Electric Kiwi faults line - how to find it and what to do in an outage

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#1845926 13-Aug-2017 17:19

Friends of ours joined Electric Kiwi on our recommendation. I just got a message from these friends saying "help, the power's out, Electric Kiwi doesn't have a phone number we can call and the lines company says we have to call our power company". I gave them the right number of course.

Since my rather vigorous complaint Electric Kiwi haven't done a thing to make it easier for their customers when they have faults. There's no easy "call us on this number if you have a problem". That's really poor.

I wonder if there's a complaints system for the electricity industry.

Aredwood

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#1846004 13-Aug-2017 19:52

Contact Utilities Disputes

timmmay

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#1846022 13-Aug-2017 20:10

It's not really a dispute, more a complaint about them making faults difficult to access.

timmmay

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#1846048 13-Aug-2017 21:15

I just heard back from my friends. They called the number on the Electric Kiwi website for the Wellington area "Phone: 0800 THE KIWI (843 5494)", who told them they don't deal with Wellington faults. They asked them to call Wellington Electricity, who won't generally deal with the public. It's only when my friends told Wellington Electricity they have a baby under one who needs to have bottles sterilized and milk warmed anything was done.

This is atrocious service from Electric Kiwi. Even their own faults line won't help their customers. Something needs to be done.

linw

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#1846112 14-Aug-2017 06:21

Agreed, ridiculous situation. Just seems weird that EK can't see this.

gregmcc

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#1846113 14-Aug-2017 06:29

It's not really to hard to deal with, simply switch providers, if you have a fixed contract this would be a justified out without any extra charges.

timmmay

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#1846114 14-Aug-2017 06:34

gregmcc:

It's not really to hard to deal with, simply switch providers, if you have a fixed contract this would be a justified out without any extra charges.

Agree, but they have plenty of customers and they should provide a decent fault service. I'll switch at some point I'll switch back to Flick because of this, when prices stabilise. If it wasn't for this I'd have stayed with EK, because I'm a bit tired of watching prices on Flick.

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jamesrobert

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#1846162 14-Aug-2017 09:27

what is wrong with using the phone book?

jamesrobert

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#1846164 14-Aug-2017 09:29

The website looks pretty comprehensive to me....

https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/contact-us#outages

timmmay

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#1846166 14-Aug-2017 09:29

jamesrobert: what is wrong with using the phone book?

I haven't had a phone book in years. Maybe a decade.

Anyway, the problem isn't that there's no number to call, it's that Electric Kiwi doesn't seem to provide a faults service in Wellington outside business hours. They think that Wellington Electricity provides the fault service, but they require consumers to go through their power company. So the only way to get faults fixed with EK is to call them during business hours, or appeal to Wellington Electricity to go outside their process.

If you're going to comment @jamesrobert, particularly when you're stating the obvious in a way as to imply the person asking the question is stupid, please read the whole thread first.

MikeB4

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#1846171 14-Aug-2017 09:43

I was looking at changing to these guys now I have the time o manage my account. Their obvious lack of support or customer care means I will not be giving them my hard earned dollars.

jonathan18

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#1846177 14-Aug-2017 09:52

jamesrobert: what is wrong with using the phone book?

@jamesrobert, I notice your avatar is the Electric Kiwi logo - just wondering if this indicates you have a connection to the company?

clive100

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#1846221 14-Aug-2017 10:48

Since when is the retailer liable for the supply of electricity ? Surely that is the local distribution company's purpose & ultimate responsibilty. EK provide the details to the consumer telling them which distribution company operates in each area but if that company don't answer the phone outside of normal business hours what can you reasonably expect EK to do about it ? Surely the issue is with Wellington Electricity not EK.

MikeB4

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#1846226 14-Aug-2017 10:53

An example is, if your Internet connection is down do you ring Chorus or do you ring your ISP? The company that is billing you for power should provide the support font end. Like Chorus WE will not deal direct they deal with the supply company

timmmay

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#1846250 14-Aug-2017 11:09

clive100:

Since when is the retailer liable for the supply of electricity ? Surely that is the local distribution company's purpose & ultimate responsibilty. EK provide the details to the consumer telling them which distribution company operates in each area but if that company don't answer the phone outside of normal business hours what can you reasonably expect EK to do about it ? Surely the issue is with Wellington Electricity not EK.

Wellington Electric are the ones that say on their website you shouldn't contact them directly, that you should contact your power company.

"For individual or smaller outages we rely on customers to immediately call their electricity retailer and advise them that the power has gone out.

...

However, if you continue to be without power once all your neighbours have been restored, please call your electricity retailer and advise them that you are still without power."

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