Just to clarify that the Orion/Christchurch winter peak surcharge only applies between 7am-10am and 5pm-7pm weekdays, between 1 May and 31 August. Offpeak times, such as night rate (9pm-7am) and weekends aren't affected.
Mind you, that winter peak surcharge still hurts, I just try and minimise usage during those hours.
Yes at times when you need electricity the most. When May comes, watch very closely and see how much the price jumps outside these peak hours. I know last year when we were with Flick, I got a shock at how expensive the kW rate was. Then things got really bad reaching on a daily basis where the rate was consistently over $1/kW/hr during those peak hours. A time when we were with Genesis the winter bill was about $280, it worked out with Flick an avg monthly price of $450/month.
It also seems the savings still apply this past 2 months. My last bill with Genesis was under $100. While with Flick in January it was about $150 (50% higher, which seems to match the 50% extra cost we suffered 2017 winter months).