Sam91:
Today has been pretty bad, up around 30c most of the day (Auckland).
As others have mentioned, people must be leaving Flick in droves. At the moment this is an option, so I see why people are doing it. You can save money by staying Flick year round, or you can save even more by changing before winter and then switching back. I just don't see how this is sustainable for Flick long-term. They could look at offering a fixed rate plan for winter months, and even if this fixed price isn't very competitive, it may still retain a decent chunk of customers simply because it's stable and customers can't be bothered moving.
It's a shame really, Flick's pricing structure is the right move for decarbonising electricity. When demand spikes we tend to use dirty sources of electricity (gas etc.) to meet the increased demand. Fixed price consumers are oblivious to this and will not adjust their demand. On the other hand, people on Flick type plans will adjust their demand based on real time price signals. This decreased demand means gas peaking plants cease production, and lower cost and zero emission sources (hydro) meet the current demand. At the moment this doesn't really happen, because the bulk of consumers are on fixed plans not variable plans. Hence the need for more companies like Flick.
This is not a big problem for flick if they lose customers during dry periods, and get them back after.
However it is an issue for other companies if they have customers jump onto fixed (per kWh) price plans for a short period while spot prices are high (the least profitable (or sometimes loss making) time of the year), and then jump back to flick when times are good.
Also as a general thing, spot prices are typically lower in winter than summer (it rains more in winter), this year is just messes up because the central south island hasn't had much rain.
I havn't jumped ship from flick yet. Last weeks bill was $76.50 for 263.97 kWh. Average saving on flick this week was -14%. Not really enough for me to switch yet (I have still saved a lot being with flick), I am hoping we will get some decent rain in the south soon though.