New energy site comparison: billy.govt.nz

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#3473977 26-Mar-2026 11:59

Great initiative, but based on my recent bills no one is cheaper than my current plan for Electric+Gas. I looked at unbundling and I might save about a dollar a month.

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Groucho

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#3473980 26-Mar-2026 12:08

geek3001:

Perhaps this site is version 0.1 and there is more/better functionality to come?

I'm sure there will tweaks and features down the track and perhaps more 'real data' will be added to fine tune their modelling.

The first launch of a new service is 100% every time said nobody ever.

aw

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#3474074 26-Mar-2026 14:53

My result with an EK bill is to stick with EK. But I've got some extreme (manual and automated) loadshifting going on here, including two EVs on charge timers, and a Bluetti for both backing up and shifting base load (router, homelab, fridges, freezers, coffee machine, laundry, some lamps)

I'm surprised we've not blown our network fuse, during the free hour we have sometimes hit 20kW off our single phase supply.

CYaBro

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#3474089 26-Mar-2026 15:21

When will we see the first site that compares power comparison sites? 😂

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boosacnoodle

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#3474129 26-Mar-2026 16:51

Oddly it doesn't show me how much I'm saving by staying on my current plans vs. in-market plans nor does it all me to compare my current plan with in-market plans.

alisam

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#3474150 26-Mar-2026 18:47

Tried uploading 2 separate Mercury Energy bills (both downloaded from the Mercury web site) but if failed with "Sorry, we weren’t able to read your bill. You can try uploading another bill or answer a few questions about your household instead".

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#3474181 26-Mar-2026 21:59

Good initiative, there should be other competitive providers that need to be listed too .. like Octopus, Powershop. etc etc

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gzt

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#3474186 26-Mar-2026 22:22

geek3001:
Based upon the plan filter settings:

it appears that plans from only eight retailers are currently available for comparison purposes.

I would have thought there were more than eight electricity retailers out there?

In mobile and desktop mode I see nothing like that. Are you sure you're on the right site?

- https://billy.govt.nz/retailers#P

I wonder why they named it almost exactly the same as an entirely different service.

Behodar

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#3474204 27-Mar-2026 07:25

gzt: In mobile and desktop mode I see nothing like that. Are you sure you're on the right site?

I can get to it on my desktop by starting the comparison process and then clicking "Filter plans" (which is quite small) in the top-right corner of the results panel.

geek3001

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#3474206 27-Mar-2026 07:34

gzt:
geek3001:

Based upon the plan filter settings:

it appears that plans from only eight retailers are currently available for comparison purposes.

I would have thought there were more than eight electricity retailers out there?

In mobile and desktop mode I see nothing like that. Are you sure you're on the right site?

- https://billy.govt.nz/retailers#P

I wonder why they named it almost exactly the same as an entirely different service.

Behodar:

gzt: In mobile and desktop mode I see nothing like that. Are you sure you're on the right site?

I can get to it on my desktop by starting the comparison process and then clicking "Filter plans" (which is quite small) in the top-right corner of the results panel.

This is also where I saw the available retailers via the Filter Plan button.

Groucho

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#3474274 27-Mar-2026 09:55

alisam:

Tried uploading 2 separate Mercury Energy bills (both downloaded from the Mercury web site) but if failed with "Sorry, we weren’t able to read your bill. You can try uploading another bill or answer a few questions about your household instead".

Happened to me first attempt but tried again immediately after and worked fine. Figured it was first day server load or similar.

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#3474276 27-Mar-2026 10:05

timmmay:

It doesn't take solar into account at all. Uploading one months bill is not useful, with solar we pay little in summer but quite a bit in winter. There's no way it will recommend anything useful for us given how basic it is.

I was disappointed with this. The other existing tools also don't take Solar into account so I was hoping this new initiative would.

alisam

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#3474283 27-Mar-2026 10:38

Groucho:

alisam:

Tried uploading 2 separate Mercury Energy bills (both downloaded from the Mercury web site) but if failed with "Sorry, we weren’t able to read your bill. You can try uploading another bill or answer a few questions about your household instead".

Happened to me first attempt but tried again immediately after and worked fine. Figured it was first day server load or similar.

Tried an upload just now and it went through first time.

bfginger

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#3474512 27-Mar-2026 17:36

In my experience it's best to just go to each power company's website individually and create a chart from the information. Powerswitch is better than this Billy but it still doesn't catch all the relevant minor details.

mattwnz

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#3474515 27-Mar-2026 17:38

It is certainly a lot better than the consumer nz one

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