Am I paying too much for power in central Auckland?

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macuser

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#177577 7-Aug-2015 10:00

Hi just a quick check,

We're with Powershop and we're paying on average 31-32c per unit (KW) - we use on average about 15 units a day - sometimes on Saturday/Sunday that gets up to 20 or so.

Are we paying more than we should? I feel like we are, but perhaps I'm wrong...

I'm in upper Sandringham, very close to Eden Park

ratsun81

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#1360551 7-Aug-2015 10:15

Im also in Auckland, but am on the North Shore.

Powershop customer as well. Im paying around 29.80 per unit for the cheapest pack. Im a much higher user around the 25-35units per day mark. You will be whats called a low user so you get charged a bit more.

I very rarely buy the standard price top-up packs, pretty much always buy power 3-6 months in advance at a much lower rate. Or like today there is a winning at winter pack which is quite a bit cheaper than the standard packs.

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macuser

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#1360552 7-Aug-2015 10:17

Thanks for your help, hopefully we can start buying power well in advance. We usually go for under 27c but it's not always available.

We're going to grab that pack...hopefully win some free units!

timmmay

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#1360587 7-Aug-2015 10:59

With flick in North/West Auckland you pay the market rate for power (currently 5c/wkh but varies between 3c and 40c) plus the line company margin. The margin on the smart plan is 16.6c/wkh on peak and 4c/kwh off peak (midnight to 6am probably), which is a lot higher than Wellington. So right now you'd be paying 21c/kwh, but during peak times (5-7pm, longer on cold days) the market rate can be more like 15c/kwh or even more so you'd be paying 32c/kwh. Offpeak you'd probably be paying 8-10c/kwh - you can have clothes driers, dishwashers and potentially water heating running off peak, hugely reducing your costs.

Since you're paying 32c/kwh now moving to Flick would likely be a win, especially if you can time shift some of your power use.

Jase2985

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#1360590 7-Aug-2015 11:02

our contact plan is 22c/Kwh and with the 22% prompmt payment discount that takes it down to about 17c/Kwh

im sure you could get a lot cheaper than you are

do be wary of the daily rate though, they can vary a lot

kiwitrc

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#1360600 7-Aug-2015 11:36

Jase2985: our contact plan is 22c/Kwh and with the 22% prompmt payment discount that takes it down to about 17c/Kwh

im sure you could get a lot cheaper than you are

do be wary of the daily rate though, they can vary a lot

Does that include daily line charge?

Jase2985

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#1360614 7-Aug-2015 11:48

no thats extra ontop

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Aredwood

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#1360636 7-Aug-2015 12:58

Powershop build the line charges into their unit price. Meaning the more you use. The lower the unit price. Just go to switchme.Co.nz input how many units you used on your last bill. And it will tell you what your bill would have been with the other power companies.

Be careful using power switch or what's my number. As they both try to guess your yearly usage. And often get it very wrong.

jonathan18

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#1360647 7-Aug-2015 13:17

Aredwood: Be careful using power switch or what's my number. As they both try to guess your yearly usage. And often get it very wrong.

Powerswitch at least, though, allows you to enter actual usage (and over any specified period), so I'm assuming this makes it far more accurate than its estimates. When I've used it in the past I've used the previous 12 months' worth of usage to ensure it covers all seasons.

nakedmolerat

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#1360705 7-Aug-2015 14:51

macuser: Hi just a quick check,

We're with Powershop and we're paying on average 31-32c per unit (KW) - we use on average about 15 units a day - sometimes on Saturday/Sunday that gets up to 20 or so.

Are we paying more than we should? I feel like we are, but perhaps I'm wrong...

I'm in upper Sandringham, very close to Eden Park

I am on power shop, and we use between 60-70 units a day. The cost for us is 29.39 cent. We are in South Auckland.

macuser

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#1360782 7-Aug-2015 17:27

nakedmolerat:
macuser: Hi just a quick check,

We're with Powershop and we're paying on average 31-32c per unit (KW) - we use on average about 15 units a day - sometimes on Saturday/Sunday that gets up to 20 or so.

Are we paying more than we should? I feel like we are, but perhaps I'm wrong...

I'm in upper Sandringham, very close to Eden Park

I am on power shop, and we use between 60-70 units a day. The cost for us is 29.39 cent. We are in South Auckland.

60-70!

You must be growing a lot of 'wacky tobacky'

sbiddle

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#1360828 7-Aug-2015 18:40

Comparing Powershop prices is difficult because all other providers normally split charge line charges. Powershop build them into the per unit price.

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Aredwood

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#1361167 8-Aug-2015 14:59

jonathan18:
Aredwood: Be careful using power switch or what's my number. As they both try to guess your yearly usage. And often get it very wrong.

Powerswitch at least, though, allows you to enter actual usage (and over any specified period), so I'm assuming this makes it far more accurate than its estimates. When I've used it in the past I've used the previous 12 months' worth of usage to ensure it covers all seasons.

If you only use monthly figures it definitely estimates your usage. I did 2 test runs on powerswitch. Entering the same monthly usage on both. But on the questions that ask thing like how many people in your house, what kind of heating, cooking, hot water ect? The first run I selected gas, woodburner, max insulation, only 1 person in the house ect. It thought my annual bill was $2223 and 9249kW/hr.

Second run I selected electric everything, no insulation, max people in house. Result was $1667 annual bill and 6669kW/hr annual usage. So yes it is making some big assumptions even when entering actual usage figures. In my case this is the difference between deciding if I should be on low user rates or standard user rates. And especially as some power companies do cheaper standard user rates. while others do cheaper low user rates. Add in cases of people being offered special rates door to door and over the phone. Which are often not listed on power switch. There would be some cases out there of people switching to more expensive power companies, when they would have been better off staying with their current company. Or switching to a completely different one.

In my case im on a 2 year fixed term with Contact Energy that expires in October this year. For well over a year my plan was not on any of the switching sites. So they would all say that I would save heaps by switching. But when I manually calculated what my bill would be with the suggested company. The savings would either be very small, Or negative. And now Powerswitch says that the only company that is cheaper is Flick Electric. (for obvious reasons) And amazingly on the everything electric test run, it says that my current plan is cheaper than Flick Electric standard user. (But not the low user)

You would still want to check if you get different results even with your annual usage figures. As it could make a difference depending if powerswitch assumes you have steady usage throughout the year. Or high usage in winter and lower usage for the rest of the year.