The Anglican Diocese of Wellington is standing behind ‘Common Grace Aotearoa’ in a drive to prevent electricity companies double-penalising families who can’t afford to pay.

Wellington Anglican Kate Day, led this week's launch by Common Grace Aotearoa of a petition asking the Electricity Authority for stronger oversight of the electricity industry.

Kate was supported by community advocates, including Debbie Leyland, a cancer survivor who shared how she was living with her children the first time her electricity was cut off. 

“They charged a disconnection fee that was about $60. I was sitting with no power for a week through winter, while trying to get the money...but then they wanted an extra $140 to reconnect it.” 

Debbie told the gathering how she switched companies, but a couple of months later was cut off again. When she went to WINZ for help to pay for power, she was humiliated when a WINZ worker came back saying she should budget.

“That’s a waste of time if you don’t have any money to budget,” Debbie said. 

Wellington-based University of Otago public health researcher Dr Kimberley O’Sullivan also spoke out in support of this week’s call to regulate electricity companies, along with Jake Lilley from Christian budgeting services NGO FinCap.

The Common Grace Aotearoa petition proposes three ways Aotearoa New Zealand's Electricity Authority could mandate electricity providers to give people a fairer go:

1: Ban disconnection and reconnection fees in case of unpaid bills
In 2022, electricity retailers disconnected at least 8,500 households on standard plans where people could not afford to pay their bills. Retailers were then allowed to charge these households “disconnection fees” and “reconnection fees”, which can total over $200, pushing people further into debt. 

2: Make prepay no more expensive than a retailer’s cheapest plan, and publish prepay disconnection data.
The majority of households who are disconnected then end up with no choice but to use prepay plans, which makes their overall costs on average 13% higher than standard plans. These prepay users - some 30,000 households - are paying a premium for being poor. Consumer NZ estimates that each night, as many as 50 households on pre-pay are going without electricity because they can’t afford to top up. Official data about these prepay disconnections is not recorded.

3: Make the Consumer Care Guidelines mandatory.
In July 2021 the Electricity Authority published guidelines that detail how electricity companies should treat their customers fairly and reasonably. However these guidelines have not been made mandatory, so companies’ actions cannot be easily checked or good guidelines enforced.

The petition goes on to task the Electricity Authority with bringing the three changes into effect before winter 2024. 

To sign the petition or read in more detail you can find the petition on ActionStation here:
To: The Electricity Board and Chief Executive
Protect families struggling with power prices

Common Grace Aotearoa orgainsed the Electricity Authority petition in collaboration with Anglican Advocacy, FinCap, Child Poverty Action Group, Consumer NZ, He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Group - University of Otago Wellington, Citizens Advice Bureau, Toast Electric, Sustainability Trust and United Community Action Network. 

Founded by Kate Day and Alex Johnson, Common Grace Aotearoa is a Christian advocacy group that mobilizes action on issues such as climate change, energy, and transport. It is supported in the Wellington Diocese by the Bishop's Community Development Trust. 

Anglican churches and communities can add their weight to the Electricity Authority petition by encouraging congregations, schools and groups to sign. Common Grace Aotearoa will deliver the petition to the Electricity Authority Board in late 2023.