Electricity comparisons - who benefits?

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Wed, 13 Jul 2011 7:00p.m.

Some power companies are gaining customers as a result of the campaign

Some power companies are gaining customers as a result of the campaign

It's that time of year when you have to be sitting down to read your power bill. A good time, maybe to consider whether you're getting the best deal.

Consumer New Zealand says the big power companies want you to think, that it's too much of a drama shopping around and switching power suppliers.

Consumer and the Electricity Authority wants to see more competition in the market and has run a high profile ad campaign - that's those people with post-it notes on their faces - to make you shop around.

As a result of that campaign, reporter Whena Owen looks at which companies customers are switching to and which power companies are losing customers.

Watch the video.

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Comments

15 Jul 2011 01:05p.m.

Mike wrote:

Warning, if/when using the powerswitch calculator, and after submitting your usage details(from current supplier), you will see various amounts of savings to be had with other suppliers if you should sign up with them, BUT... before switching, ask the cheaper optioned provider to re-quote what you submitted to the powerswitch calculator, as i did this, and was very surprised to discover that the power company (energy) powerswitch recommended, would charge me nearly $50.00 more, than my current provider for the same kWh usage(includes early payment discounts) ...hence do your homework before jumping ship, otherwise it could cost you dearly in the long run... and as for the powerswitch calculator, use it ONLY to show you the other Power providers that are out there... other than that, the calculator itself, is in need of an urgent overhaul!

14 Jul 2011 01:54p.m.

Wendy wrote:

I was with Mercury for years. Meridian offered significantly lower kw and daily charges. I rang Mercury and told them of my offer and would they match it to keep me & told me they would get back to me as they were looking at all offers. No call came. I rang a week later and was told they would get back to me, I said put me on to someone higher. Finally I got told they had no intention of calling me back as they were not going to match the offer. So now I am changing!! I'm in West Auckland and Meridian offering 21.06 kw and 91.00 daily for 2 year fixed, open contract (no penalty if you want to change).

14 Jul 2011 01:07p.m.

Glenda wrote:

Your piece last night on electricity prices was interesting. I have been a Consumer member for many years and periodically check their Powerswitch feature to see if we could be doing better with our power prices. We switched about 7 years ago from TrustPower to Contact, and recently checked again. According to PowerSwitch, we could save over $750/year by switching to Just Energy, a relatively new player in the retail market. After calling Just Energy and confirming their prices for our area, it turns out the projected savings would be more like $420/year. Still worth switching though, which we did, also because they had just had a price increase in April 2011, so we thought their prices would hold steady for at least a year or so. So we switched about a month ago, which went very smoothly except for the fact that they put us on the Low User Plan by default, which we are not. They immediately corrected it, adjusted our first bill, and it was no big deal. However, a week later we got a letter saying their prices are going to increase again on August 1st. That's 2 increases in 4 months, and our projected savings are now looking like about $129/year. A far cry from the $750 Powerswitch led us to believe could be achieved. So, somewhat disappointing in the end, and consumers should be aware that Just Energy is about to raise their prices again.

14 Jul 2011 01:02p.m.

mal wrote:

Hey John, I switched from mercury energy to Power Shop last week and received my final bill from Mercury yesterday with a $150 switch fee plus $1.50 "counter payment fee" per transation made or payment made at the counter of Post Shop to be exact!! Is that a rip off or is that a rip off? Am i happy about the switch. Absolutely. Hopefully Powershop will know how to treat its customers cos Mercury suxs. The "power" of choice is great!lol

14 Jul 2011 11:10a.m.

Olo wrote:

Scotty: Because prices vary around the country. Contact may be competitively priced in some areas, but not in others. They will have gained customers in the last month (of which you are one), but the figure reported was the net customer movement (ie customer gains minus customer losses).

14 Jul 2011 09:19a.m.

Diana wrote:

There has been much said recently regarding the switching of power companies and how much money can be saved. I have looked at mine and can save just over $100 per year. The companies that have cheaper power are all ones that haven't raised their prices, most since 2009 and a few in 2010. Is this not a consideration when considering the step of changing power company? This also brings into question as to when these other companies are going to increase prices as they must. I am all for saving money but don't want to be chasing the best power deal every few months.

13 Jul 2011 09:27p.m.

Scotty wrote:

I'm lost. Your show tonight had Contact as the "biggest loser" of customers, yet they gave me the best offer for power. I've been with Trustpower since 1990 and pay 25c/unit, Contact offered 16c/unit!.............so why are people leaving.....what did I miss?

13 Jul 2011 08:15p.m.

Glenys wrote:

I would like to bring to your attention the extreme differences between different electricity supply area companies. We are in the North Shore area for electricity supply and currently have 2 meters, both night and day but not a 24hr meter. Because of the technical aspects of these meters, mainly that anything that is used between 11pm and 7am is run through the night meter, we have a much dearer rate than if we lived further down country. Take Horowhenua, if we had this set up down there, we would be paying a lot less. How do the supply companies justify this difference? We are all using the same product. I would be very interested if you could follow this up in your stories regarding power company switching. Kind regards, Glenys 0211095215