Probably best to just tell people to ignore the pricing indicators for now, and to try to use less power in peak times. In the long run they'll save, even if one bill is a bit larger.

timmmay:

 

Probably best to just tell people to ignore the pricing indicators for now, and to try to use less power in peak times. In the long run they'll save, even if one bill is a bit larger.

 

Yeah, no question Flick is cheaper in certain parts of the country - definitely not the case here in Dunedin sadly, although that may change in time.

nofam:

 

 

 

Yeah, no question Flick is cheaper in certain parts of the country - definitely not the case here in Dunedin sadly, although that may change in time.

 

I think power in the south is a bit more expensive at the moment, but over a year Flick is meant to be cheaper than other providers. I saw some numbers recently but can't remember where.

timmmay:

 

nofam:

 

 

 

Yeah, no question Flick is cheaper in certain parts of the country - definitely not the case here in Dunedin sadly, although that may change in time.

 

 

I think power in the south is a bit more expensive at the moment, but over a year Flick is meant to be cheaper than other providers. I saw some numbers recently but can't remember where.

 

Yeah, my use case for night-rates to minimise UFH costs don't stack up - Flick don't offer competitive day/night pricing as the lines company down here doesn't incentivise it like Christchurch.  Payless Energy looks to be quite a bit cheaper

We're now averaging 37-45 per week on low user... I'm expecting we're going to use more power the coming days/months as we have a new housemate coming in from the tropics who mainly stays at home for now + winter is coming.

Is it time to switch to standard user pricing? We're in Chch. The website says you're a low user when you use an average of less than 150 per month, we're probably at 160+ now.

allune:

 

Is it time to switch to standard user pricing? We're in Chch. The website says you're a low user when you use an average of less than 150 per month, we're probably at 160+ now.

 

I think you answered your own question there.

@timmmay we'll that's the thing... we're still far from the 'averaging more than 200 per month' they expect from standard users :/ So still I am clueless

Work out the average price you paid for power in the last month, per kwh, without line / daily fees, taking into account off peak pricing. Multiple it back out under each plan available to work out what the price would be, based on the Flick price sheet.

Or just call Flick and ask them.

nofam:

 

Yeah, my use case for night-rates to minimise UFH costs don't stack up - Flick don't offer competitive day/night pricing as the lines company down here doesn't incentivise it like Christchurch.  Payless Energy looks to be quite a bit cheaper

 

@nofam Don't know how long you have been with Flick. But around February this year wholesale pricing in Dunedin was stupidly cheap due to high rainfall in lower South Island. But currently there is low rainfall in the south island. So late at night South island hydro is scaling right back to save water for daytime usage. And power is being sent south on the cook straight cable to supplement night time usage. So night time power where you are is definitely more expensive as normal.

https://news.flickelectric.co.nz/2017/02/02/hey-dunedin-nows-the-time-to-flick/

When spring arrives and all of the southern alps snow starts to melt, or a big rain dump happens in the South. Then wholesale prices will drop heaps where you are.

Also the lines company in Dunedin offers discounts if you have a 8KVA connection to your house instead of the more usual 15KVA. Have a look at your usage after winter and if you are on the 15KVA connection see if you might be able to move to the 8KVA one.

And check to see if you are on the correct plan out of standard user and low user. As low user has really high per unit costs compared to standard user. And if you have a very high ratio of night rate power usage compared to non night rate. Standard user might still be cheaper than low user even if you use less than the normal cutoff points.

I personally want to see the low user rates repealed. As they cause alot of uneconomic investment. And the amount of electricity you use has nothing to do with your ability to pay. So you end up with low income families being forced to pay extra for power. While others can invest heaps into energy saving and get a bigger payout as they then qualify for low user rates. And there are heaps of apartments in Auckland with central hot water systems. Often the insulation of those pipes isn't the best. So alot of the apartments get free indirect heating in winter. Some also have gas cooking. So often the only power use in each apartment is just lights and plug in appliances. So $50 per week powerbills are often easily achievable if you live in one of those apartments.

Aredwood:

 

nofam:

 

Yeah, my use case for night-rates to minimise UFH costs don't stack up - Flick don't offer competitive day/night pricing as the lines company down here doesn't incentivise it like Christchurch.  Payless Energy looks to be quite a bit cheaper

 

 

 

 

@nofam Don't know how long you have been with Flick. But around February this year wholesale pricing in Dunedin was stupidly cheap due to high rainfall in lower South Island. But currently there is low rainfall in the south island. So late at night South island hydro is scaling right back to save water for daytime usage. And power is being sent south on the cook straight cable to supplement night time usage. So night time power where you are is definitely more expensive as normal.

 

https://news.flickelectric.co.nz/2017/02/02/hey-dunedin-nows-the-time-to-flick/

 

When spring arrives and all of the southern alps snow starts to melt, or a big rain dump happens in the South. Then wholesale prices will drop heaps where you are.

 

Also the lines company in Dunedin offers discounts if you have a 8KVA connection to your house instead of the more usual 15KVA. Have a look at your usage after winter and if you are on the 15KVA connection see if you might be able to move to the 8KVA one.

 

And check to see if you are on the correct plan out of standard user and low user. As low user has really high per unit costs compared to standard user. And if you have a very high ratio of night rate power usage compared to non night rate. Standard user might still be cheaper than low user even if you use less than the normal cutoff points.

 

I personally want to see the low user rates repealed. As they cause alot of uneconomic investment. And the amount of electricity you use has nothing to do with your ability to pay. So you end up with low income families being forced to pay extra for power. While others can invest heaps into energy saving and get a bigger payout as they then qualify for low user rates. And there are heaps of apartments in Auckland with central hot water systems. Often the insulation of those pipes isn't the best. So alot of the apartments get free indirect heating in winter. Some also have gas cooking. So often the only power use in each apartment is just lights and plug in appliances. So $50 per week powerbills are often easily achievable if you live in one of those apartments.

 

@Aredwood, thanks for the comments.  The problem with Flick down here in Dunedin is that they don't offer uncontrolled Day/Night rates - their version of Night rates only applies to fixed loads, which would be of some use to me, but wouldn't let me leverage the fact that my appliances all have timers that let me run the Dishwasher etc after 11pm. We're currently building, so I've been looking into this for a while - Payless look to be as cheap (or very close to it) as Flick when you factor in the uncontrolled night rates, but without the overhead required to get the best out a spot-based plan.

The floating power rate is usually lower overnight, so you gain even if the fixed component of the cost stays the same. The difference is usually more pronounced in winter.

Tomorrow morning looks fun, combination of low lake levels in the SI with cold weather and no wind...

The almost never works out to be that level of charging.

@nofam have you checked with Aurora (Im assuming they are your lines company), That they definitely offer a plan that has night rate or offpeak for the whole house. As my interpretation of reading the payless energy website and the Aurora pricing methodology. (goto page 38) Is that you can't get whole house night rate in Dunedin.

If Aurora actually do offer whole house peak / off peak pricing, Contact Flick electric and ask them to start offering it. As they promote whole house peak / offpeak plans. (They call them Smart user plans).

[edited to add]

As for that forecast price spike on Monday morning, It coincidences nicely with the "off" period that my master load control timer is set to. My average load during morning peak time only very rarely goes over 1kW for the whole house. And is normally under 500W.

Power pricing is a little spiky right now...