Powershop prices the same in summer.

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mikerussellnz

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#113796 28-Jan-2013 16:31

I seem to remember powershop showing a graph on their website where the average unit price was more expensive in winter, but lower in summer and that you would save money due to this as other companies had pricing the same all year round.

Well today, I looked at my average unit prices on powershop and over the last 12 months, the price seems the same throughout the last year (it fluctuates, month to month) but no dip in summer months compared to the middle of winter.

I am really wondering if I am saving money at all, since they have become more popular, the prices don't seem as good?

sleepy

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#752087 28-Jan-2013 16:37

Just checked what i have paid

Last week 16.6 cents
and peak last winter 19.6c

DrCheese

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#752089 28-Jan-2013 16:39

A picture paints a thousand words...

mikerussellnz

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#752095 28-Jan-2013 16:59

Mine seems very flat, maybe it is a Christchurch thing.

DrCheese

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#752100 28-Jan-2013 17:09

Make sure you buy the Monster Saver electricity on sale at the beginning of each month. And stock up heavily with electricity now as it's much cheaper (but apparently not in Chch). Most of this cheaper summer pre-paid electricity will last up to 2 months. Be careful not to over-purchase though.

I'm not sure why your unit price is so flat. If you look on the purchase page you should see the advance price for autumn and winter. Is this more expensive than what you are paying now?

DrCheese

shrub

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#752218 28-Jan-2013 19:48

yep im in chch and mine went upto 24c last winter from 19c last summer and this summer im paying 22c not alot of difference

mikerussellnz

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#752340 28-Jan-2013 22:16

Now I look a bit closer I see that dec 2011 timeframe was about 16.91 cents, but december 2012 it is 19.66.

So i guess here the price isn't dropping very much at all during summer.

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deepthought

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#752404 29-Jan-2013 09:14

Mike, Ari here from Powershop.

What you are observing arises from a change to the way we recover fixed costs (made in September 2012). Our prices have always reflected seasonality in wholesale energy costs, and still do. In very round numbers winter is about 3c/kWh more than summer. The change we made last September was to recover fixed costs (mainly related to network and metering costs) over a rolling 3m average consumption, rather than a full 12m - this means your prices better reflect your usage patterns - over the course of a full year there will be little difference in total fixed costs recovered.

The reason your curve will be flatter than others is not because you are in Christchurch, but due to the profile of your usage. It looks like you use relatively less in summer (or relatively more in winter) than other customers - meaning the fixed cost recovery per unit is more in summer, thereby offsetting the lower energy cost to some extent.

Recently we introduced Powershop Labs - you can enable this by logging in and going to "My settings". One of the labs pages is "Prices Explained". Take a look at this for your account. What you should see is around a 3c difference in variable prices for Top-up and winter power pack prices. You will also see the usage profile we're using to derive your prices for these products.

kiwitrc

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#752417 29-Jan-2013 09:51

You can always check to see if you are on the best plan at http://www.powerswitch.org.nz. It pays to do this periodically to make sure you are getting the best deal.

DrCheese

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#752440 29-Jan-2013 10:14

kiwitrc: You can always check to see if you are on the best plan at http://www.powerswitch.org.nz. It pays to do this periodically to make sure you are getting the best deal.

Best to calculate it manually. More time consuming, I know, but the powerswitch.otg.nz website gives erroneous results. It estimated my yearly cost at $4800 with PowerShop when it is actually only $2750. And yes, I did type in the correct information into the website!

DrCheese.

heapsort

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#752452 29-Jan-2013 10:28

kiwitrc: You can always check to see if you are on the best plan at http://www.powerswitch.org.nz. It pays to do this periodically to make sure you are getting the best deal.

I disagree with this. That website is only a reasonable guide for comparing the traditional fixed daily charge and rate-based retailers. For Powershop it gives misleading results. As far as I can tell, the Powerswitch website formula ignores most or all Powershop specials; maybe it also ignores the weekend rebates (5c back for each weekend daytime kWh in Christchurch).

A couple of times, I have checked Powerswitch and it has indicated I could save more than $100, but I found each time that what I had actually spent in the past year at Powershop beat the Powerswitch "best" plan by a similar amount.

Additionally, I like the Powershop model - the humour in some specials; flexibility to buy small amounts regularly or stock up; the useful website information such as the daily consumption charts and the heat map in the Labs section - so I'm not likely to switch just to save $100 or so a year.

Hammerer

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#752455 29-Jan-2013 10:29

DrCheese:
Best to calculate it manually. More time consuming, I know, but the powerswitch.otg.nz website gives erroneous results. It estimated my yearly cost at $4800 with PowerShop when it is actually only $2750. And yes, I did type in the correct information into the website!

DrCheese.

Most people will be better off using powerswitch.org.nz. I've used it hundreds of times on many different suppliers and plans using estimating from general profile and actual usage. It's never been that far out.

The main reason estimates don't work very well is if you have an unusual power profile. I do, for example, because we have solar heating that produces almost all our hot water over summer. Even so the discrepancy you got is unusual. So did you tell powerswitch about the problem and get it sorted?

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Hammerer

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#752459 29-Jan-2013 10:40

heapsort:
kiwitrc: You can always check to see if you are on the best plan at http://www.powerswitch.org.nz. It pays to do this periodically to make sure you are getting the best deal.

I disagree with this. That website is only a reasonable guide for comparing the traditional fixed daily charge and rate-based retailers. For Powershop it gives misleading results. As far as I can tell, the Powerswitch website formula ignores most or all Powershop specials; maybe it also ignores the weekend rebates (5c back for each weekend daytime kWh in Christchurch).

A couple of times, I have checked Powerswitch and it has indicated I could save more than $100, but I found each time that what I had actually spent in the past year at Powershop beat the Powerswitch "best" plan by a similar amount.

Additionally, I like the Powershop model - the humour in some specials; flexibility to buy small amounts regularly or stock up; the useful website information such as the daily consumption charts and the heat map in the Labs section - so I'm not likely to switch just to save $100 or so a year.

+1 for Powershop freedom. I appreciate getting a fast response to any issues raised. Even the CEO usually responds the same day.

+1 for getting better prices from specials with Powershop but it does take more effort to get those savings.

Powerswitch is accurate enough at the default rates which is what it says it uses.