So contact is up their price for the Goodnight plan, what is you guys alternative?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › So contact is up their price for the Goodnight plan, what is you guys alternative?

jackyleunght2002

328 posts

Ultimate Geek

#302187 5-Nov-2022 21:24

Hello All

hmm, sounds like contact energy is going up on price for their goodnight plan.

so have a look at the mercury energy, firstly they are no longer with the Air NZ airpoints...

seems to be the best replacement for contact energy.

the next question is, mercury energy is doing broadband too?, so does anyone who are they going with in terms of their broadband?

thanks

Jacky

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#2992368 5-Nov-2022 23:12

I got an email last week saying my 6 month good nights contract had come to an end.

I could either
- sign up for a 12 month good nights plan and get the same rates as I am currently paying, or I could
- Leave it on an open plan and get the same rates as I am currently paying.

The difference is the 12 month plan has pricing fixed at the current rates until October 2023.

I decided to re-sign up for the 12 months - my monthly electricity bill has never been cheaper and I have over 48% of our electricity usage (flat of 3 guys) within the 9-midnight offpeak/free period so it still seems to be the best option for us.

How I shifted most of our electricity usage:

- Installed a night-store heater that charges itself at 3kwh from 21:05-23:55 each night then releases that heat over the following 6 hours so its not cold when we wake up in the morning,
- A timer on the hot water cylinder as the local ripple control usually turns it on at 8pm but I am delaying it until 9pm and it usually finishes its heating by 22:30
- Heat pump warms the house from 21:05-23:55.
- During the day when no one is home, the HRV is set to heat the house using heat in the attic to 27deg so the furniture mass absorbs the warmth and releases it into the evening.

I use the mass within the house as a heat storage battery and charge it when energy is free. We have a well insulated and generally warm house so it works quite well.

Ray Taylor

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Spreadsheet for Comparing Electricity Plans Here

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gmball

541 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2992374 6-Nov-2022 00:03

I am in the same boat, 12 month good nights plan ending in November and have been sent new rates which rollover at the end of November onto an open term good nights plan.

The new rates are considerably higher than previous, and not at all competitive with other retailers, even taking into account the approx 20% saving we achieve from off peak free use.

We are considering Trustpower, as we are also out of term on our Spark fibre plan, and Trustpower are offering free fibre for 6 months on a 12 month power plan.
Interestingly, for us, not only would we get 6 months free fibre, a saving of approx $540, but Trustpower rates for electricity are cheaper than the new rates Contact have quoted us.

raytaylor

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#2992378 6-Nov-2022 02:22

It would be interesting to know what areas of the country this is in.

I am in hawkes bay and rates are exactly the same as before - no price rise.

My understanding was the only reason to be with trustpower due to their higher rates is if you are in the tauranga area so you get the rebate. But I just had a read of the eligibility criteria and woah thats interesting how they are culling off the number of beneficiaries over time.

Ray Taylor

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Spreadsheet for Comparing Electricity Plans Here

Kraven

708 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2992383 6-Nov-2022 07:50

jackyleunght2002:

the next question is, mercury energy is doing broadband too?, so does anyone who are they going with in terms of their broadband?

Mercury use NOW broadband.

timmmay

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#2992396 6-Nov-2022 08:52

Octopus Energy looks pretty good. You pay a different price for peak, off peak, and night, no peak on weekeends. Electric Kiwi MoveMaster (referral link - we both get $50 credit if you join) is similar but with shorter peak periods weekdays, though you pay the same rates every day, and you get one hour of free power per day. We use timers on hot water, clothes drier, and dishwasher to make the most of the free hour, but we use power whenever we need it. When I compared them Octopus was about the same price as EK for our usage.

gmball

541 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2992402 6-Nov-2022 10:04

raytaylor:

It would be interesting to know what areas of the country this is in.

I am in hawkes bay and rates are exactly the same as before - no price rise.

My understanding was the only reason to be with trustpower due to their higher rates is if you are in the tauranga area so you get the rebate. But I just had a read of the eligibility criteria and woah thats interesting how they are culling off the number of beneficiaries over time.

We are in West Auckland on a low user plan, our contact rates on the good nights plan are increasing from a daily charge of 30 cents and a per KWH charge of 24.8 cents, to a daily charge of 60 cents and a per KWH charge of 30.8 cents.

Trustpower have quoted us a daily charge of 60 cents, and a per KWH charge of 24.07 cents, plus 6 months free fibremax on a 12 month plan. We currently pay $90 per month for fibre, so thats a saving for us of $540 for broadband, plus the Trustpower rates compare favourably to the new contact good nights plan.

Previously on the good nights plan we've generally managed to push less than 20% of our usage during the 9pm-midnight period, but the new contact rates vs the trust power rates are 22% more expensive, without any incentive like free broadband, so negates the saving from free night time power.

Dratsab

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#2992406 6-Nov-2022 10:15

When I got a letter from Contact a couple of months ago about their rates going up, I looked around and put some numbers through a spreadsheet (after deciding Powerswitch was crap and not up-to-date) before making my decision. My broadband is with 2degrees and was not a factor. I went with Genesis. Although their rates weren't the best they were better than what Contact was going to be, plus I'm getting an EV soon and will change to their EV plan when it arrives.

joemate

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#2992407 6-Nov-2022 10:21

I'm with Powershop right now, but I was thinking to switch to Contact. Next week we're getting our 7kW solar system + 10kWh battery. Between 21-00 I could top up the battery if needed, charge the EV (future plan), run washing machine, drier, dishwasher, HWC.

What do you guys use to control the HWC? I'm looking into a smart circuit breaker, that I can automate, but is hard to find something that has a normal price and is NZ approved.

gmball

541 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2992408 6-Nov-2022 10:21

What I've come to learn, is there is no longer any benefit for being loyal to an electricity/broadband provider.

Your far better off shopping around whenever your plan term ends, as there are always incentives to switch.

dolsen

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#2992411 6-Nov-2022 11:05

I'm going to stay with them for now as I am quite good at offloading power to the off peak period.
They did have a credit of $300 if you added broadband to your account with an open term. Unfortunately they only have cgnat so that rules them out as a broadband provider for me.

A good option may be switching for 6 months over summer where heating isn't as important, then switching back in 6 months to offload winter heating and pick up any new sign up bonuses they have at that time.

cokemaster

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#2992412 6-Nov-2022 11:10

I also had the 'your term is ending, enjoy our open term pricing' letter. I wasn't offered an option to refix and the new pricing is approximately 20% (location: Auckland-Central-West) more than what I am on currently.
When I asked them to kick the tires... that was a no go from them.

I've subsequently put in a move request to Flick at the end of month. Now I'm getting calls from Contact but its too little too late.

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Rushmere

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#2992413 6-Nov-2022 11:16

It's quite hard to compare suppliers with the wide difference in how all the plans work, and I've found Powerswitch to be quite inaccurate in my case. I ended up getting my 30-minute meter readings from my current supplier (Electric Kiwi) for the last 6 months, and used that to build a spreadsheet to more accurately compare the cost of different suppliers based on my own actual usage patterns. I don't have much scope left for shifting my usage to different times as I've done everything I can practically to shift usage to minimise the cost.

I was looking at the Contact goodnight plan, but when I modelled my usage, I found that it would cost me slightly more than my current Electric Kiwi Movemaster plan, even before the prices go up. Although there is more free time with Contact (3 hours vs 1 hour), the higher off-peak rates made it more expensive for me.

It's well worth modelling your costs in more detail using actual usage patterns if you can.

Nate001

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2992414 6-Nov-2022 11:19

cokemaster:

I also had the 'your term is ending, enjoy our open term pricing' letter. I wasn't offered an option to refix and the new pricing is approximately 20% (location: Auckland-Central-West) more than what I am on currently.
When I asked them to kick the tires... that was a no go from them.

I've subsequently put in a move request to Flick at the end of month. Now I'm getting calls from Contact but its too little too late.

Has Contact got 16 year olds manning their accounts? Wow.

billgates

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#2992433 6-Nov-2022 12:58

@joemate, which brand solar inverter, panels and battery are you going with? MyPV AC.THOR 9S can integrate into a lot of popular brand inverters via ethernet and kick off the heating for your HWC when it sees excess solar and can also setup timers for heating smartly for future due to weather forecasting feed from internet. Another good option but not as a good as AC.THOR 9S is Catch Power Solar Relay or there Catch Power Green. The relay is cheaper and more beneficial IMO. Paladin is another good option but costs as much as AC.THOR 9S anyway so MyPV unit is the likely buy in that scenario.

Do whatever you want to do man.

MaxineN

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#2992485 6-Nov-2022 14:45

timmmay:

Octopus Energy looks pretty good. You pay a different price for peak, off peak, and night, no peak on weekeends. Electric Kiwi MoveMaster (referral link - we both get $50 credit if you join) is similar but with shorter peak periods weekdays, though you pay the same rates every day, and you get one hour of free power per day. We use timers on hot water, clothes drier, and dishwasher to make the most of the free hour, but we use power whenever we need it. When I compared them Octopus was about the same price as EK for our usage.

I switched to Octopus Energy the moment we were moving as EK was becoming unfortunately more expensive.

Just looking at our estimates + what the bill is going to look like, Octopus Energy is already saving us about $10 just from not having a daily charge. Also I'm a low user as well.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Opinions are my own. They don't represent my employer.

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