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

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Master Geek
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#1846261 14-Aug-2017 11:19

MikeB4:

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

Fair comment but if your Internet goes down your ISP provider does not operate a 24hr phone service & when (if) they answer the phone all they can do is ask some questions & if its turns out its a modem then wait 2-3 days for a replacement to arrive. If it's a chorus issue wait even longer.

When your power goes out. Is it you or the whole street ? If it's the whole street then EK can't fix it. If it's within your own boundary EK still can't fix it so call a sparky ! Some effort on the part of the consumer should be expected to assertain where the fault may lie & who to contact first.

MikeB4

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#1846264 14-Aug-2017 11:23

clive100:

MikeB4:

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

Fair comment but if your Internet goes down your ISP provider does not operate a 24hr phone service & when (if) they answer the phone all they can do is ask some questions & if its turns out its a modem then wait 2-3 days for a replacement to arrive. If it's a chorus issue wait even longer.

When your power goes out. Is it you or the whole street ? If it's the whole street then EK can't fix it. If it's within your own boundary EK still can't fix it so call a sparky ! Some effort on the part of the consumer should be expected to assertain where the fault may lie & who to contact first.

EK's point of contact in Wellington is WE, the consumers point of contact in wellington is EK. However EK provides numbers for WE or whomever the Lines company is and don't run a 24/7 support. That is extremely poor customer support.

jamesrobert

90 posts

Master Geek

#1846270 14-Aug-2017 11:33

Plenty of hysteria here. If you lose power, check your neighbours, try the radio. If it is just your place and you haven't got a phone book, your neighbour is bound to have one. Otherwise, just wait and it is sure to be fixed.

(Not connected to the company, just a satisfied customer)

jamesrobert

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Master Geek

#1846275 14-Aug-2017 11:39

Not sure where the implication of stupid occurred.....

MikeB4

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#1846276 14-Aug-2017 11:46

@jamesrobert when one is disabled and or ill it is NOT hysteria it can be a matter of life or death.

jamesrobert

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Master Geek

#1846279 14-Aug-2017 11:53

Wow. I don't have a reply for that one. But getting back to the original post, I would suggest that the same scenario would apply regardless of the power company that you are with?

(PS: I am also disabled, and have the parking permit to prove it)

djtOtago

1149 posts

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#1846283 14-Aug-2017 12:15

The main problem as I read it from previous posts, is it appears Electric Kiwi are giving out the wrong information when you ring to report a fault. In the Wellington area at least.

In the Wellington area you have to report faults to your electricity retailer.

As stated on Wellington electricity's web site.
"For individual or smaller outages we rely on customers to immediately call their electricity retailer and advise them that the power has gone out"
and
"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."

If you ring Electric Kiwi to report a fault they are tell you to ring Wellington Electricity which is wrong.

Other areas, like Hawkes Bay for example, you do report faults to the lines company (for Hawkes bay that is Unision), but in Wellington you are supposed to report them to your Electricity retailer.

It appears EKs call center do not know who has responsibility for fault reporting / handling in each area.

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timmmay

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#1846310 14-Aug-2017 13:13

jamesrobert: Plenty of hysteria here. If you lose power, check your neighbours, try the radio. If it is just your place and you haven't got a phone book, your neighbour is bound to have one. Otherwise, just wait and it is sure to be fixed.

(Not connected to the company, just a satisfied customer)

Clearly you don't understand the problem here. I'll try to explain it again.

Finding a phone number is not a problem. The problem is on the website, though it's quite difficult to find especially if you're using a mobile. Plus Electric Kiwi is probably so new they may not be in the phone book. They may only be in the Auckland phone book. I have no idea. Plus when we had an outage at 5am you can't really go bother the neighbor.

Electric Kiwi say in an outage, call Wellington Electric to fix it.

When you call Wellington Electric they say call Electric Kiwi.

What we have here is a loop where no-one takes responsibility for an outage.

An outage is a major problem when you have young children. They need warmth, they need bottles cleaned, they need milk and food heated. It's not quite life an death here, but it's fairly important.

James, I suggest this a thread you don't need to participate in further. Your input so far hasn't been particularly constructive.

dfnt

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#1846318 14-Aug-2017 13:25

Agreed, not sure how he can't comprehend what the issue is here.

Almost every other electricity retailer facilitate the faults process 24/7, whereas Electric Kiwi clearly don't

No one is asking EK to fix the fault, they merely want the ability to LOG the fault through to the electricity provider e.g. WE

timmmay

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#1846444 14-Aug-2017 15:15

Electric Kiwi has come back and said they do log faults in the Wellington area, and that their weekend team didn't follow procedure. They're going to look into what happened and get back to my friend in a few days, and they'll give me general procedure information - of course they can't breach privacy and discuss my friends case with me.

So that's a positive development - EK acceptance that they do have to provide a 24/7 faults service in Wellington.

jamesrobert

90 posts

Master Geek

#1846446 14-Aug-2017 15:17

You are still missing the point. If you lose your power, there is no point in ringing Electric Kiwi, or any other supplier. They won't be fixing it, the local lines company will. I would suggest that bringing up the argument of young children needing warmth is not constructive either.

dfnt

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#1846449 14-Aug-2017 15:22

jamesrobert: You are still missing the point. If you lose your power, there is no point in ringing Electric Kiwi, or any other supplier. They won't be fixing it, the local lines company will. I would suggest that bringing up the argument of young children needing warmth is not constructive either.

Sorry, but you're the one missing the point here. No one is expecting EK or any other retailer to fix the fault.

What they're expecting is EK to log the fault through to the local lines company, in this case Wellington Electricity, as WE insist they don't deal directly with the consumer and request you log the fault through the retailer.

If WE allowed you to log faults directly with them, this thread would be a non issue.

Really not sure how you fail to see this.

jamesrobert

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Master Geek

#1846453 14-Aug-2017 15:29

I've had four outages since joining EK (tripping fuses). It never even occurred to me to contact EK. I just phoned Unison (the lines company) using the phonebook that I keep for these occasions, and they came out and fixed them within the hour. Maybe the problem is with Wellington Electric!

MikeB4

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#1846455 14-Aug-2017 15:34

jamesrobert: I've had four outages since joining EK (tripping fuses). It never even occurred to me to contact EK. I just phoned Unison (the lines company) using the phonebook that I keep for these occasions, and they came out and fixed them within the hour. Maybe the problem is with Wellington Electric!

So I take if your Internet goes down you will ring Chorus.

Glazza

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#1846459 14-Aug-2017 15:42

MikeB4:

jamesrobert: I've had four outages since joining EK (tripping fuses). It never even occurred to me to contact EK. I just phoned Unison (the lines company) using the phonebook that I keep for these occasions, and they came out and fixed them within the hour. Maybe the problem is with Wellington Electric!

So I take if your Internet goes down you will ring Chorus.

I said it at the start of this thread - different lines companies are different. When you are connected to the Unison network, you call Unison when you have a power outage. However other lines companies work like Telco industry... where if you have an power outage, you call the retailer.

Therefore, each region is different in New Zealand.

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