As of October 4, Rarotonga electricity company Te Aponga Uira (TAU) moved to full digital billing with a combination of actual and estimated metre readings.

Customers would be receiving bills by email with domestic metres read only once every three months and estimated bills provided in the other months.

TAU in an earlier statement said that if a customer doesn’t have email, they can nominate another person to receive their bill by email by providing written authority from the account holder.

“We know some of our customers may not have email or use the internet regularly, so we are making it easy for them to nominate someone else to receive their electronic bill for them.

“Alternatively, customers can continue to phone us on 20054 or visit our office between 8am and 4pm Monday-Friday, where they can receive a hard copy bill and also pay in person.”

TAU further explained that estimated readings are generated using a customer’s average consumption data from the previous three months.

If the estimated reading is perceived to be inaccurate due to circumstances being different than during the previous three months, it will be adjusted based on the actual meter readings in the next billing cycle.

In alerting customers of the new system, the organisation explained that the previous system was inefficient, with meter readers travelling up to 60 kilometres a day to cover all of Rarotonga each month, through rain and encountering aggressive dogs, and often not able to access properties as a result.

Paper bills printed on the spot are often lost or misplaced, resulting in TAU’s customer service team needing to contact customers who can’t find their printed bill.