Time to give electricity the flick?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Time to give electricity the flick?

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124 posts

Master Geek
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#1876824 3-Oct-2017 19:31

Chis:

I guess you're only able to have the different night charges because you have an electric car. Flick worked so well when the lower night could offset the daytime spikes, then Wellington Electricity ruined the party.

Nope, your power meter should be configured for day/night plan. Mine is, I do have day/night plan, I do not own an electric car.

Chis

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Master Geek
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#1876825 3-Oct-2017 19:36

zerkms:

Chis:

I guess you're only able to have the different night charges because you have an electric car. Flick worked so well when the lower night could offset the daytime spikes, then Wellington Electricity ruined the party.

Nope, your power meter should be configured for day/night plan. Mine is, I do have day/night plan, I do not own an electric car.

What's the cost/trade-off in switching?

zerkms

124 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#1876828 3-Oct-2017 19:39

Chis:

zerkms:

Chis:

I guess you're only able to have the different night charges because you have an electric car. Flick worked so well when the lower night could offset the daytime spikes, then Wellington Electricity ruined the party.

Nope, your power meter should be configured for day/night plan. Mine is, I do have day/night plan, I do not own an electric car.

What's the cost/trade-off in switching?

I could convince my those-days-provider to do it for free (so as couple friends of mine) :-) No other hidden costs after you switch.

dolsen

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#1876866 3-Oct-2017 22:36

Chis:

I guess you're only able to have the different night charges because you have an electric car. Flick worked so well when the lower night could offset the daytime spikes, then Wellington Electricity ruined the party.

No electric car. When they stopped the day / night plans, the letter said that due to our meter setup, we were still eligible for the day / night plans. The electric car plans are even better as off peak starts at 9pm instead of 11pm.

michaelmurfy

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#1878572 6-Oct-2017 16:59

And boom back on Flick. EK were quite quick on the move.

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kingjj

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#1878644 6-Oct-2017 19:35

michaelmurfy:

And boom back on Flick. EK were quite quick on the move.

Clicked on the button in the email on Friday, had an email on Sunday requesting confirmation of payment details, sent that on Monday and switched back over on Thursday. They really are making it too easy now!

tdgeek

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#1878645 6-Oct-2017 19:37

CJC:

I had them on the mildly optimistic side of what we were previously paying with Powershop (before any short lived special rates).

Using dolsen's breakdown before GST and daily charges etc.:

5.1363 c/kWh generation + 11.58 c/kWh network + 3.75 c/kWh flick margin + 0.113 c/kWh EA Levy = 20.5793 c/kWh

I pay 23c with EK and that includes GST, and it includes a free hour or power every day.

I think Flick is a great idea, but adding up 27 fees to arrive at the end user free is a bit silly. Ok, 27 is exaggerated, but even so. Who will buy Flick on that basis? Geeks only. They need to cater for Joe Average. Here is how the 27 charges add up to 20.57 c OR its 20.57c

Whats the daily for Flick? EK is 83c for me incl GST

Aredwood

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#1878723 6-Oct-2017 22:41

The price schedules on the Flick website tell you exactly what the total fixed daily fees are and the total surcharge that is added onto the wholesale price to cover variable lines fees etc. Sure you still have to add the GST, but that is easy to do. Flick also now have forecast average wholesale prices listed on their pricing page for the next 3 months. Either way - not too hard to calculate what a given wholesale price will translate to and end per KW/Hr price that you will pay.

Lots of other power companies quote their fees on a before prompt payment discount basis. So you then have to check which PPD% applies to you as they are often different amounts charged for things like different payment methods. Then apply those discounts and GST to get your actual per KW/Hr rate and daily rate. So in some cases it is actually easier to calculate your end charges with Flick. And some power companies don't even publish their rates on their websites. As they want you to call them or go through the signup process first. Mainly so they can check what power company and pricing plan you are currently on, and only offer you a small discount over your current company. (They only need to know your address to be able to do this).

Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 26

#1878729 6-Oct-2017 23:08

Aredwood:

...Mainly so they can check what power company and pricing plan you are currently on, and only offer you a small discount over your current company. (They only need to know your address to be able to do this).

It looks like EK do this too. If I put my next door neighbours address in to EK I get a very different price to when I put my own address in. Different daily charge and different kWh price! I think EK might bump up the price for me as a Flick customer to discourage switching as mine is more expensive!

Aredwood

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#1878730 6-Oct-2017 23:21

@Teeps Here is the database https://www.ea.govt.nz/consumers/your-power-data-in-your-hands/my-meter/ Check both your address and your neighbours address. And see if you both have the same "distributor price category code". If they are different, then almost certainly you will get quoted different prices due to you and your neighbour paying different lines fees.

Most common reason for this is you being on a standard user plan and your neighbour being on low user, or vice versa. Also consider controlled or uncontrolled hot water.

Network means your lines company, POC means which grid exit point you are supplied from (useful to see what wholesale prices apply to you), and trader means which power retail company you are signed up with.

Teeps

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Ultimate Geek
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#1878731 6-Oct-2017 23:44

@Aredwood Thanks for the info. Putting our addresses in on that website shows RSU (I'm guessing residential standard user) for me, and RLU (again, guessing residential low user) for my neighbour, but everything else looks the same, which I'd expect when our power comes up from the same pole!

What I don't understand though is that I can change the prices on the EK website between Low User and Standard User and the prices are different for each of us on the same type of user plan.

Why should two properties next door to each other, with the power being supplied in the same way, be charged different rates if they were on the same user plan? Doesn't make sense to me and very much overcomplicates the whole pricing structure which just makes me feel they (EK) aren't honest with their prices!

Aredwood

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#1878742 7-Oct-2017 01:40

@Teeps Also check that the "chargeable capacity" is the same. As some lines companies charge differently depending on if you have single phase or 3 phase to your house. If you have 3 phase you will be able to use far more power during the EK free hour than someone who only has single phase.

Also put in more addresses and see if there is a correlation between the current power company and the price offered. Im assuming you and your neighbour are with different power companies currently?

Also go to the Powerswitch website. Answer it's questions, then when it gives you the results. Click on the More details button. It will then tell you what unit cost and daily fees Powerswitch has used for EK. Are they the same as what the EK website says?

I checked myself, and the EK website quoted 1c per unit cheaper for both low user and standard user compared to what Powerswitch said. No price differences between me and a neighbour. Although Im on a rare pricing plan, (approx only 10 people in all of Auckland on the same plan as me) meaning that EK might treat me in a non standard way. And I didn't bother taking any precautions against session cookies or other tracking being used to see if I was trying to scrape the EK website, and show different prices as a result.

I don't know anyone else IRL who is also a Flick customer, and I can't be bothered sticking lots of random addresses into the my meter website. To try and find another address that is currently supplied by Flick Electric. So a bit hard for me to do anymore testing, Unless I get extremely bored, and need something to do to kill time.

Also EK might be offering different prices if you arrive at their website from being redirected from powerswitch.

I don't know if you bothered reading the rest of this entire thread. But other GZ members found out that EK were previously not allowing customers who are currently with Flick Electric to switch to them. Yet surprise surprise, they started accepting switches from Flick customers again not long after. (Someone who works for EK probably monitors this thread).