Kiwi EV owners can add public charging fees to power bill

New Zealand’s newest electricity retailer has become the country’s first to offer EV-owning customers the ability to add public charging fees to their main power bill.

Octopus Energy, the UK’s fifth-largest power company, launched in New Zealand earlier in June, aiming to become the go-to electricity provider for Kiwi EV owners.

Known for offering customers innovative clean energy solutions, Octopus is partnering with OpenLoop charging stations, which gives Octopus customers the convenience of paying fees from those facilities as part of their monthly power bill.

Counties Energy-owned OpenLoop has about 30 charging stations concentrated mainly between south Auckland and Waikato, with plans for expansion this year.

The ‘add to bill’ partnership is the start of a slew of benefits Octopus’s EV-owning customers are in for, says Octopus Energy NZ’s chief customer officer Margaret Cooney.

“We’re all about making it easy for Kiwis to choose greener lifestyles, and as EV ownership increases in Aotearoa, customers are going to demand convenience and value from their power providers, which is fair enough,” she explains.

“We’re meeting that demand head-on.”

Octopus plans to partner with additional public charging companies in the next few months, as well as offer customers personalised insights on their charging behaviour, and guidance on charging their vehicles more efficiently.

The partnerships would let Octopus give customers one-off deals.

Cooney says the company will launch its smart EV charging technology in New Zealand by the end of the year, allowing remote charging optimised for the cheapest times of day, saving customers money and avoiding grid overload.