MEDIA RELEASE
SUPA-NZ Award Trustpower for Age Friendliness
For immediate release
Friday 22 August, 2014
Trustpower is the first company to complete the SUPA-NZ (Seniors United to Promote an Age-Friendly New Zealand) business
accreditation process. A ceremony was held in Tauranga today, with the Hon, Simon Bridges, Minister for Energy and
Resources, presenting the award to representatives of the multi-utilities company.
The SUPA-NZ social audit process for Trustpower contributed to changes to the customer bill. It is now more readable,
with a focus on relevant information. The company website and various print materials have also been redesigned to
provide the information needed by an ageing population.
“We’ve had lots of positive feedback from our customers of all ages regarding the new simplified bill format,” says
Graeme Purches, Community Relations Manager at Trustpower.
“Things like it was easier to read, the print was a better colour and bigger, the bill was easier to understand and that
customers appreciated the thought and efforts that had gone into to making these changes for our mature customers,” says
Graeme.
“We’ve also learnt you can’t assume everyone sees things one way. We sent customers a picture of our new-look bill in
our newsletter, with a total of $37.00 to pay on it for demonstration purposes. Several customers then paid us this
amount, even though the sample was addressed to ‘A Customer’!”
So some customers got some welcome news with their next bill that they had a credit of $37.00, explains Graeme.
The assessment is undertaken by an audit team of elders and is an iterative process with the company agreeing to the
indicators that will be used to measure the company’s progress.
Steve Merchant, Trustpower’s Service Delivery Manager says the process opened up great communication channels between
Trustpower and the audit team.
“It has really made us think about how we take what we learnt into our future business planning process. We would
thoroughly recommend companies go through the SUPA-NZ accreditation process.”
SUPA-NZ is a not-for-profit social enterprise that aims to make New Zealand age friendly.
SUPA-NZ supports itself through operating a business and does not rely on government grants and charities.
The SUPA-NZ Accreditation Programme is based on similar programmes in cities around the globe, including New York and
Manchester, UK.
Carole Gordon, National Convenor of SUPA-NZ, says there is compelling evidence of New Zealand’s population aging.
“Over one million New Zealanders will soon be using a SuperGold Card,” says Carole.
Mr Purches says that for Trustpower, this presented an opportunity to ensure the responsible and special care of our
mature customers,
“We value our mature and older customers and wanted to find out how we could improve our customer service to this
sector. We recognise that we have a part in keeping mature and older customers independent,“ says Graeme.
“With the number of people aged 65 and over projected to double by 2036, tailoring customer services to attract the
increasing ‘silver’ dollar makes good business sense,” Mr Bridges says.
“There are more mature and older New Zealanders living longer and shopping more than ever before”, says Carole
“Mature and older people outspend younger consumers and have more time to shop. We are encouraging other companies to
become SUPA-NZ accredited to ensure they don’t miss out on what, based on recent research, is $43 billion of business.”
ENDS