Switching Power Company, advice please

Forums › Off topic › Switching Power Company, advice please

DamageInc

549 posts

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#318114 16-Dec-2024 17:08

Hi all,

We're wanting to change from Electric Kiwi, but after some feedback/advice please.

Ran the numbers through Powerswitch, results were:

Powershop - not really keen on powerpacks etc
Genesis - Energy Plus Fixed Term Anytime with Controlled (Low user)
Powershop again - as above
Toast - never heard of them
Genesis - Energy Plus Flexible Anytime with Controlled (Low user)
Meridian - Low User Anytime with Controlled - Everyday Economy Fixed
Mercury - Everyday One year fixed - Low User - Combination
Mercury - Everyday Open Term Low User - Combination
Frank Energy - Uncontrolled with Controlled (Low User)
Contact - Good Weekends Low User Plan
Flick - Low User Off Peak - Peak/Off-peak Uncontrolled with Controlled
Contact - Basic Anytime with Economy (Low User)

And the list goes on......................

Not included were Octopus and a couple of other Contact plans.

Not sure if it helps but we live in Horowhenua.

Does anyone have any feedback on the above please? Or recommendations?

Much appreciated.

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Webhead
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#3321376 16-Dec-2024 17:17

I am sure you will get some people telling you which plans they are on and that they are great.

But you need to crunch your own numbers.

When in the day do you use power, how much power do you use etc.

Will you be able to take advantage of "free hours of power", of peak/non-peak/night rates etc.

Power and day rates are different depending on where you live, so what is good for me might not be good for you.

And to just be one of those people: When I last crunched the numbers (a couple of years ago), Octopus came out cheapest for our needs. But I really should crunch them again, because Octopus have really increased the daily rate. At the same time they lowered the kWh rate, so might not be as bad as it looked when I first saw the numbers. But yeah, need to sit down with Excel and figure it out.

It sure doesn't help that you can't just go on any providers web page and find their kWh prices. I was checking out Genesis the other day, and as far as I can tell you have to contact them to get their prices. Which is not great.

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MikeFly

153 posts

Master Geek

#3321377 16-Dec-2024 17:17

Take a look at Ahiko.nz, for a small cost they can crunch the numbers for you.

mentalinc

3238 posts

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#3321386 16-Dec-2024 17:41

Which one saves you the most money?
its a product you have zero control over and the company you pay, generally also has no control over the power to your door..
If its broken for you, 99.999% of the time you are not the only person impacted so calling the provider is pointless as its a lines company issue.

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mentalinc

3238 posts

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#3321387 16-Dec-2024 17:44

Does consumers powerswitch do a basic version of Ahiko? also need to factor in the forecast savings to the $80 fee.

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DamageInc

549 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3321389 16-Dec-2024 17:56

jarledb:

I am sure you will get some people telling you which plans they are on and that they are great.

But you need to crunch your own numbers.

When in the day do you use power, how much power do you use etc.

Will you be able to take advantage of "free hours of power", of peak/non-peak/night rates etc.

Power and day rates are different depending on where you live, so what is good for me might not be good for you.

And to just be one of those people: When I last crunched the numbers (a couple of years ago), Octopus came out cheapest for our needs. But I really should crunch them again, because Octopus have really increased the daily rate. At the same time they lowered the kWh rate, so might not be as bad as it looked when I first saw the numbers. But yeah, need to sit down with Excel and figure it out.

It sure doesn't help that you can't just go on any providers web page and find their kWh prices. I was checking out Genesis the other day, and as far as I can tell you have to contact them to get their prices. Which is not great.

Cheers for that, more analysis required on my behalf. Still crunching numbers which is interesting. If i go by Powerswitch, the cheaper ones show on my spreadsheet as being more expensive as my most recent bill. That confuses me even more.

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Jase2985

13462 posts

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#3321391 16-Dec-2024 18:18

DamageInc:

jarledb:

I am sure you will get some people telling you which plans they are on and that they are great.

But you need to crunch your own numbers.

When in the day do you use power, how much power do you use etc.

Will you be able to take advantage of "free hours of power", of peak/non-peak/night rates etc.

Power and day rates are different depending on where you live, so what is good for me might not be good for you.

And to just be one of those people: When I last crunched the numbers (a couple of years ago), Octopus came out cheapest for our needs. But I really should crunch them again, because Octopus have really increased the daily rate. At the same time they lowered the kWh rate, so might not be as bad as it looked when I first saw the numbers. But yeah, need to sit down with Excel and figure it out.

It sure doesn't help that you can't just go on any providers web page and find their kWh prices. I was checking out Genesis the other day, and as far as I can tell you have to contact them to get their prices. Which is not great.

Cheers for that, more analysis required on my behalf. Still crunching numbers which is interesting. If i go by Powerswitch, the cheaper ones show on my spreadsheet as being more expensive as my most recent bill. That confuses me even more.

hence the need to download your usage data, throw it in a spreadsheet with all the power companies rates and work it all out.

Powerswitch is a very crude tool, not to say there isnt some value in it but if you want to find the best plan you need to do the hard work.

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3321398 16-Dec-2024 18:58

My 2 cents: Re Powershop, you don’t need to buy power packs. I’ve been with them in the past and just checked whatsmynumber today to see they are the cheapest in my region.

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BlargHonk

147 posts

Master Geek

#3321399 16-Dec-2024 19:01

We save a boatload by load shifting as much as possible to the Contact 3hrs of free power each night. We run the dishwasher, washing machine, sometimes the dryer and the Hot Water Cylinder is on a timer to run then too. We are using approx 45% of our daily power in the free hours

Basil12

111 posts

Master Geek

#3321401 16-Dec-2024 19:14

I'm also in Horowhenua - I'm on the Genesis - Energy Plus Fixed Term Anytime with Controlled (Low user) plan. I've found it had a much lower low user daily rate (90c) than others and as a low low user this made quite a difference.

I use PowerSwitch to give a suggestion but it's gone downhill since it stopped allowing 12 months worth of readings to be added. Keeping a basic spreadsheet to record power usage is worthwhile especially if you use it to measure the rolling 12 months unit use - if you're over or under 8,000 units pa this can help steer you to high or low user being best.

Another site is https://www.powercompare.co.nz/.

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3321402 16-Dec-2024 19:15

Free nights is great, but then again, you’re paying an additional 10c/kw for the remaining 19 hours in the day - it also looks like weekends aren’t included

Asteros

264 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3321403 16-Dec-2024 19:22

Nobody can give blanket advice unfortunately. Really depends on your location as different places have different power companies/rates. Also need to pull your usage and do the individual calculations.

I’m in Auckland and funnily enough I just switched from Frank Energy to Genesis today. They are the cheapest because I need Electricity and Gas. Only suggestion I can give is to call each company as their websites don’t give their sharpest deals.

SpartanVXL

1316 posts

Uber Geek

#3321405 16-Dec-2024 19:32

As far as I have found, the plans with peak/ off-peak pricing or free hours end up being more expensive if you don’t manage usage within those time windows. If you have any usage at all in peak times you can be paying 10c/kwh more than flat rates.

Genesis so far is the lowest for me, with the added peace of mind of not having to worry when I ‘should’ use power. Free hours of power from e.g. Contact is enticing but ultimately more expensive even with a third of power use free.

DamageInc

549 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3321414 16-Dec-2024 20:42

BlargHonk: We save a boatload by load shifting as much as possible to the Contact 3hrs of free power each night. We run the dishwasher, washing machine, sometimes the dryer and the Hot Water Cylinder is on a timer to run then too. We are using approx 45% of our daily power in the free hours

We've been looking at the Contact plans, weighing those up.

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DamageInc

549 posts

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#3321418 16-Dec-2024 20:53

Basil12:

I'm also in Horowhenua - I'm on the Genesis - Energy Plus Fixed Term Anytime with Controlled (Low user) plan. I've found it had a much lower low user daily rate (90c) than others and as a low low user this made quite a difference.

I use PowerSwitch to give a suggestion but it's gone downhill since it stopped allowing 12 months worth of readings to be added. Keeping a basic spreadsheet to record power usage is worthwhile especially if you use it to measure the rolling 12 months unit use - if you're over or under 8,000 units pa this can help steer you to high or low user being best.

Another site is https://www.powercompare.co.nz/.

Good to know, thank you.

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DamageInc

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#3321419 16-Dec-2024 21:02

@Jase2985 & @jarledb - how far back in history do you recommend i gather? I've been comparing to my latest bill (Nov 24) and my highest winter bill from 24.

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