Future-proof your power bill in 5 mins

Exactly how to vote in the Auckland Entrust election

tl:dr; If you live in central/south/east Auckland or Waiheke, you have the opportunity to vote in an election that almost no one knows about, which has a major impact on the cost & climate-friendliness of your power bill - before this Friday.

Electricity gets to our houses via electricity distribution businesses (called “EDBs”), who handle all the poles and wires. Auckland’s main EDB, Vector, is majority-owned (and therefore controlled) by a consumer trust called Entrust. Because it’s a consumer trust, we - the customers - get to vote every 3 years on who is on the board of this trust.

The elections for new members of this board are on right now, and we basically have a few days to vote (by 5pm Friday 25 October). For the past few decades, the same people have been in power, and they haven’t really done anything to future-proof our biggest city’s energy system in terms of cost of living, extreme weather resilience, or emissions reduction. And because they don’t spend any budget on promoting the elections, almost no one votes - which means the status quo continues.

Auckland has the opportunity to future-proof their energy system by voting for new leadership on Entrust board. The Spinoff has a great FAQ here, we’ve taken bits from it (including the images) to make this simple guide. Scroll down for how to vote.

If you can’t vote, tell others. Even if you don’t live in the voting zone, you can still make a difference. Auckland is our country’s biggest city and it uses heaps of energy. How clean & affordable their energy system is will have similar flow-on effects for the rest of the country. Here’s a blurb you can copy & paste 💬

Hey, just found out there's an election happening for who runs most of Auckland’s power system, and voting closes on 25th October. It’s called the Entrust election, and if your name’s on the power bill, you can vote. Hardly anyone knows about it, so the same people keep getting in, and they haven’t done anything for years about the rising power prices or ways to make the energy system less polluting. This year, though, there are some new candidates focused on cheaper, cleaner energy. You can read about them here:

https://www.moreforyoubetterforauckland.nz/

It’s actually a huge opportunity to decarbonise & future-proof Auckland’s energy system and our power prices. Voter turnout is super low (like, less than 10% last time) so everyone’s votes count. If your voting papers haven’t shown up in the mail yet, call 0800 666 030 or email iro@electionz.com. Let your flatmates/work know too!

You can also share this guide with this shortlink: bit.ly/entrust-2024

How to vote

Anyone who lives in the area below 👇 with their name on the bill can vote. If there are multiple people living at your address (e.g. a flat), or there’s multiple names on the bill (e.g. a couple), it’s just 1 vote for the first name on the bill.

Households within the Entrust district are eligible to vote. Source: The Spinoff

Your voting papers should have arrived in the mail. If you haven’t received anything in the mail yet, call 0800 666 030 or email iro@electionz.com asap to get one.

What the voting paper in the mail looks like. Source: The Spinoff

You have up to 5 ticks for the 5 trustees.  

In terms of who to vote for, that’s up to you, but we recommend checking out this campaign that’s focussed on lower emissions, long-term affordability, and resilience:
👉👉👉 www.moreforyoubetterforauckland.nz

Post by 5pm Thursday 24th if you’re putting it in a postbox. It’s free to post it using the provided freepost envelope, just put it in literally any post box or office, for free, no stamps required. Location of all NZ Post mailboxes and DX Post mailboxes.

Or, drop it off at a supermarket before 5pm Friday. Some Woolworths/Countdown supermarkets will have these orange bins where you can drop them too. Here’s the full list of locations. You can also drop it off at the Marketing Impact Office, Level 1, 79 Hugo Johnston Drive, Penrose by 5pm Friday.

Some Woolworth/Countdown supermarkets have bins where you can drop off your vote, before 5pm Friday 25 Oct. Source: The Spinoff

All done? Now tell others who live in the Entrust district to vote! Let’s make the most of this opportunity to future-proof Auckland’s power system for a more climate-friendly future ⚡️⚡️⚡️