So you have questions about Maestro? You’re in the right place!

We’re serious about creating a fairer, more resilient energy system, and making sure that you’re rewarded for playing your part. You’ll find the answers to all of your questions like how to get started, how it all works and what to do if you need help once you have Maestro installed.

Tell me more about Maestro and whether it’s right for me

  • Maestro helps to make the best use of energy for you and the electricity grid. Maestro works in two parts: smart hardware + intelligent software.

    There’s no cost to join Maestro. We supply and fit the hardware at no cost to you. You use your appliances as usual, and twice a year you’ll be paid.

    Maestro’s hardware is small and discreet and doesn’t need wiring in. No mess, no fuss. It connects seamlessly to the following appliances: 

    • Heat pumps (coming soon!)

    • Space heaters 

    • EVs charged with a standard 3-pin plug. 

    Maestro’s smart hardware connects to your Wi-Fi, which then connects to our software platform. 

    Behind-the scenes, the Maestro software platform orchestrates energy use of these appliances in real-time, making small shifts in energy to where and when it’s needed for you and for the grid. Maestro does this by learning your typical usage patterns and intermittently pausing the electricity supply to your appliances - or by pausing and shifting the electricity used - during periods of high-usage on the grid.

    Maestro uses AI to learn typical usage patterns, and it takes in other information like temperatures and grid signals.

    You don’t need to do anything. There are no apps to learn or fiddly controls. And, you still have total control of your appliances at all times. Maestro works silently in the background making subtle adjustments in line with grid signals - optimising energy use without disrupting daily routines. This means that energy is used smarter across the grid, shifting peak demand. 

    The result? Lower heating and cooling-related energy bills, meaningful rewards, and a more resilient grid.

  • Maestro is an innovative way to help solve one of the biggest (and costliest) problems of our time: the energy grid.

    When you sign up to Maestro we’ll install the hardware in your home - at a time that’s convenient for you - at no cost to you. There’s no rewiring needed so it’s quick and easy. Then, you simply use your appliances as usual.

    Maestro makes small adjustments to your energy supply. Across many households these adjustments make a big difference to how energy flows across our grid. This makes better use of the poles, wires and transformers that we have in our energy grid today. This makes a big difference to the companies that operate our grid at a national level and locally.

    Maestro promotes “energy flexibility” including by facilitating short temporary outages to users’ electricity supply during periods of high demand. You are unlikely to notice any tangible differences in the use and operation of your appliances connected to Maestro.

    Grid operators pay Maestro for providing this service. Maestro earns revenue from:

    • Our national grid operator

    • Local lines companies

    Then, we share the financial rewards with residential consumers like you.

    • Space heaters that plug into a wall (e.g. oil column heaters, panel heaters, radiant heaters, bar heaters, fan heaters)

      • Heat pumps (coming soon!)

      • EV’s that are charged at home with a standard 3-pin plug

      Maestro works with any brand of these appliances. This is something we’re really proud of - it means that almost everyone can get the benefits of Maestro. There’s no wiring or electricians needed! This means that whether you own your home or rent, you can still get the benefits from Maestro.

  • That’s right. Whether you want one Maestro or many, we’ll still connect you at no cost.

    And, the more Maestro devices that you have, the greater your reward payments are likely to be.

  • Maestro doesn’t work with fast EV chargers.

    However, if you use a space heater at home (and soon, heat pumps!), then you can get Maestro for these.

  • Maestro is made up of two parts: hardware and a cloud-based software platform.

    The hardware is what you will see in your home - these connect securely to Maestro’s cloud-based platform to support smarter energy use.

    For heaters and EV chargers, Maestro looks like a smart plug which connects directly to the appliance. For heat pumps, Maestro is a small white box that sits in the room where the heat pump is (it’s usually attached to a wall with 3M adhesive).

    Our hardware is designed to be discreet, so you don’t notice it while it goes about the important job of quietly optimising energy while you get on with your busy day.

  • Quite simply, apps cost money to build and maintain. We’re working hard to pass on as many savings and rewards to consumers as possible. We would rather pass on more rewards to you, than give you another app that’s only used a few times and then forgotten.

  • Thermostats and EV controllers manage individual appliances based on the user’s settings, Maestro works at a much broader level. It works with your appliances, across your home AND across the wider energy grid. Maestro connects directly to your appliances and uses smart technology to automatically shift when they use energy.

    By using the Maestro device for your appliances, you agree to allow Maestro to make small changes to your electricity supply, including temporarily pausing electricity supply to your appliances for short intervals during periods of high usage. You are unlikely to notice any tangible differences in the use and operation of devices connect to Maestro.

    You can still use your appliances in the normal way. In fact, it’s better that you do! Maestro learns usage patterns over time and will get smarter.

    Maestro optimises your energy use to support the grid during peak times - and in return, you get rewarded with cash payments and potential power savings in respect of your heating and cooling-related energy bills.

How do I get Maestro and what can I expect after I sign up?

  • If you have one or more heat pumps (Maestro for heat pumps is coming soon!), heaters or you charge your EV at home with a standard 3-pin plug, you are eligible to get Maestro installed in your home.

    Simply complete the online booking form and select a convenient time to have Maestro installed by our friendly installation partner.

  • Once you’ve completed the online booking form, we will contact our installation partners, Electric Six. Our installers will manage the full installation and set up, completely free of charge.

    When the installer arrives, they will request your home’s Wi-Fi name and password to connect the Maestro hardware. Electric Six will not record these details.

    Maestro devices need to connect to your home’s Wi-Fi so they can communicate with our secure, cloud-based platform.

    For further details on how Maestro collects, stores and uses data (including your Wi-Fi connection) please see our Privacy Policy.

  • You don’t need to be a tech whiz to get the benefits of Maestro. We’ve partnered with the excellent team at Electric Six to make it easy for you.

  • If you have one appliance to connect to Maestro, installation will take around 10 minutes, and you’ll be good to go!

    It will take slightly longer to connect more than one appliance - it all depends on your home setup. Even if you have more than one appliance to connect to Maestro it should still take less than 30 minutes.

  • Maestro devices need to connect to your home’s broadband so they can communicate with our secure, cloud-based platform. This connection allows Maestro to operate efficiently, make small temporary changes to your power supply and deliver energy insights in real time.

    Maestro devices use only a tiny amount of data, so they won’t make a big impact on your internet usage or data caps.

    We don’t store your Wi-Fi details. Here’s where you can read our Privacy Policy.

  • As our installation partner, Electric Six will only request your Wi-Fi name and password to connect the device during installation. Our installation partner will not record your Wi-Fi details.

  • Your privacy is very important to us. We are committed to protecting the personal data we collect from you, in compliance with the Privacy Act 2020. For more information on how we collect, use, disclose and manage personal data about you, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

What happens to my data?

I want to know more about the company behind Maestro

  • How does Maestro make money?

    Maestro makes small adjustments to your energy to use energy the smartest way possible across the grid. This is called “energy flexibility” and grid operators pay Maestro for providing this service. Maestro earns revenue from:

    • Our national grid operator

    • Local lines companies

    Profit is shared in the form of financial rewards with residential consumers as participants in the grid.

  • Maestro is owned and operated by Lastmyle - a New Zealand-based company committed to making energy more affordable, sustainable, and smarter for everyone.

    Lastmyle gives grid operators, electricity distributors, and commercial and large-scale customers the tools to manage energy demand, optimise infrastructure investment, and protect the energy system. It also gives consumers the opportunity to play a part in a cleaner, more resilient energy system.

Help me to understand savings and rewards

  • If you have Maestro installed and active in your home, you will receive a payment twice a year. Once in June and once in December. As Maestro launches mid 2025, our first consumer payment will be made in December 2025.

  • All residential Maestro participants can expect to receive cash payments (via bank transfer to a nominated account) from Maestro, rewarding them for their participation in a cleaner, more reliable system. These payments are made twice a year - in June and December.

    The amount received will depend on variables like where you live, the time of year, how many appliances you have connected to Maestro, and when and how you use your appliances.

    Maestro is newly available to the public, so we cannot tell you exactly how much you can expect to receive in cash rewards right now. Based on our testing of Maestro devices to date, residential customers who have multiple appliances connected, could earn up to $200 in cash rewards annually, depending on their energy usage.

  • If you have one or more heaters or heat pumps connected to Maestro, you can expect to see the same or lower energy bills, as long as you continue to use the same amount of power as you did before Maestro. This is of course subject to any changes in the price of electricity from your electricity retailer.

    Savings depend on variables like where you live, the time of year, how many appliances you have connected to Maestro, and when and how you use your appliances (and of course, your electricity retailer’s costs and fees). 

    We cannot guarantee you will save money on your energy bill, or predict your potential savings, because your energy usage is unique to you. However, current Maestro participants with heat pumps and heaters connected have found that, by using Maestro, their heating and cooling-related energy costs can be reduced by up to 20%, compared to what they were paying when they did not have Maestro installed.

    Please note that connecting EV chargers to Maestro will not lead to reduced electricity consumption costs; however, EV participants will receive twice-yearly payments for their participation.

  • As long as you keep using your appliances the way you always have and your electricity retailer’s costs and fees remain the same, your usage-related energy costs will either go down or stay the same.

    Maestro optimises energy for the appliances it’s connected to. If you change your usage patterns and start using your appliances more than you usually would, or at peak times, usage-related energy costs are likely to go up.

  • Payments are made to all residential Maestro participants twice a year, in June and December. As Maestro is launching in mid-2025 the first payment will be made at the start of December 2025 (just in time for Christmas!).

    Payments are made by bank transfer into your nominated bank account.

  • If you would like to receive Maestro payments into a bank account that’s different from the nominated account you provided after you first signed up, you can email us at support@maestropower.co.nz. We will verify the change using the contact details you provided when you signed up.

    In your email, please provide your full name, residential address (where Maestro is installed), previous bank account number and new bank account number where you’d like the payment credited.

Using Maestro

  • There is no user manual. This is because we manage the setup for you, and once Maestro is installed in your home, there is nothing you need to do differently. There are no settings to manage, and no changes to when and how you use your appliances. 

    When your Maestro is installed, your installer will give you an easy reference card with answers to the most common questions.

  • Yes. Maestro’s hardware meets all relevant New Zealand hardware safety standards.

    Our hardware has been tested in New Zealand and we hold all required consents and certifications.

  • Maestro runs in the background, using AI to learn usage patterns and optimise energy use without affecting your comfort or appliance performance, so interruptions are likely to be made at times that are convenient to you and you won’t notice.

    In the unlikely event you do notice a difference, this could be because we have paused the supply of electricity to your appliance to help the grid, or we have paused and then shifted your energy use of your appliance due to heavy grid usage.

    In these instances, you still have control over your appliances. If it isn’t convenient to you, then simply turn on your appliance in the usual way or adjust the heat of your heater or heat pump in the usual way, and this will override Maestro. Simple!

  • If you’d like to connect another appliance (a space heater, heat pump or EV charged with a 3-pin plug) to Maestro, simply complete the online booking form again, and our installers will manage the full installation and set up, completely free of charge.

  • Yes. Maestro connects directly to the electricity grid, not your energy retailer. This means it works no matter which power company you’re with.

    Maestro is separate from your energy retailer and you won’t see Maestro on the bill from your energy retailer.

What happens if I move house or I don’t want to use Maestro any more?

  • Simply unplug the device - our system will detect the disconnection automatically. You’re welcome to keep the device and plug it back in whenever you’re ready - it will reconnect automatically.

    If you want to return your device, you can email us at support@maestropower.co.nz and we’ll either send you paid postage to return the device, or we will arrange for our installation partners to collect it from your home free of charge.

  • If you're moving, you should remove your Maestro by simply unplugging the device.

    Let your landlord or real estate agent know that the Maestro devices are in place for the benefit of the new residents or tenants (if they would like to keep them). The new residents or tenants can connect to Maestro using the existing devices by completing our online booking form at maestropower.co.nz and we’ll take care of the rest, at no cost. 

    It is important that you do not leave any Maestro devices installed in circumstances where the new tenants or residents are not aware of them or have not consented to using them.

    To get set up at your new home, just opt in again by completing the online booking form. Our team will handle the full installation at your new address, free of charge.

  • Yes, you can pause or opt out at any time. Simply unplug the device - our system will detect the disconnection automatically. You’re welcome to keep the device and plug it back in whenever you’re ready - it will reconnect automatically. 

    If you want to return your device/s, you can email us and we’ll either send you paid postage to return them, or we will arrange for our installation partners to collect your devices from your home free of charge.

  • You can email us and we’ll send you paid postage to return the device, or we’ll arrange for our installation partners to come and collect your Maestro hardware unit/s from your home free of charge.

    We’ll recycle the Maestro units by reusing them again elsewhere.

Troubleshooting

  • No problem - just plug it back in and it will automatically reconnect and resume working as normal. There's no need to reset or reinstall anything.

  • Maestro is designed to operate silently in the background. On the space heater and EV Maestro unit, a blue light will show when it’s active. Once installed, Maestro runs automatically and no action is needed from you. In the rare event that it becomes disconnected from our cloud platform, we’ll detect the issue on our end and notify you directly.

  • Your Maestro will automatically reconnect back to the power or Wi-Fi when they come back on.