Should I use Electric Kiwi over Genesis?

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#2319763 18-Sep-2019 13:41

AVM: they basically said no other company would do for them and said it would likely be the same for us. H

Stupid thing to say.

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Electric Kiwi most likely will come out near the top if not right up there, and have excellent customer service too.

JayADee

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#2319815 18-Sep-2019 14:49

I've gone with a company called Ecotricity. Probably not available everywhere. My usage is low but spread out so a free power hour won’t really work for me. Ecotricity has decent low user rates and offers no promos. Comparing electricity providers in NZ is a nightmare. The companies will usually give you a better deal for a year if you ring them directly but then you have to repeat every year. It's painful.

wally22

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#2319893 18-Sep-2019 16:54

Another plus 1 for Electric Kiwi. Simple to manage and pretty good rates. NO CONTRACT!

I have got an average of 29.5% savings for the Hour of Free Power from the 1st of April until the 16th of September. This is the period when it has been just me in the house.

My best saving was 54.7% saving on the 15th of June. That was probably the day I heated the hot water, ran the dishwasher, washing machine, dryer (because I could), showered and cooked a cake and a roast dinner all at the same time.

I used to get anxious about appliance cycles taking more than one hour but I am over that now.

I normally use 9pm to 10pm as that suits me most

Sometimes if I get in late I will use 11pm to 12am and continue the next day with 12am to 1am, 2 consecutive hours. You can change your required hour of power via the website for that day, any time before midnight on the day.

I have completely forgotten to switch things on sometimes, am away from home for days sometimes and I am house sitting so not feasible to alter the set up as in timers etc. Rely on alarms on my phone.

My only complaint is that they do not service the next place I am moving to!

tdgeek

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#2319953 18-Sep-2019 18:13

wally22:

Another plus 1 for Electric Kiwi. Simple to manage and pretty good rates. NO CONTRACT!

I have got an average of 29.5% savings for the Hour of Free Power from the 1st of April until the 16th of September. This is the period when it has been just me in the house.

My best saving was 54.7% saving on the 15th of June. That was probably the day I heated the hot water, ran the dishwasher, washing machine, dryer (because I could), showered and cooked a cake and a roast dinner all at the same time.

I used to get anxious about appliance cycles taking more than one hour but I am over that now.

I normally use 9pm to 10pm as that suits me most

Sometimes if I get in late I will use 11pm to 12am and continue the next day with 12am to 1am, 2 consecutive hours. You can change your required hour of power via the website for that day, any time before midnight on the day.

I have completely forgotten to switch things on sometimes, am away from home for days sometimes and I am house sitting so not feasible to alter the set up as in timers etc. Rely on alarms on my phone.

My only complaint is that they do not service the next place I am moving to!

Many of us did that, also over it. We run washing machine and DW then. If its winter, we ramp up the two heat pumps, and as well as saving 1 hour for two heatpumps, ramping them up means we turn them off at 10, so we save an hour or two after that as well

If it was Summer we would do a cool then.

pj2019

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#2325602 26-Sep-2019 21:42

Tired some other companies like powerhouse contract-free but direct to use their App to purchase new special power......currently with Puls energy

heavenlywild

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#2325671 27-Sep-2019 07:30

I've gone from EK to Genesis. I found the daily rate was too high for a low power user. I can't recall exactly the number but if I used no power for a month I would still be paying $55.

Update: daily fee was $1.88.

Update 2: Genesis has a daily fee of 33.33c. Even with the hour of power it was not worth it in my case.

tdgeek

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#2325674 27-Sep-2019 07:39

heavenlywild: I've gone from EK to Genesis. I found the daily rate was too high for a low power user. I can't recall exactly the number but if I used no power for a month I would still be paying $55.

Update: daily fee was $1.88.

Update 2: Genesis has a daily fee of 33.33c. Even with the hour of power it was not worth it in my case.

OUCH! I'm on EK, Low User, ChCh, mine is 27c per unit 37c per day incl GST

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elbrownos

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#2325704 27-Sep-2019 08:50

The low user daily charge is limited by law to 30c/day + GST

jonathan18

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#2325719 27-Sep-2019 09:19

heavenlywild: I've gone from EK to Genesis. I found the daily rate was too high for a low power user. I can't recall exactly the number but if I used no power for a month I would still be paying $55.

Update: daily fee was $1.88.

Update 2: Genesis has a daily fee of 33.33c. Even with the hour of power it was not worth it in my case.

Yeah, I think you're comparing apples with avocados here; $1.88 a day must be for a standard user, so perhaps you weren't actually set up as a low user? A low user will be paying an average of about $10.50 a month in daily charges.

As low-user EK customers we're paying 34c a day and 30c a unit (incl GST), and when combined with the hour of free power last time I checked EK was still a good amount cheaper for us than any other provider.

tdgeek

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#2325730 27-Sep-2019 09:28

jonathan18:

heavenlywild: I've gone from EK to Genesis. I found the daily rate was too high for a low power user. I can't recall exactly the number but if I used no power for a month I would still be paying $55.

Update: daily fee was $1.88.

Update 2: Genesis has a daily fee of 33.33c. Even with the hour of power it was not worth it in my case.

Yeah, I think you're comparing apples with avocados here; $1.88 a day must be for a standard user, so perhaps you weren't actually set up as a low user? A low user will be paying an average of about $10.50 a month in daily charges.

As low-user EK customers we're paying 34c a day and 30c a unit (incl GST), and when combined with the hour of free power last time I checked EK was still a good amount cheaper for us than any other provider.

Pay ahead $200 on your CC and add another 10% to the % saved on the free hour

jonathan18

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#2325735 27-Sep-2019 09:35

tdgeek:

Pay ahead $200 on your CC and add another 10% to the % saved on the free hour

I do use stay ahead, but I'm not sure where you got this idea that one gains 10% by doing so: as I already posted on the previous page (copied below) the savings from using this is it avoids the 1.5% CC surcharge; if you're sure about this 10%, perhaps you could post the link to this info?!

jonathan18:

AFAIK - and I've been paying in advance for a couple of years with EK - the only saving is they waive the credit card surcharge, so it saves 1-2% (or whatever they charge for using credit cards), certainly nothing like 10%.

The EK billing is fairly transparent - simply the two charges of per unit and per day, with levy etc built in; the only 'discount' is through using stay ahead (or perhaps you save the same amount if paying by direct credit? Not sure about this as I've always paid via credit card).

Edit: it's a 1.5% surcharge if paying bills via credit card, so that's what you avoid by using stay ahead or paying by direct debit:

https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/faq/how-to-pay

https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/faq/billing-auto-topup-stay-ahead

tdgeek

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#2325750 27-Sep-2019 09:51

jonathan18:

tdgeek:

Pay ahead $200 on your CC and add another 10% to the % saved on the free hour

I do use stay ahead, but I'm not sure where you got this idea that one gains 10% by doing so: as I already posted on the previous page (copied below) the savings from using this is it avoids the 1.5% CC surcharge; if you're sure about this 10%, perhaps you could post the link to this info?!

jonathan18:

AFAIK - and I've been paying in advance for a couple of years with EK - the only saving is they waive the credit card surcharge, so it saves 1-2% (or whatever they charge for using credit cards), certainly nothing like 10%.

The EK billing is fairly transparent - simply the two charges of per unit and per day, with levy etc built in; the only 'discount' is through using stay ahead (or perhaps you save the same amount if paying by direct credit? Not sure about this as I've always paid via credit card).

Edit: it's a 1.5% surcharge if paying bills via credit card, so that's what you avoid by using stay ahead or paying by direct debit:

https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/faq/how-to-pay

https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/faq/billing-auto-topup-stay-ahead

Is that plan current?

Email to me 9 Sept says

Hi Anthony,

Good news, your account has been topped up with $200.00. As you're on the Stay Ahead 200 pricing plan, you've also received a $20 top-up bonus - go you good thing! Your next top-up will automatically be made when your account reaches $0.00.

Keep a track of your account by downloading the Electric Kiwi App or logging into Your Account.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with one of the team through Live Chat from 8am-10pm Monday to Friday.

Cheers,

---
Andrew
Customer Services

Checked CC, $200 charged, no extra fees, checked bills TopUp payment $200 credited, as is Stay Ahead Bonus $20

jonathan18

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#2325766 27-Sep-2019 10:18

Thanks for digging out that information; based on that I was able to chat online and confirm I'm eligible.

I'm not quite sure why that offer isn't mentioned on the website. The rates themselves are very close to my current rates (literally a few cents either way over a weekly bill), so with that 10% bonus it's a decent saving, and makes a good-value power company even cheaper. I'll sign up now.

ren1316

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#2325831 27-Sep-2019 11:04

10% bonus is on the pricing page of their web site.

tdgeek

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#2325835 27-Sep-2019 11:11

jonathan18:

Thanks for digging out that information; based on that I was able to chat online and confirm I'm eligible.

I'm not quite sure why that offer isn't mentioned on the website. The rates themselves are very close to my current rates (literally a few cents either way over a weekly bill), so with that 10% bonus it's a decent saving, and makes a good-value power company even cheaper. I'll sign up now.

You need to add an address, I put next doors, then the pricing page has it. They should be splattering that info over the homepage IMHO.

Glad you can get on it

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