Legal and privacy

Effective from 1 July 2014

Overview

Meridian Energy Limited's MyMeridian Terms of Use set out below form part of a legal agreement between you, the website user and Meridian recorded in our Standard Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Electricity. In summary, the terms of use set out the following.

• Meridian's Standard Terms cover how we treat your personal information.

• You must keep your password confidential except you may share it with your joint account holder or, if you are a business, those of your directors or employees who need to deal with your Meridian account.

• You agree not to use this website for any illegal purpose.

• Meridian may change or remove this website at any time without notice.

• Your and our rights and responsibilities relating to credit and debit card payments.

• The trade marks on this website belong to Meridian, our licensors, or our affiliates.  Likewise, the materials and content on this website are our intellectual property and belong to us.  You cannot use or reproduce these without permission.

• In limited circumstances you may use and reproduce the content on this website.  These include for your personal, non-commercial use provided you acknowledge this website as your source.  You may not make more than one copy of any material, reproduce any of our material on another website, or redistribute material without our written permission.

• If you give us user content or feedback, you permit us to use that user content (other than your personal information) and feedback without restriction and without remuneration.

• You consent to receiving emails from us, and you agree that emails satisfy any legal requirement for communications to be in writing.

• There may be interruptions or delays on the website and we are not liable for that.  Likewise, while we do our best to prevent the presence of viruses or malicious code on this website, we cannot guarantee this outcome.

• You may create hyperlinks to this website, but must not create "hotlinks" to this website without getting our prior permission.  You will be responsible for all losses we may suffer as a result of any hyperlink or hotlink you create.

• Our website uses cookies.

• Our liability to you is limited in certain circumstances.  If the Consumer Guarantees Act applies to these terms of use, nothing in these terms of use limits your rights under that Act.

• This website is controlled from New Zealand, New Zealand laws apply, and New Zealand courts have jurisdiction.

1.  Introduction

mymeridian.co.nz is owned and operated by Meridian Energy Limited ('Meridian', 'we', 'us', 'our') and energy.meridian.co.nz is owned by us and hosted and operated for us by our third party service provider.  The term "this website" when used in these Terms of Use is a reference to both mymeridian.co.nz and energy.meridian.co.nz.  As your use of this website relates to your electricity supply from us and your electricity account with us, these terms of use are in addition to and form part of the agreement between you, the website user, ('you', 'your') and us that is recorded in our Standard Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Electricity ('Standard Terms').  You must not access or use this website unless you accept all of these terms of use and our Standard Terms.  By accessing and using this website you are agreeing that you have read, understood and accepted these terms of use and our Standard Terms, and that you agree to be bound by them.  If there is any inconsistency between these terms of use and our Standard Terms, these terms of use will prevail.

2.  Your privacy

Where we collect personal information about you as a result of your accessing and using this website, our Standard Terms relating to use of information and privacy apply.

3.  Changes

We reserve the right to add to, modify, suspend, or remove this website or any information, specification, or feature incorporated in this website at any time and without notice.

4.  Usernames and passwords

You agree that you:

• are responsible for all actions taken using your MyMeridian account, including being responsible for all actions of any person with whom your username and password is shared

• may share your username and password if:

• you have a joint account holder, that person or

• you are a business, those of your directors or employees who need to deal with your Meridian electricity account, provided that you alert each such person that, by accessing this website, that person will become a user and be bound by these terms of use

• must amend your password when any person with whom you have shared your password stops being entitled to use your password (for example, because they cease being a joint account holder or leave your employment) - in any case, we recommend that you change your password frequently

• other than as permitted above, must maintain the confidentiality of your password.

5.  Your use of this website

You agree not to use this website for any purpose that is unlawful or to engage in any conduct that may impair or cause damage to the operation of this website whether by way of a virus, corrupted file or through any other means.  Furthermore you agree not to alter, modify, reproduce, transmit or otherwise deal with the content, software, text, graphics, layout or design of this website without our prior written approval in each case.  Permission to use material from this website may be sought from webupdates@meridianenergy.co.nz.  If you or a person you are responsible for breaches these terms of use or our Standard Terms, we may temporarily or permanently suspend your access to this website by disabling your username and/or password.  Our right to suspend your access to this website is without prejudice to any other right, power or remedy we may have under these terms of use or our Standard Terms, at law, in equity or otherwise.

6.  Credit and debit card payments

You can only make credit and debit card payments by using Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit and debit cards.

The option to make payment by credit or debit cards may not be available on all Meridian plans and/or packages.

If your payment is declined or reversed (also called a "chargeback") by your credit or debit card issuer (including, for example, because your card has expired), we may charge you a dishonour fee and you must make alternative arrangements for paying the amount due to us.  You will only receive any prompt payment discount available to you if we receive your alternative payment by the due date shown on your invoice.  If you have three or more consecutive payments declined or reversed, we may elect (at our sole discretion) to stop accepting credit or debit card payments from you.  If we make this election, you will need to pay your invoices by an alternative payment method.

If you set up a recurring credit or debit card payment:

• we will continue to process credit or debit card payments for amounts you owe to us until you advise us otherwise.  If you wish to cancel the recurring credit or debit card payment, we will endeavour to do so with immediate effect, but there may be circumstances when we are unable to cancel the next payment scheduled

• you are responsible for ensuring that the credit or debit card remains valid and has not expired

• we will endeavour to remind you when your saved credit or debit card is expiring

• if your credit or debit card has expired and you have not replaced it with another valid card, we will still attempt to process your payment but you should be aware that it may be declined by your credit or debit card issuer.  If this occurs, the paragraph above (relating to declined payments) applies

We do not store credit or debit card details in our billing system.  All credit and debit card transactions are processed by DPS, a trusted online payment solution provider. You can view DPS's privacy policy here.

This section 6 replaces any prior terms and conditions relating to credit or debit card use or authority that we have with you.

7.  User content

This website may enable you to submit information and other user-supplied content ('user content').  By creating, modifying, transmitting, uploading, or submitting any user content, you:

• grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, licence to publish and make available to the public all of your user content other than your personal information (by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed) to other users of this website and other users of our services in such manner as we may permit from time to time

• acknowledge and agree that no royalties or other remuneration will be paid or payable to you for your user content, or for the rights granted above.

We have no obligation to you to make this website or any user content available.  We may at any time edit or remove from display any part of this website (including your user content) as we deem appropriate.

8.  Trade marks

The name and logo of Meridian, the name and logo of MyMeridian and all trade marks appearing on this website belong to us or our licensors or affiliates.  You must not use or reproduce or allow anyone to use or reproduce those trade marks for any reason without our prior written permission in each case.

9.  Intellectual property

The materials displayed on this website are protected by copyright and other laws in New Zealand, and under similar laws and international conventions abroad.  You acknowledge and agree that all copyright and other intellectual property rights that may subsist in materials available through this website including text, illustrations, artwork, photographs, video, music, sounds, layout, designs, software, source code, belong to us or to our licensors (together, 'our intellectual property').

Except in accordance with section 9 below or with our prior written permission, you may not in any form or by any means:

• use, copy, modify, adapt, reproduce, store, embed, distribute, print, display, perform, publish, or transmit in any way any works contained in any part of this website

• commercialise any information, products or services obtained from any part of this website.

10.  Limited permission to use materials

Subject to the restrictions in section 10 below, you are permitted to download and print extracts of material or content from this website in the following situations only:

• for your personal, non-commercial use

• for criticism, review or news reporting of current events, provided that an acknowledgement of source of such materials is provided in each case

• for research or private study

• where insubstantial portions of such material or content are quoted in another document provided that an acknowledgement of the source of such materials is provided in each case.

You must not remove, cover, overlay, obscure or change any copyright notices, legends, or terms of use that we post on this website.

11.  Restrictions on copyright clearance

The permissions given in section 9 above are subject to the following conditions unless you obtain our express prior written permission in each case:

• no more than one copy of such material may be made

• no part of the website or any material or content appearing on this website may be reproduced or stored in or transmitted to any other website

• no material or content appearing on this website may be redistributed, disseminated, transmitted or broadcast in any form, either electronic or non-electronic, or included in any retrieval system or service.

12.  Feedback and unsolicited submissions

If you give us feedback about this website or our products or services, we may use that feedback for the purpose of improving our website or services (and for any other purpose we deem necessary or desirable) without being obliged to pay you any compensation.  If you do send us unsolicited ideas:

• they will be treated as if they were 'user content' in accordance with these terms of use

• they will be deemed to be non-confidential

• we will not be required to provide any acknowledgement of their source.

13.  Electronic communications

You consent to receiving communications from us electronically and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.  You agree to be bound by any agreement reached through electronic communications in terms of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002.  You consent to receiving electronic messages and information sent by us (or on our behalf) for any purposes described in our Standard Terms.

14.  Availability

Due to the nature of the internet and electronic communications, we and our service providers do not warrant that this website or any associated services will be error free, without interruption or delay, or free from defects in design.  Your use of this website and any associated services may be subject to interruption, restriction, or delay.  We will not be liable to you should this website or the services supplied through this website become unavailable, interrupted, restricted, or delayed for any reason.

15.  Hyperlinks and third party websites

You may create one or more hyperlinks to this website but you must not create any hotlink, inline link, or direct link (each a "hotlink") to this website (or any file on this website) or embed any page of this website on another website (using a frame, iframe, or otherwise) without our prior written permission in each instance.  If you would like to create a hotlink to this website, please contact us.  If you do create a hyperlink or hotlink to this website or embed this website in another website, you will do so at your own risk and you will be responsible for all losses (whether direct or indirect) that we may suffer as a result of that hyperlink, hotlink, or embedding and you will indemnify us against all claims arising from, or in connection with, that hyperlink, hotlink, or embedding.

This website may provide links to internet sites maintained by our partners or other third parties.  Such linked sites are not under our control and we are not responsible for their contents (including the accuracy or legality of any linked site or any material contained in a linked site).  We are providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by us of the linked site.  We will not be liable for any damages or loss arising in any way out of or in connection with or incidental to any information or service provided by any third party.

The views expressed in any third party material published on this website are not necessarily the views of Meridian and we expressly disclaim all responsibility for the content of any third party material published on this website.

16. Cookies

When you visit this website, we may use automated tools and methods (such as cookies, sessions, and usage monitoring software) to collect certain information about your visit, including (without limitation):

• the internet protocol address and domain name used by your computer to connect to the internet

• the operating system and the browser your computer uses, and any search engine or inbound hyperlink used to reach this website

• the date, time, and duration of your visit

• the pages viewed by you.

This information will be used in aggregate form to analyse how this website is being used (for example: to analyse usage patterns in order to improve this website) and provide you with a personalised experience. Your web browser may allow you to disable acceptance of cookies or certain types of cookies used for this purpose.  However, if you limit or disable these cookies your access or use of our website may be restricted.

First party cookies and third party cookies can also be used to deliver targeted interest-based website advertising. This enables Meridian and other third parties, to show Meridian’s advertisements to you, while you browse the web, based on your previous visits to Meridian’s website. Meridian has signed up to Google’s interest based website advertising service, known as Remarketing with Google Analytics. This means that third party vendors, including Google, can show Meridian’s advertisements on sites across the internet. Meridian and third party vendors, including Google, utilise first party and third party cookies (such as the ‘Google Analytic cookie’ and ‘DoubleClick cookie)’ to inform, optimise and serve advertisements based on your past visits to Meridian’s website. You can advise Google that you wish to opt out of interest based advertising by visiting Google’s Ad Settings page.

Except as set out above, we will not disclose any such information except in aggregate form.

We may gather more extensive information if we are concerned, for example, about abnormal website usage patterns or website security breaches.

"Cookies" are small files stored on your computer that assist us in collecting the information above. “First party cookies” are cookies that are associated with the domain of the site a user visits. “Third party cookies” are cookies that are associated with a different domain to the site a user visits.

17.  Disclaimers

We endeavour to ensure the information available through this website and that the content of this website is free from errors.  However, we do not give any warranty or other assurance as to the content of material appearing on this website its accuracy, operation, quality, functionality, completeness, timeliness or suitability for any particular purpose.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we provide this website and related information and services on an "as is" basis without any warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind (whether, express, implied, statutory or otherwise) including, but not limited to, warranties of non-infringement, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

You acknowledge that if you rely on this website or any materials available through this website, you do so solely at your own risk.

The views expressed in any third party material published on this website are not necessarily the views of Meridian and we expressly disclaim all responsibility for the content of any third party material published on this website.

If you are using our services for business purposes, you agree that the guarantees provided under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 shall not apply to those services.

18.  Malicious code

Although we endeavour to prevent the introduction of viruses or other malicious code (together, 'malicious code') to this website, we do not guarantee that this website, or any data available from it, does not contain malicious code.  We will not be liable for any damages or harm attributable to malicious code.  You are responsible for ensuring that the process that you employ for accessing this website does not expose your computer system to the risk of interference or damage from malicious code.

19.  Security

Although we endeavour to protect the security of your personal information you acknowledge that there is a risk of unauthorised access to (or alteration of) your transmissions or data or of the information contained on your computer system or on this website.  We do not accept responsibility or liability of any nature for any losses that you may sustain as a result of such unauthorised access or alteration.  All information transmitted to you or from you is transmitted at your risk, and you assume all responsibility and risks arising in relation to your use of this website and the internet.  We do not accept responsibility for any interference or damage to your own computer system which may arise in connection with your accessing of this website or any outbound hyperlink.

20.  Liability

Unless inconsistent with these terms of use, our Standard Terms apply in respect of our liability and your liability under these terms of use.  The Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply to these terms of use to the extent that you receive electricity and services from us for use in a business.  If the Consumer Guarantees Act applies to these terms of use, nothing in these terms of use limits your rights under that Act.

21.  Governing law

This website is controlled and operated by us, from offices within New Zealand.  Details contained on this website relating to the products and services have been prepared in accordance with New Zealand law and may not satisfy the laws of any other country.  We make no representations or warranties as to whether or not the information or products available from this website are appropriate or available for use in other countries.  If you choose to access this website from outside New Zealand you are responsible for compliance with applicable local law.

These terms of use are governed by the laws of New Zealand and the courts of New Zealand shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any dispute arising in relation to these terms of use.

1  Introduction

The Powervision site is owned and operated by Arc Innovations Limited a subsidiary of Meridian

Energy Limited (‘Meridian’, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our ’) and is hosted and operated for us by our third party

service provider, [Jade Software Corporation]. The term “this website” when used in these Terms of

Use is a reference to www.powervision.co.nz. As your use of this website relates to your electricity

supply from us and your electricity account with us, these Terms of Use are in addition to and form

part of the agreement between you, the website user, (‘you’, ‘your’) and us that is recorded in our

Standard Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Electricity ('Standard Terms'). You must not access

or use this website unless you accept all of these Terms of Use and our Standard Terms. By

accessing and using this website you are agreeing that you have read, understood and accepted

these Terms of Use and our Standard Terms, and that you agree to be bound by them. If there is any

inconsistency between these Terms of Use and our Standard Terms, these Terms of Use will prevail.

2  Changes

We reserve the right to add to, modify, suspend, or remove this website or any information,

specification, or feature incorporated in this website at any time and without notice.

3  Usernames and passwords

You agree that you:

• are responsible for all actions taken using your Powervision account, including being responsible for all actions of any person with whom your username and password is shared
• may share your username and to your employees who need to deal with your Meridian electricity account, provided that you alert each such person that, by accessing this website, that person will become a user and be bound by these Terms of Use
• must amend your password when any person with whom you have shared your password stops being entitled to use your password (for example, because they leave your employment), we recommend that you change your password frequently
• other than as permitted above, must maintain the confidentiality of your password.

4  Your use of this website

You agree not to use this website for any purpose that is unlawful or to engage in any conduct that

may impair or cause damage to the operation of this website whether by way of a virus, corrupted file

or through any other means. Furthermore you agree not to alter, modify, reproduce, transmit or

otherwise deal with the content, software, text, graphics, layout or design of this website without our

prior written approval in each case. Permission to use material from this website may be sought from

webupdates@meridianenergy.co.nz. If you or a person you are responsible for breaches these

Terms of Use or our Standard Terms, we may temporarily or permanently suspend your access to this

website by disabling your username and/or password. Our right to suspend your access to this

website is without prejudice to any other right, power or remedy we may have under these Terms of

Use or our Standard Terms, at law, in equity or otherwise.

5  Fees

For the purpose of this trial, you will not be charged for the service. If we elect to continue the

Powervision service once the trial period has ended and you choose to continue to use the service,

you will be charged for the service. The charging will be based on each installation control point (ICP)

with a cap in place for large customers with many sites.

6 Feedback

In consideration for us providing you access to the website, you agree that you will give

comprehensive and accurate user feedback about this website or our products or services as required

by us. We may use that feedback for the purpose of improving our website or services (and for any

other purpose we deem necessary or desirable) without being under any obligation to pay you any

compensation. The user feedback that you provide:

• will be treated as if it is ‘user content’ in accordance with these Terms of Use
• will be deemed to be non-confidential
• when used by us, will not require us to provide any acknowledgement of its source.

7  User Content

This website may enable you to submit information and other user-supplied content (‘user content’).

By creating, modifying, transmitting, uploading, or submitting any user content, you:

• grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, licence to publish and make available to the public all of your user content (by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed) to other users of this website and other users of our services in such manner as we may permit from time to time
• acknowledge and agree that no royalties or other remuneration will be paid or payable to you for your user content, or for the rights granted above.

We have no obligation to you to make this website or any user content available. We may at any time

edit or remove from display any part of this website (including your user content) as we deem

appropriate.

We will not publicly disclose any of your feedback, user content, data and information captured by and

contained within this website without your prior consent (such consent not to be unreasonably

withheld). 

8  Trade marks

The name and logo of Meridian, the name and logo of Powervision and all trademarks appearing on

this website belong to us or our licensors or affiliates. You must not use or reproduce or allow anyone

to use or reproduce those trade marks for any reason without our prior written permission in each

case.

9  Intellectual property

The materials displayed on this website are protected by copyright and other laws in New Zealand,

and under similar laws and international conventions abroad. You acknowledge and agree that all

copyright and other intellectual property rights that may subsist in materials available through this

website including text, illustrations, artwork, photographs, video, music, sounds, layout, designs,

software, source code, belong to us or to our licensors (together, ‘our intellectual property’).

Except in accordance with section 10 below or with our prior written permission, you may not in any

form or by any means:

• use, copy, modify, adapt, reproduce, store, embed, distribute, print, display, perform, publish, or transmit in any way any works contained in any part of this website
• commercialise any information, products or services obtained from any part of this website.

10 Limited permission to use materials

Subject to the restrictions in section 11 below, you are permitted to download and print extracts of

material or content from this website in the following situations only:

• for your internal commercial use
• where insubstantial portions of such material or content are quoted in another document

provided that an acknowledgement of the source of such materials is provided in each case.

You must not remove, cover, overlay, obscure or change any copyright notices, legends, or Terms of

Use that we post on this website.

11 Restrictions on copyright clearance

The permissions given in section 9 above are subject to the following conditions unless you obtain our

express prior written permission in each case:

• no more than one copy of such material may be made
• no part of the website or any material or content appearing on this website may be reproduced or stored in or transmitted to any other website
• no material or content appearing on this website may be redistributed, disseminated, transmitted or broadcast in any form, either electronic or non-electronic, or included in any retrieval system or service.

12 Electronic communications

You consent to receiving communications from us electronically and you agree that all agreements,

notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal

requirement that such communications be in writing. You agree to be bound by any agreement

reached through electronic communications in terms of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002. You

consent to receiving electronic messages and information sent by us (or on our behalf) for any

purposes described in our Standard Terms.

13 Availability

Due to the early development stage of the website and nature of the internet and electronic

communications, we and our service providers do not warrant that this website or any associated

services will be error free, without interruption or delay, or free from defects in design. Your use of this

website and any associated services may be subject to interruption, restriction, or delay. We will not

be liable to you should this website or the services supplied through this website become unavailable,

interrupted, restricted, or delayed for any reason.

14 Hyperlinks and third party websites

You may create one or more hyperlinks to this website for your internal commercial use but you must

not create any hotlink, inline link, or direct link (each a "hotlink") to this website (or any file on this

website) or embed any page of this website on another website (using a frame, iframe, or otherwise)

without our prior written permission in each instance. If you would like to create a hotlink to this

website, please contact us. If you do create a hyperlink or hotlink to this website or embed this website

in another website, you will do so at your own risk and you will be responsible for all losses (whether

direct or indirect) that we may suffer as a result of that hyperlink, hotlink, or embedding and you will

indemnify us against all claims arising from, or in connection with, that hyperlink, hotlink, or

embedding.

This website may provide links to internet sites maintained by our partners or other third parties. Such

linked sites are not under our control and we are not responsible for their contents (including the

accuracy or legality of any linked site or any material contained in a linked site). We are providing

these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by

us of the linked site. We will not be liable for any damages or loss arising in any way out of or in

connection with or incidental to any information or service provided by any third party.

The views expressed in any third party material published on this website are not necessarily the

views of Meridian and we expressly disclaim all responsibility for the content of any third party material

published on this website.

15 Disclaimers

We endeavour to ensure the information available through this website and that the content of this

website is free from errors. However, we do not give any warranty or other assurance as to the 

content of material appearing on this website its accuracy, operation, quality, functionality,

completeness, timeliness or suitability for any particular purpose.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we provide this website and related information and services

on an “as is” basis without any warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind (whether,

express, implied, statutory or otherwise) including, but not limited to, warranties of non-infringement,

merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

You acknowledge that if you rely on this website or any materials available through this website, you

do so solely at your own risk.

The views expressed in any third party material published on this website are not necessarily the

views of Meridian and we expressly disclaim all responsibility for the content of any third party material

published on this website.

As you are using our services for business purposes, you agree that the guarantees provided under

the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 shall not apply to those services.

16 Malicious code

Although we endeavour to prevent the introduction of viruses or other malicious code (together,

‘malicious code’) to this website, we do not guarantee that this website, or any data available from it,

does not contain malicious code. We will not be liable for any damages or harm attributable to

malicious code. You are responsible for ensuring that the process that you employ for accessing this

website does not expose your computer system to the risk of interference or damage from malicious

code.

17 Security

Although we endeavour to protect the security of your confidential information you acknowledge that

there is a risk of unauthorised access to (or alteration of) your transmissions or data or of the

information contained on your computer system or on this website. We do not accept responsibility or

liability of any nature for any losses that you may sustain as a result of such unauthorised access or

alteration. All information transmitted to you or from you is transmitted at your risk, and you assume all

responsibility and risks arising in relation to your use of this website and the internet. We do not accept

responsibility for any interference or damage to your own computer system which may arise in

connection with your accessing of this website or any outbound hyperlink.

18 Liability

Unless inconsistent with these Terms of Use, our Standard Terms apply in respect of our liability and

your liability under these Terms of Use. The Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply to these Terms

of Use to the extent that you receive electricity and services from us for use in a business. If the

Consumer Guarantees Act applies to these Terms of Use, nothing in these Terms of Use limits your

rights under that Act.

19 Confidentiality

Subject to the exceptions below and any disclosure by us in accordance with clauses 6 and 7 of these

Terms of Use, each party shall keep confidential, and make no disclosure of all information obtained

from the other party under this agreement or in the course of negotiations in respect of these Terms of

Use (‘Information’).

Information may be disclosed by a party if:

• disclosure is required by law, or necessary to comply with the listing rules (including any prelisting requirements) of any recognised stock exchange; or
• disclosure is necessary to obtain the benefits of, and fulfil obligations under, this agreement; or
• that Information already is, or becomes, public knowledge other than as a result of a breach of this clause 19 by that party; or
• disclosure is made to a lawyer or accountant for that party.

You agree to not use Meridian as a reference site or make any public statements about the

Powervision trial (including to any other of its actual or potential customers), without our prior written

consent.

20 Governing law

This website is controlled and operated by us, from offices within New Zealand. Details contained on

this website relating to the products and services have been prepared in accordance with New

Zealand law and may not satisfy the laws of any other country. We make no representations or

warranties as to whether or not the information or products available from this website are appropriate

or available for use in other countries. If you choose to access this website from outside New Zealand

you are responsible for compliance with applicable local law.

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of New Zealand and the courts of New Zealand shall

have non-exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any dispute arising in relation to these Terms of

Use.

In April 2012, changes were made to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code. This affects the kind of information we collect and hold that can be shared with credit reporting agencies.

What’s the Credit Reporting Privacy Code?

The Privacy Act’s Credit Reporting Privacy Code is a code of practice issued by the Privacy Commissioner that forms part of New Zealand’s privacy laws. The code regulates the kind of credit information we collect and subsequently share with credit reporting agencies.

What’s changed?

Before the 2012 code changes, credit agencies only collected negative credit information about individuals, such as defaults, collections and bad debt. Changes to the code mean that we can now collect and share positive and negative information with credit reporting agencies, providing a more complete picture of a person’s credit profile.

This means that good credit behaviour, such as paying your bills on time, now contributes towards your credit profile. It also helps people who’ve had previous financial difficulties show their recovery to a positive credit state.

How does this affect you and Meridian?

We’ll begin supplying additional customer credit information to credit reporting agencies every month, in accordance with the code. This includes information:

• that clearly identifies you to the agency
• about your current credit status (positive and negative), including your monthly bill payments
• about the status of any credit defaults.

This information may be held by credit agencies for up to two years. For more details about the code and its implications you can view the Credit Reporting Privacy Code amendments here.