The Power Lunch plan offers different electricity rates throughout the day (peak, off-peak and night, along with two hours of free power between 12pm and 2pm).

You can maximise your savings by shifting your power usage to off-peak hours by running appliances at night or during off-peak hours, charging your car (or anything with a battery) overnight, and shifting any energy-intensive tasks (using your washing machine or clothes dryer) to the free hours of power.

Shifting your power usage away from peak times not only could help you save money on your power bill but also contributes to a more sustainable energy future for New Zealand.

This plan is ideal for those who can make the most of the free lunch time hours, EV owners, night owls and early birds.

To be eligible for the Power Lunch plan you must:

• have an eligible and actively communicating electricity smart meter. When you sign up, we'll double-check this and confirm your eligibility.

• be a new residential customer of Grey Power Electricity.

• be supplied with electricity by Grey Power Electricity at your primary residence.

• satisfy our credit checking criteria.

• be on a standard single-phase residential connection and not on a private network.

Not sure if your property is eligible? Please get in touch with us here.

On this plan, you will benefit from variable electricity usage rates and two free hours of power every day. 

Here’s an explanation of Power Lunch’s hours:   

• Peak Hours: 7am - 11am and 5pm - 9pm

  During these hours, electricity rates are higher due to increased demand. It's best to minimise the usage of high-energy appliances during these times.

• Off-Peak Hours: 11am – 12pm, 2pm – 5pm and 9pm – 11pm

  During these hours, electricity rates are lower than peak hours. This is a good time to run appliances like washing machines, dishwashers and vacuum cleaners.

• Night Hours: 11pm - 7am 

  This is the most affordable time to use electricity. A good time to charge EV’s or anything with a battery.

• Power Lunch: 12pm – 2pm 

  All electricity used between 12pm and 2pm is free each day. The more electricity usage that you shift to these free hours, the more you could save.

To find the energy rates for your property on the Power Lunch plan, click here and type in your address.

To go on the Power Lunch plan, you need to have a communicating smart meter that records and sends us your electricity usage at every half-hourly interval. This way, we can identify the right amounts of electricity used in the different chargeable periods and bill you accordingly.

Unfortunately, some meter types aren’t as reliable in providing this half-hourly usage data as others, meaning we might not get all the data in time to bill you accurately. So, we’ve had to exclude some smart meters from being eligible for the plan.

If we find your meter isn’t sending the required usage data to bill you accurately on the Power Lunch plan, we may need to remove you from the plan. But don’t worry, we’ll discuss all of this with you first and make sure we find a plan that works best for you.

The Power Lunch plan is only available to residential customers who have an eligible and actively communicating smart meter.

When signing up online, once you enter your address, we can identify if you have the right type of meter or not. If you don’t have the right type of meter, the Power Lunch plan will not display.

Please get in touch with us, and our team can check to see if your property is eligible. 

Any savings from the Power Lunch plan will depend on how much electricity you shift to off-peak times and the free hours of power. Everyone’s energy usage is different, but in general, the more you shift to off-peak periods, the more you could save.

Customers who adjust their usage to take advantage of free hours, off-peak, and night rates can typically save around 20% on their power bills.* If you don’t shift your usage accordingly, the Power Lunch plan could end up costing you more than the Grey Power plan. That’s why its important you choose the plan that fits your lifestyle.

You can track your usage online through My Account – our online portal available to Grey Power Electricity customers to manage their energy account online. 

*Actual savings may vary depending on usage patterns and appliance efficiency. Learn more.

The price of electricity changes every 30 minutes. It’s most expensive in a “peak” time during the day, in the morning when people are getting ready for work, and in the evening when people arrive home from work.

During “peak overload” times, such as during a cold snap in winter the ‘peak load’ gets too much for the day-to-day national infrastructure. Everyone wants to use power at the same time as it might be really cold, but not enough electricity can be generated to support us all. So a standby electricity generation plant has to start to prevent the national grid from shutting down. It costs lots of money to start and keep these standby generation plants maintained - only to be started a handful of times a year.

The Power Lunch plan is available for existing Grey Power Electricity customers. If you are interested, please contact us to discuss plan options.