Electricity:: Free 1 hour vs cheaper off peak 10hrs + weekends

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Electricity:: Free 1 hour vs cheaper off peak 10hrs + weekends

thinkingtrex8848

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#271766 26-May-2020 12:17

I see a few of you guys have been with Flick, Powershop etc and then moved to ElectricKiwi. Have you guys done some sort of analysis on if you are actually saving that much in the 1hr vs having cheaper rates spread across few hours?

I recorded the usage and every free hour is averaging $1.40 savings a day so about $42/month.

However still wondering if spreading the higher load items across the off peak hours(and all day weekends) would be better in the long run compared to paying peak hour rates for 23hours and free for 1 hour.

Thoughts?

RunningMan

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#2491749 26-May-2020 13:00

Really depends how easy or if you can be bothered shifting your load usage times.

timmmay

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#2491758 26-May-2020 13:19

I haven't done analysis. I got sick of monitoring Flick prices, and Powershop makes you actively manage power which people don't like.

With EK I automate things and then largely ignore it. Hot water, heating such as heat pumps and fan heater make good use of the free hour of power automatically. I do manually set my dishwasher and clothes drier to come on at that time.

I save about $2 a day, 25% usually.

Quinny

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#2491778 26-May-2020 13:47

Similar boat. Was on a super old Genesis plan with 5 rates (.17 to .30 per unit). It dies soon. Used to moving timings about but in some ways a fixed option seems good. They are offering a massive discount per month for the hassle so will likely stay. Went and check all rates around and best is Fixie at .20 per unit and 30c per day which to me seems better than Electric Kiwi which is higher for both just to get 1 free hour

sidefx

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#2491896 26-May-2020 15:23

Yes, I did analysis for my area when I joined EK and found that I only needed 6% in the free hour of power to beat the big providers (taking into account the various pay early\ontime\etc gimmicks other providers offer - sure the hour of power may also seem like a gimmick but it's both environmentally and commercially more sensible IMO) - 6% is very easy to achieve by just running washing machine or dishwasher in free hour of power. And they since started offering a "stay ahead 200" plan where you prepay $200 and get $20 free so effectively another 9% discount.

I haven't compared recently, I suppose I should, but would be surprised if other providers beat the combination of the hour of power discount and the 9%.

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Wolf555

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#2492684 27-May-2020 11:56

I did a few calculations in the other thread but for me Electric Kiwi worked out to be the cheapest provider BEFORE even taking in account any power of hour savings. I have just switched to them (well still in the process) but assuming the Stay Ahead $200 plan and use a $50 referrer discount it worked out the cheapest for me. Any power of hour savings will be an additional bonus.

Flick worked out to be almost the same price, but obviously with the Power of Hour even if I save minimal amounts it will still work out the cheapest.

This is based on roughly 8000kwh/year in Auckland. Feel free to check the other thread for my calculations, I just went through in a spreadsheet with all the current provider rates and compared myself.

tanivula

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#2492710 27-May-2020 12:34

sidefx:

And they since started offering a "stay ahead 200" plan where you prepay $200 and get $20 free so effectively another 9% discount.

I haven't compared recently, I suppose I should, but would be surprised if other providers beat the combination of the hour of power discount and the 9%.

The stay ahead 200 was great, but with the fam I couldn't really shift enough load (or I thought I couldn't). Anyways, got called up by Genesis (I had gas with them) and they managed to beat the EK prices (including the added 200/20 saving).

antonknee

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#2492714 27-May-2020 12:37

I'm surprised you can even find a power provider offering off peak rates that are any good. When I looked I only found one who did, and their peak rate was so much higher than the standard rate anywhere else there was no way it was worthwhile.

As you know from the other thread I am a big fan of Electric Kiwi. It's an easy to understand offer, with reasonable and transparent pricing and they provide great service. The Hour of Power is well worth it, and @sidefx mentioned the Stay Ahead 200 provides an effective 9% discount on top of that.

With no contracts you have nothing to lose if you switch and find the savings not worthwhile.

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thinkingtrex8848

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#2492721 27-May-2020 12:44

tanivula:

sidefx:

The stay ahead 200 was great, but with the fam I couldn't really shift enough load (or I thought I couldn't). Anyways, got called up by Genesis (I had gas with them) and they managed to beat the EK prices (including the added 200/20 saving).

So they are basically giving you better rates and a prompt payment discount, just like the EK? Would you share how much better the rates were compared to the stay ahead200?

rugrat

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#2492825 27-May-2020 14:09

I’m on Genesis night and weekend. Don’t know if things will change when contract finish’s and if does will review things, but currently get e-rates, 10% prompt payment discount, random free electricity periods, 2 lots of 5 hours last month from memory.

Was only doing nights and when saw the weekends were all same rates paid $180 to get metre reconfigured to include weekends. Pretty sure power bill has dropped by about $50 a month since including weekends. Yeah do pay more on peak closer to 30 cents, over half power is used off peak, and hot water only heats off peak.

With most power spent on heating, and need to heat house more then 1 hour a day don’t see how a free hour of power would cut it. In the weekend don’t even worry about power usuage at around 12 cents kilowatt ( hope right terminology)

michaelmurfy

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#2492902 27-May-2020 15:31

I'm going to be brutally honest here. Electric Kiwi and many other suppliers use marketing tactics and the same answer applies really as per your other thread.

Both Flick and EK are cheap providers however you can sometimes get cheaper rates with other providers (like Genesis) depending on your metering setup. There is no "one size fits all" provider.

Ignore the 1hr free in this case - it is seen as a bonus, but unless if you're prepared to load-shift and manage your power use the savings are fully up to you. I personally use automation (much like @timmmay) but the appliances you can use within this hour is limited.

For example - load of washing / drying? I save maybe around 10c doing it over the hour of free power as my washing machine + dryer takes longer than that to complete. Dishwasher? Assuming it heats water in that time maybe 20c per load. Sure it adds up but with me I have the heatpump / heater on both before, and during that time anyway. My HOP is currently around 7% as my home is largely energy efficient anyway with LED lighting, heat pump dryer etc. The reason I am with EK is not because of the HOP, it is because the energy rates in my case were slightly cheaper (and I prefer to be ahead on my bills so the $20 topup credit is a bonus too) + the HOP is seen as a 7-10% discount on top of that.

Don't forget the other providers also (eg, Nova, Genesis) as like I say, depending on your metering setup this can work out cheaper. But you don't really have a definitive answer of how much you'll save unless if you try as everyone's energy usage is different.

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tanivula

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#2492916 27-May-2020 15:58

brownie112:

So they are basically giving you better rates and a prompt payment discount, just like the EK? Would you share how much better the rates were compared to the stay ahead200?

Rates would be variable based on region, but Genesis beat EK by 0.1 of a cent on the per kWhr rate 😅 but their PPD was a whopping 27% (might be partly due to dual fuel?). I just had a look at the figures, and I was at 12% HoP when I was with EK with pretty careful load shifting which was becoming harder as the family grew.

Yep, totaly agree with @michaelmurfy it's def a horses for courses situation.

raytaylor

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#2494656 29-May-2020 20:57

Personally, I have found no one in my area has been able to beat Contact's rates when combined with the prompt payment discount and the email billing discounts option.

If i was on a time split pricing plan, i'd rather the cheaper offpeak option than an hour of free power because there is only a limited amount of usage I could get in an hour without having an electric car and fast charger for it.

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tdgeek

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#2494661 29-May-2020 21:01

brownie112:

I see a few of you guys have been with Flick, Powershop etc and then moved to ElectricKiwi. Have you guys done some sort of analysis on if you are actually saving that much in the 1hr vs having cheaper rates spread across few hours?

I recorded the usage and every free hour is averaging $1.40 savings a day so about $42/month.

However still wondering if spreading the higher load items across the off peak hours(and all day weekends) would be better in the long run compared to paying peak hour rates for 23hours and free for 1 hour.

Thoughts?

Im with EK, I pay 27c and 32c per day so thats good from what I see here, plus the free hour plus 10% off as well