Kia ora Powershop customers,
For some of you, the new Powershop experience hasn't been up to scratch. And on top of that, we dropped the ball on communicating about it. We're sorry, and we want to put that right.
Here's the full picture, and what we're doing about it.
Why we changed it
Our old Powershop app looked pretty slick, but behind the scenes it was running on fumes. Keeping it running was getting harder, slower, and more expensive.
We needed a new system. Earlier this year, we started moving customers across. New app on the front, new platform behind.
We knew there'd be rough edges. We didn't expect quite so many. Or for them to feel quite so rough from your side, or to take quite so long to sort. That's on us.
A few things we want to be clear about right off the bat:
- Your actual power isn't affected. The new app and the platform behind it sit on top of your power supply. How your lights stay on hasn’t changed.
- Your Powerpacks come with you: Anything you bought in the old app transfers across. If yours haven't shown up yet, they will soon.
- How Powershop works is the same as it's always been. The shop is being refitted but the way you buy power isn't changing. Powershop is still about pre-purchasing power to maximise your savings.
We’re looking at estimates
Some of you are seeing numbers much higher or lower than you'd expect, and that's unsettling. Ensuring the estimates provide a useful view is our top priority. It's a genuinely complex feature with a few things happening at once so we'll address it this coming week. We are continuing to fine tune the logic used to come up with your estimate.
The most important thing to understand right now: estimates are not bills. They're a forecast of what you might use in the coming and future months, based on recent usage.
If you buy Powerpacks that turn out to be more than you needed, the savings carry forward to future months. The power is still yours.
We're not in the business of encouraging you to buy more power than you need. That's never been the Powershop way, and it isn't now. If your estimate looks off, please don't feel any pressure to top up until we've had a chance to explain what's driving those numbers.
About your usage history
The new app shows your historic kWh usage so you can keep track of how much power you're using over time. What we haven't brought across and won't be bringing across is your cost history or your previous bills. We know that's useful information to have, and we want to be upfront about it rather than leave you hunting for something that isn't there.
Your past bills were emailed to you directly, so the best place to find them is your inbox. Search for the subject line 'Account review' and they'll all be there.
What we’re doing
Every issue you're raising goes on our 'fix it’ list.
One thing worth knowing about the new platform: it allows us to push updates to your app continuously rather than waiting on scheduled releases. That means fixes are landing faster than they ever could before, and you should already be noticing more stability with the app. The improvements and features from here will come thick and fast.
Some of the bigger updates arriving in the next few weeks include the ability to buy multiple Powerpacks at once, and a fix for the widget loading issues.
As you might expect, our team is working through a big spike in calls and emails. We've paused live chat for now so we can give every call and email the full attention it deserves. Not ideal, we know.
The FAQs have most of the answers you need, and we’re updating them all the time. If you're worried about your estimate, your bill, or anything not working the way it should, please get in touch. We'd rather hear from you than have you worrying about it alone.
Cheers for sticking with Powershop. We owe you better, and we’re going to deliver it.
From the Powershop team.
