Powershop - how does it work?

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kdn

203 posts

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#136470 28-Nov-2013 11:24

I moved to a new apartment a few months ago. The power provider is powershop. To be honest I just don't really get it.

For example right now my account is $100 OD. So I bought the November pack and a $120 pack because the units were cheap. Well they charged me $120 for the pack, but nothing for the November pack but I have both showing in my account now. However my account is still $110.

Anyways, I figure I need to add money to my account rather than buy power packs to get into the green. So I'll probably refund the power pack.

But what is the best way to do this thing, should I always always buy prepaid units and never let my account go into debit?

timmmay

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#942180 28-Nov-2013 11:52

They've turned passive consumption of an essential resource into a game where if you bid at the right time you get to pay a little less for exactly the same thing. All in all if you want to spend a bunch of time managing a basic utility you can save a few percent, or you can probably just ignore it and treat the utility like a utility.

Just change to a regular provider if you don't want to mess with it.

Hammerer

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#942183 28-Nov-2013 11:57

You have the choice of using Powershop like a standard pay monthly power account. They will bill you in arrears at their standard price. The only issue is that this will cost you more than buying power in advance.

So if you want to save money then you can buy power in advance. There are regular specials you can purchase for a small number of units at a much cheaper price. You can also purchase all your electricity many months in advance and fix your price for the period that power applies to. If you buy too much then it will be refunded at the time it becomes surplus to your actual usage.

The only issue is that you will have to invest more time to buy power in advance or on special. It helps to understand how all the products work, the order in which prepurchased units will be used up, what is happening with winter rates, etc.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

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#942193 28-Nov-2013 12:21

I tried Power Shop for a while. If you dont put the effort in to purchasing power in advance you are far better to go with a normal provider. We locked in an excellent deal with Meridian and our powerbill dropped from about $130.00 to $80.00.

...Would never go back.