Note: On 1 April 2025 the Consumer Care Obligations (“CCOs”) set out in Part 11A of the Electricity Code took effect, which are reflected in our updated Residential Customer Care Policy. If there is any conflict between the CCOs and these General Terms, the CCOs will apply.
1.1 This Terms and Conditions applies when;
1.2 This agreement will be effective until your service and agreement have been terminated and there is no amounts owing on the account.
1.3 This Terms and Conditions is bound by the Megatel General Terms and Conditions. If there is any conflict between the General Terms and Conditions and this specific Energy Terms and Conditions, the later will prevail.
2.1 We will supply you with electricity and/or gas, and provide other associated services as necessary or as agreed in accordance with this agreement, and we will at all times endeavour to ensure the quality of the services that we provide to you meets the agreement between you and Megatel.
2.2 We undertake that we will have arrangements in place:
2.3 Sometimes, your electricity and gas supplies may not be continuous or steady. We will have arrangements in place to ensure that electricity and gas supplies to each affected property is restored as soon as practicable in the event of interruption.
2.4 In the case of a planned outage, we will advise you of the potential outage as soon as we reasonably can. However, in the case of an unplanned outage, we may not be able to advise you in advance. We will advise you as soon as we are made aware of the event.
2.5 Due to an event beyond the reasonable control of Nova Energy (including acts of God, war and natural events such as earthquake and fire), we may be unable to provide an energy supply at a given time.
3.1 If you believe there is any fault in your electricity and/or gas supply, then you must immediately contact us. This can be done by calling our team at 0800 634 283.
3.2 You must treat all electrical lines or wires and gas pipes as being live at all times and therefore potentially deadly. You are responsible at all times to keep away from any potential dangers and for your own personal safety.
3.3 It is your responsibility to:
4.1 We will assess the amount of electricity and gas supplied to a property by reading the meter or, if we have not read the meter we will estimate the amount of electricity supplied to that property.
4.2 If the property where MegaTEL electricity service is requested for is a non-primary residence, only the standard plan can be supplied. If we suspect that low user plan is selected for a non-primary residence for any reason, such as but not limited to a wrong information presented, MegaTEL has every right to change the plan to Standard User Rates and re-bill the previous invoices according to the Standard User Rates.
4.3 If your electricity meter is a non-smart meter, we will estimate the amount of electricity supplied based on your previous usage. Your gas meter is always estimated on your invoice.
4.4 For legacy meters for electricity and all of the gas meters, we need to read the meters at a property on a regular basis. You must allow us access to each of your properties and to the metering equipment to allow us to do that. You can provide us with additional meter readings at any time by sending us the readings to help@megatel.co.nz.
4.5 You must tell us if you think a meter is inaccurate. If you ask us to test a meter, or if we decide to test it and we find that it is not within the industry standards of accuracy, we will work out what your actual electricity and gas usage should have been, and we will debit or credit your account with us accordingly. If you ask us to test a meter and the meter is found to be accurate, you may be charged for the meter test.
5.1 Megatel will charge you for electricity and/or gas, and any other associated services at the rates, fees and charges:
5.2 Under this Agreement, the Start Date for the agreement between you and Megatel is the date when;
5.3 We will use our reasonable endeavours to invoice you on a monthly basis for the amounts payable by you under this agreement.
5.4 When a situation arises where we change your Pricing Schedule or transfer you to another pricing schedule, we will notify you and we will allocate your usage between the old and the new rates based on your average daily usage (as measured or estimated) within the relevant invoicing period.
5.5 If the property where Megatel electricity service is requested for is a non-primary residence, only the standard plan can be supplied. If we suspect that low user plan is selected for a non-primary residence for any reason, such as but not limited to a wrong information presented, Megatel has every right to change the plan to Standard User Rates and re-bill the previous invoices according to the Standard User Rates.
5.6 You agree to pay the charges set out in this agreement for electricity and/or gas services supplied to the location where you have requested for a service and other associated services. You also agree to pay any service fees we charge you for electricity and/or gas, not expressly covered under your Pricing Schedule or the Special Terms, including but not limited to any government imposed taxes, fees and levies which we may pass onto you.
5.7 Our invoices may include charges for network services or other services (that relate directly or indirectly to our ongoing supply of electricity and gas) provided by the Lines Company, Network Operator or other third parties (such charges will be separately identified). You agree to pay us all of such charges and any other charges payable by you under this Agreement in accordance with Clause 5.2. We will apply all of the charges on the basis agreed between us and the Lines Company, Network Operator or other third parties.
5.8 When the charges that we recover on behalf of the Lines Company, Network Operator or other third parties change, we will notify you of the changes at least 30 days prior, unless we ourselves have not been given sufficient notice by the relevant Lines Company, Network Operator or other third party. In this case, we will give you as much notice as reasonably practicable.
5.9 We will determine which Pricing Schedule you are eligible for, based on your electricity and/or gas usages and on your metering information. If you are no longer eligible for the Pricing Schedule you are on, we may transfer you to an alternative Pricing Schedule by giving you a notice at least 30 days prior. You may choose an alternative pricing schedule that you are eligible for and wish to change, by notifying us of your decision. Should you be eligible for the plan chosen, we will transfer you to the alternative Pricing Schedule of your choice within 30 days of receiving the notice from you.
5.10 You must pay us the full amount of any invoice (including any estimated invoices) by the date shown on your invoice via any one of the different methods of payment. You must also pay us the penalty interest on the late payment, which is 5% per month compounding. We may recover from you any collection costs, including but not limited to collection agency costs, all legal costs on a solicitor/client basis or other costs incurred, relating to late payment or non-payment (including dishonoured payment) of our invoices. If you have any difficulty in paying an invoice, you should contact us to make a suitable payment arrangement, otherwise the amount will be treated as being overdue, and your electricity and/or gas may be disconnected.
5.11 If you dispute accuracy of an invoice, you must notify us of the dispute and the amount in dispute, before the due date for any payment. The only dispute applied under this Clause is regarding an accuracy. Undisputed amounts must still be paid by the due date but you may withhold the disputed amount until the investigation has been completed. If the disputed amount is found to be payable by you, you must make the payment within 10 days from the date when the decision was made. If you have paid a disputed amount which is found to be an error and higher than the correct amount, we will refund the difference between the incorrect and correct amount, by crediting it into your energy account.
5.12 If you are still not satisfied with the decision and the explanation of the decision, you can contact our complaints team at complaint@megatel.co.nz for further assistance. If our complaint team is unable to provide a resolution, you can contact Utilities Disputes at www.utilitiesdisputes.co.nz or 0800 22 33 40.
5.13 If, for any reason we made a calculation error for the amount owing and have charged you an incorrect amount:
5.14 If you are eligible, we may apply a prompt payment discount if full payment displayed on the invoice is received on or before the payment due date.
5.15 We may recommend or require you to receive our pre-payment service in respect to your electricity service and associated services so that you receive only the amount of electricity that you have paid for. This service is subject to availability. If we provide you with our pre-payment service, the supply of Electricity and associated services may be stopped if payments are not made by the due date or are dishonoured. If we require you to use our pre-payment service because there are overdue amounts owed to us by you, we may apply up to one half of each pre-payment amount toward payment for that debt and the balance of each pre-payment amount as pre-payment for Electricity and associated services until the debt is paid in full.
5.16 If you hold more than one electricity and/or gas account with us and you close one such account, we may transfer any outstanding balance from the closed account into the active account. The amount transferred must be paid by you in accordance with the General Terms and Conditions and your obligation to the terms.
6.1 We may at any time require you to pay a bond or bonds as security for payment for electricity and/or gas and for other associated services supplied or to be supplied. If we require you to pay a bond, we will explain the reasons why this is required to you. We may use the bond or bonds to recover any amount overdue or otherwise owed to us by you.
6.2 If we require a bond or bonds, bond fee must be paid in advance prior to the connection.
6.3 We will hold the bond or bonds until the termination of your service with us, or provided your invoices have been paid in full by the relevant due dates for a continuous 12 month period. We will refund any bond to you either by crediting your energy account, or refunding it back to your bank account.
7.1 We and others (including the Distribution Company) need free (i.e. at no charge whatsoever), unobstructed and safe access to:
7.2 The Distribution Company (and any agent or subcontractor) also needs reasonable use of facilities and amenities available to you and ordinarily used in association with its equipment on your premises, so that we can supply electricity and gas to you and for associated safety purposes.
7.3 Without limiting the generality of Clause 7.1, we need and you must:
7.4 You must also allow clear and safe access to a property if we or a Distribution Company or meter owner need to install or maintain equipment for load control.
7.5 If you do not provide clear and safe access, we or the Distribution Company may disconnect your electricity and/or gas supply and you may be charged for any works for that purpose.
8.1 You must:
8.2 You must not, and must not permit any other person to:
8.3 Meters, meter reading equipment, and other equipment that we, a Distribution Company or metering company own does not belong to you, but to the party responsible for supplying it. You must never:
9.1 You are responsible for payment for all electricity and/or gas supplied to each property up until:
9.2 If there is a difference between the date when you have moved out and the date when you have contacted us for disconnection, you will be liable to make a payment up to the date when you have contacted us regardless of whether you were living at the property or not.
9.3 You may terminate this contract at any time provided you have paid for all electricity and/or gas supplied to your properties and any other charges you owe us. You will need to contact us or a new retailer to arrange for the future supply of electricity and/or gas to a property if you need it.
9.4 If you are vacating any property, you must tell us five working days in advance.
9.5 If you want the electricity and/or gas supply to a property suspended temporarily or permanently, you must tell us five working days in advance. You may incur a charge for disconnection and/or reconnection when you ask us to do either of these things, or if we have had to disconnect for any of the reasons in clause
9.6 We or a Distribution Company may disconnect your electricity and/or gas supply to any property supplied under this contract if you:
9.7 We will endeavour to tell you at least seven days before we disconnect electricity and/or gas supply to a property, and we will give you a final warning at least 24 hours, but not more than seven days, before we intend to disconnect electricity and/or gas to that property. If you miss the timeframe for making the payment, or do not receive a notice we will still proceed.
9.8 If you are a residential customer and you tell us that you or someone at a property is dependent on electricity supply for critical medical support while providing sufficient proof when we ask, or otherwise constitutes a vulnerable customer, we will not disconnect electricity supply to that property for ab overdue balance except where disconnection is performed in accordance with the EA guidelines relating to medically dependent and vulnerable consumers (which can be found at https://www.ea.govt.nz/operations/retail/retailers/retailer-obligations/medically-dependant-and-vulnerable-customers/). You must notify us immediately if someone in your household is or becomes a vulnerable consumer or medically dependent on electricity supply to discuss alternative options with us. We may ask you to re-verify that you or the person living with you, qualifies as a medically dependent or vulnerable consumer either once annually, and/or where you have not paid your invoices in accordance with this agreement.
9.9 You agree that we or a Distribution Company may disconnect or disrupt your electricity and/or gas supply for any reason set out in this agreement (such agreement being consent to disconnection by the Distribution Company for the purpose of section 105 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010) including:
9.10 We may terminate this contract at any time by giving you thirty days’ notice in advance. You shall remain liable for payment for all electricity and/or gas supplied up to the date that termination takes effect. If we do this, you will need to contact a new retailer to arrange for the future supply of electricity and/or gas to your properties.
10.1 You must comply with any agreement you have directly with a Distribution Company. If you do not have a contract directly with a Distribution Company, we have arrangements with the relevant Distribution Company, but you are required to comply with the obligations in this clause 10.
10.2 You must also comply with the Distribution Company's network connection standards that apply to a property. You can obtain a copy of these from the relevant Distribution Company.
10.3 You must follow any instructions given to you by a Distribution Company to make sure its electricity lines, gas pipes, or equipment on your premises is safe.
10.4 Part of your electricity supply may be on load control devices. If a property does have load control devices, we or the Distribution Company may control their operation as we or others choose.
10.5 A Distribution Company may interrupt your electricity supply if:
10.6 We do not own the lines network through which electricity and/or gas is supplied to you. The Distribution Company owns, operates and maintains the lines and related equipment and no provision of this contract confers any right or interest on you or us in, or to any part of the lines network or equipment owned or controlled by the Distribution Company.
11.1 We will never be liable to you for any indirect or consequential loss, or loss of profits or business or any similar claims.
11.2 We are not required to carry out our responsibilities under this agreement in circumstances where an event has occurred which is beyond our reasonable control and which prevents or delays us from carrying out those responsibilities. Some examples of some events that are likely to be beyond our reasonable control are that:
11.3 If any of our responsibilities under this agreement are interrupted because of an event beyond our reasonable control, we will continue to perform our responsibilities that are not affected by the event and we will do everything we reasonably can to make sure your electricity and/or gas supply is returned to normal as soon as reasonably practicable. We are not responsible for any damage that results from electricity and/or gas supply fluctuations.
11.4 If you suffer a loss or damage because of something the Distribution Company does or does not do, you can only claim from us what we can recover from the Distribution Company, and only if is applicable to you.
11.5 In the case of Company default, the Electricity and Gas Authority can transfer our rights or obligation to another Energy Supplier. When this occurs, your details will be passed to the next Energy Supplier by the Electricity Authority according to the Electricity Code, for your electricity service to continue be supplied. The Electricity or Gas Authority, or the new Energy Supplier will notify you of when the transfer will be arranged and completed.
11.6 Each Distribution Company has excluded or limited its liability to you and to us. Unless the agreement we have with a Distribution Company provides otherwise, all liability any Distribution Company may have to you is excluded, as much as the law allows.
11.7 If you damage Distribution Company equipment or distribution, you may be liable for any damage you cause. If a Distribution Company suffers direct loss or damage which is caused or contributed to by your fraud, dishonesty, or wilful misconduct, you will be liable for that loss or damage.
11.8 If you damage any of our property or equipment or any meters or associated equipment we may require you to pay the cost of repair or replacement of them.
11.9 Nothing in this contract affects your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act (which applies in addition to your rights under this contract), unless you are receiving electricity and/or gas services from us or the Distribution Company for use in a business in which case the provisions contained in that Act are non-applicable.
12.1 This clause is applicable to commercial customers only.
12.2 Despite anything to the contrary contained herein or any other rights which Megatel may have howsoever:
13.1 You must not transfer any of your rights and obligations under this agreement to any other person without our prior written consent
13.2 We can change this contract at any time, provided we give you at least thirty days’ notice in advance by emailing you directly and/or by advertising on our website. We can change or update our refunds policy and our schedule of fees for products and services associated with electricity and gas supply at any time by updating them on our website. The change applies from when we update our website. If, for any reason, you do not receive notice of any change, the changes will still be effective.
13.3 You agree that you will immediately notify us of any change in your personal or contact details (i.e. name, address, fax number, email address etc) including, where you are a business Customer, any proposed change of ownership, business name or business practice. You shall be liable for any loss incurred by us as a direct result of your failure to comply with this clause.
13.4 We can send notices to you to the email address you have provided us. Notices are deemed received the day after they are sent. As per clause 13.3, always make sure that we have your current email address.
13.5 You must always comply with laws, regulations and codes that are applicable to the supply of electricity and/or gas to a property.
13.6 The provisions of clauses 3 that allow a Distribution Company to interrupt electricity and/or gas supply, oblige you to give access to and look after Distribution Company equipment and lines and cooperate with each Distribution Company and any other clause which confers rights or benefits on the Distribution Company are intended for the benefit of and are enforceable against you by each Distribution Company under the Contracts (Privacy) Act 1982.
13.7 Any clauses that are intended to have effect after termination continue to have effect. This includes clauses 5, 6, 10, 11, and this clause 13.7.
13.8 If any provision of these terms and conditions shall be invalid, void, illegal or unenforceable the validity, existence, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be affected, prejudiced or impaired.
13.9 This agreement shall be governed by the laws of New Zealand and is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand.
13.10 The failure by us to enforce any provision of these terms and conditions shall not be treated as a waiver by us of that provision, nor shall it affect our right to subsequently enforce that provision.
14.1 If you believe that your inquiry or your case have not been resolved to your full satisfaction or acceptance, you can lodge a complaint via following contact methods.
14.2 Our complaint & dispute resolution process is free of charge. We will send you an acknowledgement within 5 working days to let you know that we are seriously reviewing your complaint or dispute and we will make every endeavour to resolve your case.
14.3 If we failed to resolve your complaint or dispute within 20 working days, or failed to notify you for an extension of a resolution time frame, then you can contact the Utilities Disputes for a free assistance.
14.4 Where there is a dispute/complaint regarding your account you must immediately notify us in writing in order for us to have an opportunity to resolve the issue. You shall not be entitled to withhold payment merely because of the dispute/complaint and shall pay the account in accordance with the terms of this agreement. Where it is agreed that an error has been made and that we owe you any money then we shall reimburse you within seven days of resolving the dispute/complaint.
14.5 Where either you or us has any form of non-account related dispute/complaint relating to this agreement then the party with the dispute must immediately notify the other party in writing detailing the nature of the dispute/complaint. Upon receipt of such notification both parties shall confer (at least once), in order to attempt to resolve the dispute/complaint (any such conference is to take place as soon as can reasonably be arranged between the parties and each party is to be represented by a person having authority to agree to a resolution of the dispute/complaint).
14.6 If you want to lodge a complaint with a Lines Company, it will be referred by us to a Lines Company to manage and resolve.
