Time to give electricity the flick?

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#1269441 28-Mar-2015 10:34

Yep, Broken down a little more into the avg GXP price on the area and based on the finalized 30min pricing

Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

All comment's I make are my own personal opinion and do not in any way, shape or form reflect the views of current or former employers unless specifically stated

kiwitrc

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#1273136 30-Mar-2015 06:37

khull:
zerkms: Guys, could anyone please share a screenshot of the spot price graph for an average day/week/whatever?

Don't need to - it is published

http://www.emi.ea.govt.nz/Reports/Dashboard?reportName=Offer%20stacks%20-%20All%20latest&category=Wholesale&reportDisplayContext=Dashboard

I must admit I don't actively look for savings, current lifestyle meant that I do washing and cleaning etc off peak anyway - and prices over summer is noticeably higher compared to winter. Most of my cost at the moment is the fixed rate charges.

At this stage Flick represents a company that has far better service than what I got out of the Genesis, Mercury, Meridian relationship. All of them were hopeless until I told them I was moving on and they started being nice and taking notice.

Having only been with Flick for a few weeks now I dont have a history of the prices but was surprised to read that prices are higher in summer than winter, I was expecting the other way around. Is that due to hydro capacity??

timmmay

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#1273148 30-Mar-2015 07:27

Probably. As resources become scarce prices go up.

I'm on the Flick list of people waiting for them to be able to install smart meters, apparently 2-4 months away. I've offered to be a tester of the process - so long as power flows not too bothered about the details.

jonathan18

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#1273162 30-Mar-2015 08:25

timmmay: I'm on the Flick list of people waiting for them to be able to install smart meters, apparently 2-4 months away. I've offered to be a tester of the process - so long as power flows not too bothered about the details.

How did you get on that list? Was this dependent on your lines company already planning on installing meters, or does going on the list circumvent this need?

I'd be keen on trying Flick but have no idea when or even if our local lines co has plans for smart meters (waiting on a reply from them)...

Thanks.

timmmay

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#1273168 30-Mar-2015 08:39

They happened to mention in an email that they should be able to have meters installed in a few months, I asked to be put onto the list of people who would like one when available.

They also suggested that you could get a smart meter installed through another company, serve out the minimum contract period, then switch over.

Beccara

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#1273225 30-Mar-2015 10:10

kiwitrc:
khull:
zerkms: Guys, could anyone please share a screenshot of the spot price graph for an average day/week/whatever?

Don't need to - it is published

http://www.emi.ea.govt.nz/Reports/Dashboard?reportName=Offer%20stacks%20-%20All%20latest&category=Wholesale&reportDisplayContext=Dashboard

I must admit I don't actively look for savings, current lifestyle meant that I do washing and cleaning etc off peak anyway - and prices over summer is noticeably higher compared to winter. Most of my cost at the moment is the fixed rate charges.

At this stage Flick represents a company that has far better service than what I got out of the Genesis, Mercury, Meridian relationship. All of them were hopeless until I told them I was moving on and they started being nice and taking notice.

Having only been with Flick for a few weeks now I dont have a history of the prices but was surprised to read that prices are higher in summer than winter, I was expecting the other way around. Is that due to hydro capacity??

You hit the nail on the head, long dry summers are the worst where power demand is at it's max and supply can be limited. There are some cases where large industry actually makes more money by shutting down the plant and letting their power contract pay them for the shutdown

khull

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#1273235 30-Mar-2015 10:24

FYI prices went up during Earth Hour (rather than down) although it did not spike. Seems the bid/ask price for the market seem to be accounting for such events

khull

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#1273399 30-Mar-2015 13:23

kiwitrc:
khull:
zerkms: Guys, could anyone please share a screenshot of the spot price graph for an average day/week/whatever?

Don't need to - it is published

http://www.emi.ea.govt.nz/Reports/Dashboard?reportName=Offer%20stacks%20-%20All%20latest&category=Wholesale&reportDisplayContext=Dashboard

I must admit I don't actively look for savings, current lifestyle meant that I do washing and cleaning etc off peak anyway - and prices over summer is noticeably higher compared to winter. Most of my cost at the moment is the fixed rate charges.

At this stage Flick represents a company that has far better service than what I got out of the Genesis, Mercury, Meridian relationship. All of them were hopeless until I told them I was moving on and they started being nice and taking notice.

Having only been with Flick for a few weeks now I dont have a history of the prices but was surprised to read that prices are higher in summer than winter, I was expecting the other way around. Is that due to hydro capacity??

We switched not because of pricing (secondary) but to stand up against the large power providers who think they can boss people around with electricity price increases and quite frankly shoddy customer service.

As mentioned previously the big companies begged to stay on and entice with rebates what would have offset any savings I could have make off Flick. Out of principle I told them the reason for leaving and one of them even hung up on me

MikeAqua

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#1274088 31-Mar-2015 10:41

Is there any cap on their spot price? My experience with electricity bills for a business is that during a significant period of power shortages, spot prices can get very high compared to the average price.

Mike

zerkms

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#1274090 31-Mar-2015 10:43

MikeAqua: Is there any cap on their spot price? My experience with electricity bills for a business is that during a significant period of power shortages, spot prices can get very high compared to the average price.

Hehe - you either have a cap (fixed price) or gamble with spot price :-)

timmmay

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#1274096 31-Mar-2015 10:50

MikeAqua: Is there any cap on their spot price? My experience with electricity bills for a business is that during a significant period of power shortages, spot prices can get very high compared to the average price.

Nope, but there are warnings. Apparently this has been somewhat mitigated by a cook strait cable upgrade.

I've asked permission from Flick to share the emails they've sent to me, I should be able to post more about spikes and mitigations in the next day or so.

timmmay

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#1274378 31-Mar-2015 13:55

Instead of posting information about spikes and general stuff that Flick emailed me I've suggested they register and post the information themselves. I've told them vendors are welcome here so long as they provide information when requested and don't do blatant self promotion.

Their meter installation beta program seems to be kicking off before too long, so I may join soon myself :)

timmmay

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#1274417 31-Mar-2015 14:25

Ok, info from Flick as they decided not to register so as not to appear to be self promoting, so I'll post some of the info they've given me.

So there are three scenarios when it comes to high generation prices:

1. Price spike - these are related to trading conditions or temporary transmission constraints. They are short in duration (perhaps 1-5 trading periods), and are generally resolved quickly. They occur less than 1% of the time, and for the average user would add the price of a cup of coffee to your typical weekly bill.

2. Generally higher generation prices - we have seen this over the last 4-6 weeks. It typically can happen in late Summer or Autumn thanks to generation plants being taken down for scheduled maintenance, and/or lower rainfall in the catchment areas, so the hydro generators tend to hold their water until they know that decent rainfall is on it’s way for winter. My average spot price paid over this time has increased from 7cents to around 8.5 or 9.9cents a unit, which has added around $3-$4 to my weekly bill (I use between 80-100 units a week at the moment). This week my load-weighted average generation price was 8.9cents/unit (that’s all my half hour usage TIMES the half hour prices), and I still saved 16% compared to the rates I was on with Genesis.

3. Dry winter. This happened in 2008 and resulted in much higher generation prices. In fact over a sustained period of a couple of months the generation prices would have doubled. The thing about this kind of situation is that the warning signs are plain to see far in advance, and because Flick customers aren’t locked in to a contract, you’d be able to switch out to a traditional retailer at any time.

There has been a lot of new generation come online since 2008, and the cook strait HVDC cable which transfers power between the Islands has also been upgraded during this time too. So yes it is still a risk, but the industry has done a lot to mitigate these situations from reoccurring.

--
This year we’ll be focussing on tools and smart pricing info & signals – definitely aimed at those savvier users wanting higher engagement.
--
Screenshots attached of power pricing during a short spike, which apparently added $2 to the monthly bill.

timmmay

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#1275009 1-Apr-2015 10:24

I'm having my meter installed by Flick in the next couple of weeks :) They tell me it's an "EDMI GPRS single phase meter" (examples here, not sure which model), installed by Metrix. Apparently it's the standard meter used in NZ and can be moved to any supplier - anyone have any background on this?

Another thing they're doing for some customers in the not too distance future is putting in a system that will let you manually control when your hot water is heated. For example you can tell it to heat only between 11am and 7am, which means you get both the cheaper off peak rate and the lines company cheaper daily rate because they can control your meter. Apparently in a few months you'll be able to program it from their website so you can say give it a boost in the afternoon if you find it's needed.

Last question - I may put in a new oven soon, induction. Does it use standard single phase power or three phase?

Jeeves

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#1275327 1-Apr-2015 14:21

timmmay: I'm having my meter installed by Flick in the next couple of weeks :) They tell me it's an "EDMI GPRS single phase meter" (examples here, not sure which model), installed by Metrix. Apparently it's the standard meter used in NZ and can be moved to any supplier - anyone have any background on this?

Another thing they're doing for some customers in the not too distance future is putting in a system that will let you manually control when your hot water is heated. For example you can tell it to heat only between 11am and 7am, which means you get both the cheaper off peak rate and the lines company cheaper daily rate because they can control your meter. Apparently in a few months you'll be able to program it from their website so you can say give it a boost in the afternoon if you find it's needed.

Last question - I may put in a new oven soon, induction. Does it use standard single phase power or three phase?

Domestic ovens tend to be single phase.

That bit about being able to control the hot water is awesome! I've been thinking about how I can control our HWC to not heat during the day and everything has come up as pretty expensive, so to be able to do that from the flick website is brilliant.

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