Questions

It comes down to the big picture. The battery lets tīrama buy power when it costs less and use it when it would cost more, sell what is spare back to the grid, and get paid for helping keep the grid steady. Together, those pay for the battery and let us set your rate lower than the cheapest equivalent plan in your area when you sign. The three-year agreement is how the battery is paid for over time, which is why leaving early has a break fee.

Read the big picture.

tīrama owns the battery. We install it at your home, maintain it and manage how it is used.

The battery belongs to tīrama the whole time, so there’s nothing for you to buy, insure or sell.

Yes. It is a modern battery that meets New Zealand safety and electrical standards, installed by qualified professionals and monitored remotely. It is designed for safe, long-term use in homes.

Yes. The battery works in the background and supports your home.

The battery lets tīrama buy electricity when it costs less, store it, and use it later. That lowers the cost of supplying your home, and that is reflected in your power rate.

We’ll give you a clear rate and show you what’s included before you sign. There’s no obligation to go ahead. As an example, a Christchurch home pays 27.78c a unit in the expensive hours, 22.86c at all other times and $1.96 a day, including GST. Smaller homes, using under 9,000 units a year, pay 29.17c, 24.25c and $1.62 a day. Rates differ by area and can change during your agreement, as any retailer’s can.

A no-cost battery and a lower power rate, with credits on your bill when unused power is sold back to the grid, and backup when the grid goes down.

It has two parts. One applies in the expensive hours, weekdays 7am to 11am and 5pm to 9pm. A lower one applies at all other times, including weekends. When you sign, your rate, taken as a whole, is lower than the cheapest equivalent plan published in your area. The battery shifts when your home draws from the grid, behind the scenes, so you can use power as normal.

Yes, as any retailer’s can. We give you notice in advance, and if we increase your rate, you can leave without a break fee.

There is one daily charge, which covers the lines company’s fee for the poles and wires to your home and the cost of supplying your connection. Your quote shows it alongside your rate.

No. Your rate is the same whether you pay by direct debit or by manual transfer. Paying by credit card carries a fee of 1% of the amount paid.

Yes. Published rates include GST, and the Electricity Authority and EECA levies are included in your rate rather than added as separate line items.

Yes. Unused stored power is sold back to the grid, and a share of what it earns is credited to your bill, separate from your power charges.

20% of what the battery earns in years 1 to 3, 30% in year 4, and 40% from year 5. Your share percentage is written into your agreement. For an example Christchurch home, that is about $10, $16 and $21 in an average month at today’s prices. How your share works.

It is a share of what the battery actually earns, which moves with grid conditions and what networks pay, so the dollar amount changes from month to month. It is always a credit, never a charge.

A single 15.36 kWh battery (3 modules), the same in every home. It uses LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells, mounts on a wall, and has the inverter built in. More about the battery.

If there’s an issue, we’ll fix it or replace it at no cost to you. We monitor the system and handle maintenance and repairs.

If it fails or breaks under normal use, we fix or replace it at no cost to you. If someone in your household damages it deliberately or carelessly, you pay our reasonable cost of repair, as listed in our special fees.

Very little. The system is cooled without a fan and is rated at under 25 decibels.

On an outside wall of your home, standing on a small base. It is about 1.96 m tall, 640 mm wide and 200 mm deep, and rated IP65 against dust and water.

Yes. The install adds a dedicated breaker at your switchboard and, if your hot water cylinder is not already on a controlled circuit, the electrician moves it onto one, at no cost to you. No switchboard upgrade is needed. If your meter needs replacing, our metering provider replaces it at no cost to you.

You can. A home battery is a large upfront cost. With tīrama there is no upfront cost, we own, maintain and manage the battery, and you get a share of what it earns. A coordinated fleet of batteries can earn from the grid in ways a single home battery can’t reach on its own.

The battery keeps your home’s main circuits running when the grid goes down, and we send you a text to let you know.

Your home’s main circuits: lights, power points, the fridge and freezer, your internet and the appliances on them. Your hot water cylinder and EV charger are controlled loads on their own circuits, separate from the battery, so they stay off until the power returns. Backup power.

It depends on how full the battery is when the power goes and what you run while it is out. Heaters, ovens and other heavy appliances use the charge faster, so holding off on the dryer, the oven and heaters keeps your lights on for longer. If an outage runs longer than the battery, the power goes off until the grid is restored, and the battery comes back online automatically when the lines are live again.

If it isn’t already on a controlled circuit, the electrician moves it onto one at install, at no cost to you. It then heats when power costs less, on its own circuit, and is not powered by the battery, during an outage or otherwise.

Yes. In many cases existing solar panels and the battery work together. We’ll assess your setup and let you know what’s possible.

No. Your power rate is the same whether or not you have panels. If you own them, we buy the power they make at a published rate, credited to your bill. If your landlord owns them, we pay your landlord. Solar.

You do, or your landlord if you rent. Panels are fixed to the property and stay with the title when the house is sold. tīrama buys the energy; the panels stay yours.

The buyback agreement ends and the panels stay yours. Our inverter is removed with the battery, and reconnecting your original inverter, or fitting a new one, is up to you as the panel owner. You can then sell what your panels make to your next retailer, at their buyback rate.

Owned or rented, town or rural, on a standard single household connection, in an area we have reached. A battery needs somewhere safe to sit and a compliant connection; the sign-up flags anything that needs a closer look, before you are committed. Some housing types, such as apartments, may be added to our offer later. Who can join.

No. Renters can join with their landlord’s written sign-off on the install. The battery stays a tīrama asset the whole time, and there is a landlord pack that sets out what’s involved.

Yes, we credit-check with your consent as part of signing up, like any power provider.

Enter your address to start. When we reach your area, the sign-up walks through your property and connection and tells you early if anything needs a closer look.

Check your address, get your quote, and if it’s right for you, sign the agreement online. We take it from there.

Enter your address. When we reach your area, we come back to you with your quote, the agreement to sign and an install booking. From signing to switched on usually takes around eight weeks. Getting set up.

A licensed electrician installs the battery, usually in one visit, at no cost to you. We schedule it at a time that suits your household and give you at least 10 days’ notice.

An adult does, or someone you have authorised. The electrician needs access to the switchboard and the install location, and explains the system at the end of the visit.

Your first tīrama bill arrives within a month of the battery being switched on. Your old retailer sends a final bill for usage up to your switch date, so you are not billed twice.

Your bill is two pages: the amount due, your plan and your battery’s share on the first, and how each charge is worked out on the second. How to read your bill explains each part on an example bill.

Three years, starting the day your battery is switched on. The agreement.

You can exit the agreement with notice. A break fee applies, and it is published upfront. We’ll arrange for the battery to be removed.

Tell us before you move. If we serve your new address, we install a fresh battery there on a new three-year agreement, and no break fee applies. One move is free if it’s more than 12 months into your agreement. Any other move costs $500 to collect the battery.

The battery remains tīrama’s property. Before the agreement ends we let you know your options: stay on with the battery in place and keep your share of what it earns, or leave with no break fee and we arrange for the battery to be removed.

The battery does not go with the house when it sells. Talk to us as soon as you list, and we coordinate removal on settlement and the options for your new home.

No. We run the battery: when it charges and when it supports the grid. Running the battery never cuts your household supply. If the battery is ever unavailable, your home draws from the grid as normal.

tīrama manages the battery, not your appliances. Your hot water cylinder and EV charger sit on controlled circuits. Everything else you use as normal, and the battery does the shifting.

What we need to bill you and run the battery: half-hourly reads from your meter, which your bill is built on, and readings from the battery every minute, which run the battery and show your usage in the tīrama app. We do not sell your data. It is handled under our privacy policy and New Zealand privacy law.

No. It measures your home’s total power use and the battery’s own state, and shows them in your app every minute. It has no camera or microphone and does not monitor individual appliances.

If tīrama is unable to continue operating, the battery is removed from your home and your standard consumer rights apply. We are building the business to be financially strong for the long term.

Your electricity supply continues: under the Electricity Authority’s rules, customers of a retailer that stops trading are moved to another retailer.

Tīrama Energy Limited is New Zealand owned and operated, and wholly owned by Tīrama Energy Holdings Limited. Tīrama Energy Limited is the registered electricity retailer, owns the batteries and runs the programme. Shareholding is recorded on the Companies Register, and if you have a question about it, email kiaora@tiramaenergy.co.nz.

Yes. tīrama operates under the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 and the Consumer Care Obligations published by the Electricity Authority, and is registered on the Electricity Authority’s Participant Register. We are a member of Utilities Disputes Limited, the approved dispute-resolution scheme, which is at no cost to residential customers. See our consumer disclosure.

Your agreement and the protections in it continue for the rest of your term, and the battery service continues.

Personal information is held in cloud infrastructure in Sydney (AWS), with offsite backups in New Zealand. Both providers are ISO 27001 certified. Full detail is in our privacy policy.

Yes, with your landlord’s written sign-off. When the agreement ends, we remove the battery and make good the wall fixings. The landlord pack includes the consent form they sign.

Yes. For multi-dwelling housing we contract per dwelling, with the trust as the contracting party. Shared community sites have different usage patterns, so we usually run a feasibility check first. Email kiaora@tiramaenergy.co.nz and we’ll talk it through.

Yes. We do not refuse customers based on income or income source. We credit-check with your consent, as any power provider does; it is one input, never a pass or fail on income. We can work with MSD on redirected payments, so your power can be paid straight from your benefit. We also have hardship policies if your situation changes.

Yes. Medically dependent consumers are flagged in our systems and never disconnected for non-payment. The tīrama battery’s backup adds resilience, but you and your health practitioner should always keep a clinical backup for life-critical equipment that does not rely on household power.

Registration is via our medical dependency form, signed by your treating practitioner: email medical@tiramaenergy.co.nz. Full detail is in our consumer disclosure.