Why don’t I have hot water?

Do power companies control your hot water? YES

Since the 50s, Auckland has had a load management system based on a ripple control system

This allows the electricity supply for domestic and commercial Hot water cylinders to be switched on and of.

This means the power companies can remotely control your hot water! 

Hot water runs on a different circuit from the rest of the property so during peak times or in power shortages it can be closed off by the power company

Are you having these problems?

1.       My hot water is not working but power is on

2.       Fuses are not blown but hot water is not

Why do they cut my hot water off?

Peak power times / on peak:

- Controls water heating when power usage is high

- During peak times the power company will control no more than 4 hours in a 8 hour period

Fixed time control / off peak:

- Turns on hot water cylinders at night when usage is at low levels and energy prices are cheaper

- This is when the cheaper tariffs kick in such as “weekend”, “day/night”, “night only”

Emergency control:

- Provides continuous power to the hot water without any control from the power company. Only interrupted to prevent or during outages 

How do they turn of my how water?

- Ripple equipment located within each local network signals to ripple control receivers at the property

- It can be done manually by the local network company when there is a local outages or requests to reduce demand from the operator

Some helpful links:

Mercury power: http://www.mercury.co.nz/terms/residential.aspx#InterruptionstoSupply_11

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_management

Vector energy: http://vector.co.nz/electricity/load-management

Feel free to contact us for more tips:
Nick Powell
LJ Hooker Onehunga
www.rentmyproperty.co.nz 

If you don’t have a property manager in Auckland and you tenant has stopped paying rent you can submit an application to the Tenancy tribunal

It’s best to try get this sorted as soon as the rent payments stop….issue a 14 day notice and immediately apply to the courts to save the rent arrears getting out of control

All this will costs is $20.44

The first step is to

- Head over to Tenancy tribunal website

- Register or login

Second step - Application details

- Select which orders you would like to enforce - We recommend for rent arrears ticking termination and refund of bond encase the tenant needs to be evicted.

- Write a reason why you are submitting an application – write the arrears amount, how often they fall behind in the their rent, how many times you have warned / contacted the tenants regarding their arrears


Third step – Tenancy details


































-  Enter the details of the property the tenants are occupying
-  How much rent
-  How much bond was paid
-  The bond number – if you don’t have this you can call Tenancy bond services on  0800 737 666
-  When the tenancy started – as per the tenancy agreement

Step three – Landlords details

- Landlord id is not required – mostly used for property managers
- Enter your details or your trust details
- Address for service – where they will send information regarding the case
- Email address – they will send a confirmation once received

Step four – Tenants details

- Enter all the names that are on the Tenancy agreement. if the names are not on the agreement you are out of luck

Step five Tenant's address and Details

- This very important – enter as much of the tenants details you can as this will be used to contact the tenants and issue any enforcement

Step Five - Supporting documents

- I recommend sending documents electronically as things will move along much faster

Documents you will need:

1.    Tenancy agreement – sign by both parties
2.    The 14 day notice you issued
3.    Summary of rent arrears owed – You can download a spread sheet here
4.    Balance of current arrears
5.    Any other communication you may have  

Step seven – Payment

- All it costs is $20.44 just enter your credit card

Once you paid the application costs they will send you an email with your application attached 

After the copy of the application they will send another email confirming it has been entered in to the tenancy tribunal system

Now it’s a bit of waiting game until the tenancy tribunal has made a mediation time

- An email will be sent with a mediation time and date

- During the mediation the mediator will do most of the talking

What to ask for:

1.    Ask for the arrears to be paid ASAP
2.    If they cant be paid off ASAP set up a payment plan
3.    Ask for a consequential clause – this means if the tenant misses even one payment you can have them evicted!

Check the Department of buildings website for more information

Also I recommend looking through the Landlords Pack on the same website

Any more questions or help with submitting an application feel free to contact me.