This legislation is administered by the Electricity Authority. For more information please see:

Website: https://www.ea.govt.nz/

Contact phone: +64 4 460 8860

Contact address: PO Box 10041, Wellington 6143

 

 

Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing Amendment 2026) Amendment (No 2) 2026

 

This amendment to the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing) Amendment 2026 is made under section 38 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010 (Act) by the Electricity Authority having complied with section 39 of the Act.

 

 

 

Contents

 

1

Title

1

2

Commencement

1

3

Code Amendment amended

1

4

Clause 6 amended

2

5

Schedule 1 amended

2

 

Amendment

 

1       Title

This is the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing Amendment 2026) Amendment (No 2) 2026.

 

2       Commencement

         This amendment comes into force on 30 November 2026.

        

3       Code Amendment amended

         This amendment amends clause 6 and Schedule 1 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing) Amendment 2026 by making amendments to new clause 11.32H and new Schedule 11A.2 to be inserted into the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 by clause 6 and Schedule 1.

 

4       Clause 6 amended

         Amend clause 6 by making the following amendments to new clause 11.32H:

(a)     in subclause (2)(b), replace “in the customer’s invoice in accordance with clause 5(1)(g) of Schedule 11A.2” with “in dollar figures”:

(b)     replace subclauses (2)(c) and (d) with:

(c)     state that the customer can request a payment plan under which the customer—

 (i)     is not required to pay the undercharged amount until the expiry of either—

(A)    a minimum of the period during which the undercharging occurred, if the undercharging occurred over a period of less than 6 months; or

(B)    at least 6 months, in any other case; and

 (ii)   may pay the undercharged amount in instalments by contacting the retailer and arranging payment in instalments; and

(c)     renumber subclause (2)(e) as subclause (2)(d):

(d)     after subclause (2), insert:

(2A) The information in subclause (2)(b) and (c) may be provided in the customer’s invoice or in separate written communication to the customer.

(2B) A retailer is not required to comply with subclauses (2)(a) or (c) if the undercharged amount is less than either $50 (inclusive of GST) or 25% of—

(a)     the average amount for electricity charges invoiced to the customer for each invoicing period over the last 12 months; or

(b)     if the customer has been a customer of the retailer for less than 12 consecutive months, a reasonable estimate of the customer’s expected average amount for electricity charges likely to be invoiced to the customer for each invoicing period over a 12-month period, starting from the customer’s first invoicing period.

 

5       Schedule 1 amended 

Amend Schedule 1 by revoking clause 5(1)(g) of new Schedule 11A.2.

 

Made at Wellington on 28 September 2026

 

 

 

JOHN HARBORD

Chair

Electricity Authority

 

Certified in order for signature:

 

 

Nichola Lambie

Manager Legal – Legislation

Electricity Authority

25 September 2026

 

Nick Crang

Consultant

Duncan Cotterill

24 September 2026

 

 

 

 

Explanatory Note

 

This note is not part of the amendment but is intended to indicate its general effect.

 

This amendment to the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing) Amendment 2026 comes into force on 30 November 2026.

 

The amendment amends clause 6 and Schedule 1 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing) Amendment 2026 to:

 

a.           impose a threshold of either a fixed GST inclusive threshold of $50 or 25% of the customer’s average invoiced amount on the requirement for a retailer to provide additional support to a customer when seeking to recover an undercharged amount, with retailers given the ability to choose to apply either threshold; and

b.           amend the requirement for retailers to include an undercharged amount in an invoice to also allow undercharged amounts to be provided by separate written communication to the customer.

These amendments to the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 will apply to participants, as defined in the Act, from 1 April 2027 when the Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing) Amendment 2026 comes into force.

 

 

 

 

This is secondary legislation issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2019.

Title

Electricity Industry Participation Code (Improving Electricity Billing Amendment 2026) Amendment (No 2) 2026

Instrument ID

 

Empowering provisions

Electricity Industry Act 2010, section 38

Date made

28 September 2026

Date as at

Not applicable

Date of publication

1 October 2026

Administering agency

Electricity Authority