We started Electric Kiwi because we saw a gap for a power company that could maximise smart technology to save New Zealanders money on their electricity bills.

Smart (or digital) electricity meters had been around for a while (in major urban areas up to 90% of homes have one) but few power companies had taken up the challenge to do anything smart with them. We thought we could change that.

To kick things off, we built our IT systems from scratch, so we knew they’d be agile, super-efficient, and specific to our customers’ needs.

That was just the start. Now we’re using smart technology to help our customers save money (and time) every day – here’s three ways how:

1. Looking out for you

Your smart meter records your household’s power consumption every 30 minutes. We then make this data available within your account so you can analyse your usage and make more informed choices about your consumption.

2. Boosting your savings

This extra information on power consumption means we can also provide incentives for people to use power when it’s cheaper “off-peak” – times when the nation is using less power as a whole. So we established the free daily Hour of Power for every customer at a useful “off-peak” time, to help them boost their savings even more.

3. Awesome online service options

No one wants to wait on hold – or wait by the letterbox for their bill. Electric Kiwi customers have a personalised online account that holds all their billing and power use information down to the half-hour. Our Live Chat, email, social and call back options mean our team of friendly experts can sort our customers’ queries asap while they get on with their day.