EV electricity plans in the Manawatu/PN area

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Lizard1977

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#318938 7-Mar-2025 08:15

Not sure if there's a more appropriate forum that this kind of discussion belongs in, but I'm sure the mods will move it if there is.

I'm moving house next week and I want to get the electricity provider sorted. I'm currently with Contact and use their Good Charge plan because I have a plug-in hybrid so I can make use of 50% rates between 9pm and 7am. My first option is just to continue with them and get them to transfer my connection to the new house.

However I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to shop around. I looked to see what other providers offer a similar plan with discounted rates over night. But both Genesis and Meridian won't reveal their rates on their website and I had to request a callback (5 days and counting). So I thought I would check to see if anyone here is on one of those plans with Genesis or Meridian and could share their rates with me. I know that the rates differ depending on where in the country you are, so I'm looking for anyone in the Manawatu (preferably urban Palmerston North) area. I figure if the rates don't beat what I'm already getting with Contact then I will just get Contact to transfer my connection to the new place. But if the rates are better, then I will persist with one of the other companies that seem blithely uninterested in getting back to potential new customers.

DjShadow

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#3350857 7-Mar-2025 08:35

Genesis have their EV plan which is 50% off peak also between 9pm and 7am each day, also the added benefit you can use Charge Net chargers and pay your home rate instead of the charge net rate

Asteros

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#3350860 7-Mar-2025 08:36

I've been looking for a new energy provider recently. I'm in Auckland and found rates online and switched to Genesis which was the best deal for me. I was very surprised Genesis and Meridian wouldn't provide online rates for the Manawatu - you're correct! Must be some region specific complication. That said, Genesis I would give Genesis a call as they offered me a slightly better deal over the phone vs the online price.

I remember coming across this Meridian site which has some new time of use/EV plan:

https://nextgen.meridianenergy.co.nz

jonathan18

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#3350866 7-Mar-2025 08:53

Here are my rates on Meridian's EV plan in central PN, though I'm 14 months into a two-year fixed contract so I'm sure they've moved somewhat since then! (@shinychrome or @Mehrts could also be on EV plans and willing to share their rates?)

Disappointing they've taken so long to get back to you; back then I found them to be quick and responsive. Have you tried contacting the call centre and asking for an immediate response on the phone, given the period of time you've been waiting?

Lizard1977

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#3350909 7-Mar-2025 10:41

Thanks @jonathan18. That's the kind of info I was after. I think you're right about rates moving on. With Contact I was on 30c/15c excl GST and 90c+gst daily charge, but they upped their prices from 1 March and now it's 34.4/17.2+gst and $1.20+gst daily charge. So your rates are about 15% cheaper - if Meridian have since increased by a similar amount to Contact, then it would still be cheaper.

I'll wait and see if @shinychrome or @Mehrts also reply, but I might give Meridian a call directly. Just don't fancy spending hours on hold - the whole "callback" thing was supposed to make that better, wasn't it? But what's the point if they don't actually call you back in any kind of reasonable timeframe?

jonathan18

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#3350911 7-Mar-2025 10:50

Lizard1977:

Thanks @jonathan18. That's the kind of info I was after. I think you're right about rates moving on. With Contact I was on 30c/15c excl GST and 90c+gst daily charge, but they upped their prices from 1 March and now it's 34.4/17.2+gst and $1.20+gst daily charge. So your rates are about 15% cheaper - if Meridian have since increased by a similar amount to Contact, then it would still be cheaper.

I'll wait and see if @shinychrome or @Mehrts also reply, but I might give Meridian a call directly. Just don't fancy spending hours on hold - the whole "callback" thing was supposed to make that better, wasn't it? But what's the point if they don't actually call you back in any kind of reasonable timeframe?

Just to note that my prices are GST incl (nice to have them presented like this on the bill! Other companies could learn from this...) so our current rates are c. 30% lower than your new rates. It'll be interesting to see how much of that has been eaten up by recent increases.

Agree about the callback thing; especially since they're making it harder themselves by adding these extra hoops for anything off-standard like an EV plan.

Lizard1977

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#3350913 7-Mar-2025 10:59

You're right - I was comparing your current rates to my old rates, but with Contact's new rates the difference is more like 30%. I would assume that Meridian have increased their prices since you signed with them, but even if they increased by 15%, it's still cheaper than Contact's new rates.

I just had a look at the NextGen link that @Asteros provided. The ToU setup is a little different - with four selected free hours (user changeable). The rates they quoted (online, thankfully) were 32.2c including GST, and $1.7787 including GST daily charge. I applied those rates to a couple of months of my power usage from last year (after I got my PHEV). The cost of the Meridian plan was nearly 20% cheaper than the rates that Contact are moving me to. It also has the advantage of not being locked into one large block of discounted power. Through the app I would be able to change the free hours, which could be useful.

Lizard1977

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#3350970 7-Mar-2025 11:34

I went through Meridian's chat page (after some frustratingly obvious suggestions - yes I've already checked your page for rates, no they're not on there, that's why I'm chatting to you!) I was finally able to coax the rates out of them: 50.36c peak, 23.24c off-peak, $2.1653 daily charge (all including GST). That was a lot higher than I expected.

The NextGen plan looks like the better deal. Bizarre that it is offered by the same company. Makes me wonder what the catch is

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Lizard1977

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#3351020 7-Mar-2025 14:44

I think I may have found the catch - I have to agree to the Smart Hot Water programme, where they can switch off the hot water for up to 8 hours a day. Anyone else run up against this?

MadEngineer

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#3351031 7-Mar-2025 15:39

That should mean your hot water will be on a cheaper, controlled plan.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Mehrts

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#3351474 8-Mar-2025 14:36

@Lizard1977, apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

In my particular case, I have a 32A/7kW wall connector installed, so I charge the car with Contact Energy's free power between 9pm and midnight. I can put 20kWh of power into the car over this period, which slightly more than covers my daily running around of 110km.

Previously when I was using the mobile connector at 15A, I was on the half-price power between 9pm and 7am.

Hope this helps.

Basil12

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#3351485 8-Mar-2025 15:07

In case it is of any use, these are prices from Genesis in Levin - I don't know if they stretch as far as Palmy. This is the Genesis Anytime low user anytime plan with controlled hot water, all ex GST.

MadEngineer

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#3351527 8-Mar-2025 20:11

Whanganui, "Plus low"

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.