Third Party Authorities

Please email your client’s signed Third Party Authority form to us at:

electricsuper@mercer.com

 

It can take time for a Third Party Authority to be actioned. In the event that your member is in a defined benefit scheme, a staff member from the Trustee Office will be able to contact you within approximately 72 hours to help you with your queries and provide you with information.

Scheme Summary

If you are a Financial Planner looking for scheme information about ElectricSuper to help your clients, the Scheme Summary may help you.

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Advice Fees

Some advice fees may be payable from the ElectricSuper account of your client. You can access the Advice Fees form from our website.

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FAQs

Beneficiary arrangements
Insurance offerings
Compulsory contributions (defined benefits)
Investment choice
How long can transactions take?

Depending on the division of ElectricSuper your client is in, there are different rules about who receives their super in the event of their death.

Your client can lodge a “Binding Death Benefit Nomination” form. However, if they don’t, the table below shows where their super will be paid in the event they die.

Division 2 Lump Sum If our member has a spouse when they die, their spouse will receive a benefit. Where they have more than one spouse (for example, a spouse they have separated from but not divorced yet and a new de facto spouse), the Trustees will decide how to share the benefit between them.

If our member dies with eligible children, the child or children will receive a pension. It’s automatically calculated, whether our member also has a spouse or not.

When our member dies with no spouse or eligible children, their estate receives the super benefit as a lump sum.

Division 3 Pension If our member has a spouse and/or eligible children when they die, the spouse and/or children will receive the benefit, typically as an ongoing pension payment.

Where the member has more than one spouse (for example, a spouse they have separated from but not divorced yet and a new de facto spouse), the Trustee will decide how to share the pension payments between them.

No spouse or children – the estate receives the super benefit in a lump sum.

Division 4 RG The ElectricSuper Trustees will decide where the super goes.

Their decision will be based on the information about our member that the Trustees have when they review the situation.

Division 5 Accumulation The ElectricSuper Trustees will decide where the super goes.

Their decision will be based on the information about our member that the Trustees have when they review the situation.

A member can complete a Binding Death Benefit Nomination form. However, even if a member completes the form, there are exceptions to the conditions for Division 2 and Division 3 members:

A Division 2 (Lump Sum Scheme) member can nominate beneficiaries using the Binding Death Beneficiary Nomination form. However, any Child Pensions that are eligible to be paid will still be paid, even if the member has not nominated their children to receive the pensions using the nomination form. The calculation of any Child Pension amounts will reduce the lump sum that is paid to any other beneficiaries.

A Division 3 (Pension Scheme) member can nominate beneficiaries to receive only the balance of their Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) account on death. Money in the member’s other sub-accounts, or entitlement to ongoing pensions will be paid as per the rules of the scheme (see the table above).

The different divisions of ElectricSuper offer different insurance options for members. The tables below show a quick summary, but more detailed information, including exceptions, can be found in the Member Booklets for each division.

Basic information about salary continuance insurance (Income Protection) benefit:

Division 2 Lump Sum Available to age 55

Benefit is 2/3 of salary

Payable for up to 12 months (can be extended by the Board for up to another 6 months)

Benefit can only start once all sick leave is exhausted

Division 3 Pension Available to age 55

Benefit of extrapolated retirement pension

Payable for up to 12 months (can be extended by the Board for up to another 6 months)

Benefit can only start once all sick leave is exhausted

Division 4 RG Not available
Division 5 Accumulation Available to age 60

Benefit is 2/3 of salary

Payable for up to 12 months (can be extended by the Board for up to another 6 months)

Benefit can only start once all sick leave is exhausted

Basic information about Total and Permanent Disablement insurance benefit:

Division 2 Lump Sum Over 55: Retirement benefit

Under 55: Retirement benefit at age 55, assuming 6% contributions in the future and with a minimum of twice salary on the Member Account

Division 3 Pension Extrapolated retirement pension

Benefit may be commuted with 28 days

Division 4 RG Retirement benefit, plus the excess (if any) of 2x salary of Member Account
Division 5 Accumulation Retirement benefit, plus insured amount

The level of cover for active members is calculated by a formula: salary x selected insurance percentage x (months to age 60/12)

The selected insurance percentages available are 9%, 15% (default), 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%

For Retained and Spouse members, insurance cover is unitised with each unit providing $500 of cover.

Read the details of the insurance offerings in the Member Booklets for each of the Divisions:

Division 2 Lump Sum

Division 3 Pension

Division 4 RG

Alternatively, if your client has a Division 5 Accumulation account, you can read more about the insurance offerings at the Insurance page.

The standard member contributions for each Defined Benefit division in ElectricSuper are:

Division 2 Lump Sum Available to age 55

Variable allowable rates: 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, 6%, 7.5%, 9%

Maximum employer defined benefit received for an average contribution rate of 6% over a 35-year membership

Average is measured through the use of contribution points

Division 3 Pension Variable allowable rates: 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, 6%, 7.5%, 9%, standard

Members have a standard contribution rate which was set when they joined.

Maximum employer defined benefit received for an average contribution rate over a 30-year membership.

Average is measured through the use of contribution points

Division 4 RG Variable allowable rates: 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, 6%, 7.5%, 9%

Members are not permitted to contribute more that an average contribution rate of 6% and are notified when they reach this average.

Average is measured through the use of contribution points

 

ElectricSuper has 4 available investment options:

  • High Growth
  • Balanced Growth
  • Conservative Growth
  • Cash

Members can choose to invest their super into one option or to split across more than one option.

However, the options for standard member contributions in the Defined Benefit schemes are restricted to:

Lump Sum Scheme (Division 2)
  • Balanced Growth
  • Cash
Pension Scheme (Division 3)
  • Balanced Growth
RG (Division 4)
  • Balanced Growth
  • Cash

Members in the defined benefit schemes can invest their other super accounts (such as their Additional Voluntary Contribution account or the Rollover account, for example) into any of the 4 available investment options, or across a mix of the investment options.

Setting up an Income Stream

Approximately up to 6 weeks

If you are helping your client set up an ElectricSuper Income Stream, it can take up to approximately 6 weeks to establish the new account. This is because we need to ensure that we receive all exit documentation from the employer and we also wait for the next investment price to be struck to ensure that members’ investments remain invested.

Viewing investment changes

Approximately up to 6 weeks

When your client makes a change to their investment option with ElectricSuper, this may take up to 6 weeks before it is visible to your client in their online portal. This is because we implement investment switches on a monthly basis.

Any change made to investment choice will take effect from the beginning of the next month, provided we receive the investment choice application by 5pm on the last working day of the month.

Certified ID

Please remember that you need to provide original certified ID. We cannot accept scanned ID.

Scheme Booklets

You can access all of the ElectricSuper scheme booklets using the links below.

ElectricSuper Income Stream

Accumulation (Division 5)

Lump Sum (Division 2)

Pension (Division 3)

RG (Division 4)

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