Time to give electricity the flick?

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#1343459 15-Jul-2015 08:50

An easy way could be to look at your meter readings this year, and choose a similar time last year and grab those readings. For last years just multiple out their price, compare with Flick's price.

Flick's billing emails tell me I'm consistently saving 30% compared with my old power provider, but power is cheap right now, it won't be as good in summer. I'm looking forward to their trial of controlling hot water so it does most of the heating on off peak periods, with a small boost during the afternoon dip (around 3pm).

jonathan18

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#1343474 15-Jul-2015 09:04

Another sad bugger who tracks his power usage every week!

Whereabouts do you live? I've got data from over a very similar timeframe as you (for PN), which shows not quite the same level of savings (given my previous rates were lower and the Flick rates higher than yours).

Over periods:
7/3/14 - 15/4/15 average unit cost of 32c (Genesis)

16/4/15 - 9/7/15 average unit cost of 26c (Flick).

I think a key element here is neither of us have data for Flick over the summer months, where there may be a risk of higher prices due to low lake levels. That said, I assume usage over that period will be lower so unsure of the overall effect.

Is anyone able to provide such a comparison using data over a full year?

timmmay

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#1343476 15-Jul-2015 09:10

I have four years of data for my node, I could share that if it helps. I've only been on Flick a couple of months.

Amosnz

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#1344479 15-Jul-2015 09:52

Did anyone notice a spike in the price at 6pm on the 13/14th?
I finally worked out my GXP (CST0331), and was browsing previous 30min data on http://www.electricityinfo.co.nz I noticed a large spike on these 2 days, just curious to see if anyone actually noticed it?

Period Price Time
36 $32485.25

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timmmay

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#1344481 15-Jul-2015 09:54

Amosnz: Did anyone notice a spike in the price at 6pm on the 13/14th?
I finally worked out my GXP (CST0331), and was browsing previous 30min data on http://www.electricityinfo.co.nz I noticed a large spike on these 2 days, just curious to see if anyone actually noticed it?

Period Price Time
36 $32485.25

Yep, see this thread. It came down to a lot less after the final figures came in, I asked Flick.

Amosnz

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#1344489 15-Jul-2015 10:18

Cool thanks. How did it get adjusted to $350ish instead of $30k?
Those posts were about the 13th, did the same thing happen on the 14th as that site is reporting $48976.73 on my GXP for period 36. Just wondering what the 'final figure' was comparatively.

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#1344496 15-Jul-2015 10:35

Amosnz:... I finally worked out my GXP (CST0331)...

How does one go about finding this out? Thanks for any tips...

Amosnz

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#1344502 15-Jul-2015 10:44

jonathan18:
How does one go about finding this out? Thanks for any tips...

I went onto http://electricity.org.nz/Site/Map/default.aspx and found the point closest to my address (was labelled as Carrington Street), then went to http://www.electricityinfo.co.nz/comitFta/five_min_prices.main and looked for anything similar (CST0331 was the only thing close), then googled for CST0331 and found http://www.energydirectnz.co.nz/PDF/CURRENT_PRICES/Residential_Pricing_Taranaki_North.pdf. Technically I'm not sure if I'm NPL0331 or CST0331, but pricing is very similar.

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timmmay

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#1344505 15-Jul-2015 10:53

Amosnz: Cool thanks. How did it get adjusted to $350ish instead of $30k?
Those posts were about the 13th, did the same thing happen on the 14th as that site is reporting $48976.73 on my GXP for period 36. Just wondering what the 'final figure' was comparatively.

Suggest we have pricing conversations in the pricing thread. The answer though is that the website is only an initial indication, proper prices seem to be worked out the next day. No idea how/why.

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#1351472 25-Jul-2015 10:12

I've been a Flickster for four months now and have tracked my weekly usage and bill and have made the following observations so far:
1. I've paid roughly $800 for 4,400kWh (18c/kWh).
2. If I had been with Meridian Energy I would have paid $170 more (my calculations not Flick's).
3. Flick's markup for their costs was $130. This means my contribution to Meridian's costs and profit would have been $300 of the $800 I paid

Being in the industry and aware of the risks, I think Flick should provide their customers much better tools for tracking the price and their usage (eg smartphone app, alerts, real-time usage).

They should also provide a way for their customers to store savings for dry periods when average wholesale prices rise above normal levels or to even out seasonal changes in consumption. For instance, perhaps a customer could set a minimum and maximum weekly bill payment. That way, they could store savings when prices and usage are low and use them up when they are high. This would be good for those on fixed incomes. Obviously, the maximum weekly bill threshold would only apply if there were sufficient savings to make up the difference.

richms

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#1351479 25-Jul-2015 10:26

Would have to completely disagree with them acting as a bank by saving up for high bills.

If someone is that disorganized that they cannot handle that, then they should not be with flick. If they wish to save for it, then a bank is the correct place to do it, not a power company.

Richard rich.ms

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#1351486 25-Jul-2015 10:51

Whether you disagree or not, it's a facility that other retailers provide and customers use in an even more extreme form. It's called SmoothPay...
https://www.contact.co.nz/lessswearywinters

I just think that it would be even more useful in Flick's case. Obviously you are better off having your savings in the bank but interest rates aren't what they used to be and we are only talking about evening out a bill over the course of a year, not storing your life savings.

gchiu

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#1352155 26-Jul-2015 20:34

I've got something odd happening in the dashboard.

I've got another property joined with flick for a week now.
I can't see any prices, and current energy price is unknown.
If I go to analyse, then there is no information from Monday - Friday in day view
In week and month view I can only see the charge for Monday to Wednesday inclusive.

For the property I'm living in, everything in the dashboard is working fine.

timmmay

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#1352164 26-Jul-2015 21:07

Current energy price is never really helpful, use EM6. For the rest you should ask their support. I know their technology is pretty immature so having more than one property with them may not be something they've even considered.

gchiu

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#1368650 18-Aug-2015 14:58

Was there a power price spike last week? ( 7th - 13th August 2015 )
And also Saturday and Sunday consumption is estimated!

My bills went up 30%

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