Trustpower embraces senior market

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges and Trustpower chief executive Vince Hawksworth with SUPA-NZ national convenor Carole Gordon, and chairperson Dianne Rodgers.

Tauranga-based Trustpower is the first New Zealand company to complete an accreditation process aimed at making New Zealand age friendly.

SUPA-NZ, which stands for Seniors United to Promote an Age-Friendly New Zealand, is a not-for-profit company trying to make the country age friendly, with initiatives including alerting companies to the market potential of older customers.

"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," said Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges, who presented the award to Trustpower at a ceremony last Friday.

The SUPA-NZ social audit process for Trustpower contributed to changes to the customer bill, which the company says made it 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.

Carole Gordon, national convenor of SUPA-NZ, said, "Over one million New Zealanders will soon be using a SuperGold Card.

"There are more mature and older New Zealanders living longer and shopping more than ever before."

Mature and older people outspent younger consumers and had more time to shop, she said. "We are encouraging other companies to become SUPA-NZ accredited to ensure they don't miss out on what, based on recent research, is $43billion of business."

The Trustpower assessment was undertaken by an audit team of elders and was an iterative process with the company agreeing to the indicators that would be used to measure the company's progress.

"We've had lots of positive feedback from our customers of all ages regarding the new simplified bill format," said Graeme Purches, Trustpower's community relations manager.

"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."

The company also learned that not everyone saw information the same way. For demonstration purposes, it sent customers a sample of the new-look bill addressed to "A Customer", with a total of $37 to pay on it.

However, several customers then paid the sample bill, he said. The customers got the amount credited back on their next bill.

Steve Merchant, Trustpower's service delivery manager, said 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."

Proven formula

The SUPA-NZ business accreditation programme is based on similar programmes in cities around the globe, including New York and Manchester.