With meridian ending their plan soon What company/plan are people on for charging their EV on?
Meridian 4 Hours Free Ending! What Plan Do People Use to Charge Their Ev?
Lxkaguyax on 30/09/2025 - 15:30
Comments
Haha not necessarily the cheapest plan. Some companies don't have ev plan but have cheaper rates
Genesis EV plan, half price between 9pm-7am. Genesis pricing applies to Chargenet charger network ( think spending as liitle as 18c approx per kw vs 90c per kw). Always compare rates in your region though as they may not be the cheapest for everyome
Note that Genesis’s ChargeNet half price deal is only for the first year that you’re on the plan, after that they quietly remove it.
Whether it works out better depends on how much you drive as they increase the daytime rates. I found it cheaper to stay on my existing plan as I only drive an average of 20km/day.
weird there is nothing in the fine print that says that, did you use your phone app or proxy when charging at Chargenet?
I dont have an EV but have got a lot out of the plan. Left Contact cos they kept jacking up their rates and dont want to go back to their Good Nights plan cos they now only give you free hours Monday - Friday. Time to crack out the old excel spreadsheet
Yea was a really good plan, we moved from contact to meridian too but looks like no weekends so it's taken a fair bit of free out.
Existing good night plans still do free weekends. I'm on legacy plan
Did you get an email about Meridian ending the 4hrs free deal? I haven't been told about it
Most of us received the email. Maybe it went to your spam or something.
Email subject : Your Four Free plan is ending – here’s what’s next
Our Four Free Plan is coming to an end - thank you for being a pioneer!
We’re so grateful you joined us on the Four Free Plan. Together, customers on this plan have enjoyed over 7 million kWh of free power and saved over $1.8 million - an incredible result!
From 1 November 2025, your account will automatically move to Meridian’s Freedom Plan, with new plan rates applying from that date.
We know this shift may feel significant, and we want to acknowledge your contribution. As a thank you, we’ll add a $20 credit to your account each month for the next 12 months while you’re on the Freedom Plan – that’s double our standard offer.
We launched Four Free to better understand how customers use and shift their energy - insights that will help shape the way we deliver flexible energy options in the future. Your involvement has helped us learn, improve, and move closer to our goal of making energy simpler and fairer for all New Zealanders.
What happens next
From 1 November 2025, you’ll automatically move to the Freedom Plan - with competitive rates, no fixed contract, and no break fees (see Freedom Plan terms and conditions)
You’ll be able to update your free hours until 11.59pm, Friday 3 October 2025. After that, your chosen hours will remain fixed until the end of the plan on Friday 31 October 2025.
We’ll be in touch closer to the time with details on paying your final Four Free bill and how to log in and manage your new account. There’s no action required from you right now and your power will remain connected through the transition. We’ll let you know once you have been migrated on to our Freedom Plan.
Thanks, yes found it in my spam folder
Meridian webpage FAQ's this plan switch off is here : https://www.meridianenergy.co.nz/help/four-free-faq
Unfortunately It wasn't worth me, (in my small "low user" classified household with E.K), going to this Meridian 4 Hours Free plan earlier this year. Thou I kept a close eye on it hoping it would be an alternative at some point in time for a worthwhile move from E.k to it. It's another sign that the Big Gentailer Industry continues to resist allowing permanent good competitive "free hours" lower priced retail small household plans, and both colours of government power in NZ remain part of the problem !.
The Powershop EV pack gives $14 of power for $10, every two weeks.
How is powershop? Are their rates good or do you need to keep hunting for their packs?
They're OK, but the packs make the total good. You just need to make sure you buy them all, you get notifications when they come out.
Is PowerShop some kind of prepay system? I've never been with them myself.
What if you forget? Does your power cut off until you purchase more credit?
@Alan6984: This was when I was with them years ago
You can prepurchase "pack" to essentially "reduce" your bill as the pack value is more than the price (e.g. $14 pack for $10). You can also prepurchase months ahead with small discount 1-3%.
What they dont tell you (at least at the time. Not sure if its changed), ia that the advertised "special" rate that you get is including/assuming you buy all available packs and in the bill they use the standard rate to calculate the bill and use the packs value to cover your usage.
I could never get the advertised special rate back then even after i bought all the packs.The other thing is that they have different rate every month (unsure if now changed) so it's hard to budget. I only stayed because the joining bonus made my bill cheaper, after the bonus finished, it's more expensive than others
@spam: Okay - but are they prepay?
If so, and you forget to top-up, do you get cut off until such time as you top-up again?
@Alan6984: From memory, they're both. The packs are prepay because you purchase at that point in time. If you dont have enough pack to cover your bill, you'll top up the remaining amount
@Alan6984: They're not prepay. You can buy nothing until your first bill and only buy packs once you have a balance. Like any utilities company you can put your account in credit.
I've also referred 3 friends which has given me $300 in credit.
Spam's first comment I think is still accurate in my experience.
When your power balance gets low they send you an email telling you, you need to top up.
Okay, so I am inferring that means that if it gets to zero, your electricity gets cut off?
@Alan6984: To be honest not sure, never let mine get that low. Would imagine they would definitely get in touch with you multiple times before that happened.
They do say on their site:Don’t worry. If at the end of your Account Review period (billing period) your usage exceeds the power you’ve pre-purchased through Powerpacks, we’ll buy your default Powerpack for you, to cover your power used. For most customers, this will be equal to the power you have used at your Standard Rate.
We’ll email you to let you know the date the money will be debited from your account. Download our mobile app if you would also like to get a mobile alert a few days before we’re about to make a transaction.
Go to powershop. Free weekends for the first weekend in a month for a year. They also have shifty plan for lower night rates. And unit price is basically the cheapest where I live.
some referral codes available on here too
Been with Powershop 10yrs plus. Powershop for me in Auckland, works out dearer for period April to September as we have peak/off peak rates supposedly imposed by Vector and with that their peak rates are one of the dearest out there, off peak doesn't go down enough to compensate. Rest of the year provided you buy all their specials rather than paying normal price they work out cheaper.
Hi guys, I'm switching to Powershop. As I was with them 3 years ago, my email address is still in their system. I can't sign up using the cheapies referral system here. Contacted them via the live chat, they asked the referrer to call them to complete the referral process.Basically I get $150 and you $100. If you're keen, DM me. Please leave a comment below so others know you have messaged. I don't want to get messages bombed…
https://files.cheapies.nz/upload/7026/5788/screenshot_2025-1…
@xsolider DM sent.
@xsolider I will DM you now.
Just joined Genesis EV plan as nothing cheaper for more night usage & EV charging.
Just joined Genesis EV plan as nothing cheaper for more night usage & EV charging.
Are all the 'free for X hours' in the evenings plans gone now?
Only Contact remains and they changed the term to either only weekends, or only weeknights.
This and the rates are higher.
Can't believe this is the end of it, I don't have to run around turning on everything at 9pm anymore. Hubby can now go for shower anytime he likes…
Their EV plan ?