The Authority has closed the Retailer Debt Deferral Scheme (Scheme).

The Scheme was enacted by an urgent amendment to the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 (Code) on 20 May 2020 in order to protect against the risk of significant retailer exit due to the extraordinary circumstances resulting from NZ’s COVID-19 lockdown. Following recent consultation, the Authority is of the view the Scheme is no longer needed.

The Scheme closed on Wednesday, 18 November 2020.

EIPCA: COVID-19 Deferred Payment of Distribution Charges 2020

The Authority has approved an urgent Code change requiring the six largest distributors to offer deferred debt payment terms to qualifying retailers.

The Code has been approved as part the Authority’s response to COVID-19.

  • The urgent Code will come into effect on Wednesday 20 May and will expire after nine months.

Information about the process for retailers is on our website under Operations(external link)

The Authority notified the six largest distributors of the intended urgent Code change earlier this month. We have received a lot of correspondence from distributors questioning our decision to amend the Code.

We have responded to the distributors and a copy of the letter is below.

Find out more about why we've made this urgent Code amendment.