takes a few days to set up your account.

No. Because this is a PrePay service, you won't receive power bills.

If you run out of electricity, it’s easy to get reconnected. Simply pay the full amount owing and top up your account so your balance is at least $30 in credit. Then call us 0800 266 861 during our call centre hours (7am–6pm Monday to Friday). For your safety, someone over the age of 18 years must be at home to get reconnected.

In most cases, reconnection will happen the same day you request it, as long as it’s during our call centre hours. Reconnections outside of these hours may take longer. While you are disconnected any charges that are billed daily will still apply.

You will get a refund of the credit on your account when:

• We are unable to sign you on to Contact PrePay
• You end your Contact PrePay service with us and/or switch to another retailer.

Any other refunds are at our discretion.

If you move back to post-pay or you switch to another electricity provider, a final bill will be sent.