Advice on switching to a better gas & electricity provider

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technicaljoe

248 posts

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#76829 7-Feb-2011 18:36

Hi everyone,

I'd be really grateful for your advice on switching to a better gas & electricity provider...

I'm currently with Contact Energy for both gas & electricity, and I'm getting so sick and tired of receiving price increase letter every few months, not to mention they charge me an arm and a leg and then some! It's getting ridiculous!

Any advice on:
1) Good (customer service + reasonable price) utility providers that would serve West Auckland.
2) Is the like of PowerShop worth investigating?

Many thanks!

Joseph

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822 posts

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#436455 7-Feb-2011 19:00

http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch check that out worked well for me.

richms

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#436456 7-Feb-2011 19:00

Powershop only stackup if you are a very light user. If you are on 2-300 a month for power than they work out more.

As power and gas are both essential I dont really have a problem with putting them on the same bill, unlike when people get internet from their power company which IMO is insane, as is getting sky from your internet provider.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#436457 7-Feb-2011 19:01

mattRSK: http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch check that out worked well for me.

When I last tried it, there was no options on it to calculate with a day/night or controlled/uncontrolled metering, and it was also missing many of the tarrifs that were on the retailers websites.

Richard rich.ms

mattRSK

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#436478 7-Feb-2011 19:15

I got a good result out of it so it is worth a try.

Regs

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Snowflake

#438480 11-Feb-2011 23:32

i get electricity from powershop and gas from genesis. that worked out best for me. genesis had the lowest gas prices by far, when you included their 'big gas thank-you' discount (or something named like that).

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freitasm

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Geekzone

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#438515 12-Feb-2011 09:01

Regs: i get electricity from powershop and gas from genesis. that worked out best for me. genesis had the lowest gas prices by far, when you included their 'big gas thank-you' discount (or something named like that).

Same setup here, in Wellington.

Dratsab

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#438518 12-Feb-2011 09:30

I've just switched to Meridian as they're currently offering 20.63 cents/kw fixed for 2 years. I found the Powershop site quite vague, but from the calculations I've done I figure I'm going to between $5-$6 a month better off with Meridian.*

I'm currently a Contact customer and I'll be saving around $22/month over Contacts current prices of 23.972 cents/kw. I recently got a letter in the mail saying their moving prices up to 26.070 cents/kw from March 01 (which I think is because they're an Australian company and have huge repair bills in Queensland) which means I'll be saving around $31/month over their prices.

Slightly off topic:
The one thing with Meridian I will be looking into is why their ECC levy is .0024 cents/kw when Contact only charge .00186. It's only a 31 cent difference per month, but I thought these charges were fixed, so there shouldn't be a difference between providers.

I keep a spreadsheet of my electricity usage/bills, so my calculations are based on my average monthly consumption of 570kw over the last 4 years.

EDIT: *This is over a one year period, as Powershops unit prices rise and fall with seasonal influences.

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technicaljoe

248 posts

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#438651 12-Feb-2011 18:06

Thanks everyone! Very informative! I will update here again with my switching experience soon :)

eXDee

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#438690 12-Feb-2011 21:12

Regs: i get electricity from powershop and gas from genesis. that worked out best for me. genesis had the lowest gas prices by far, when you included their 'big gas thank-you' discount (or something named like that).

This

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#438708 12-Feb-2011 22:01

Dratsab: I've just switched to Meridian as they're currently offering 20.63 cents/kw fixed for 2 years. I found the Powershop site quite vague, but from the calculations I've done I figure I'm going to between $5-$6 a month better off with Meridian.*

I'm currently a Contact customer and I'll be saving around $22/month over Contacts current prices of 23.972 cents/kw. I recently got a letter in the mail saying their moving prices up to 26.070 cents/kw from March 01 (which I think is because they're an Australian company and have huge repair bills in Queensland) which means I'll be saving around $31/month over their prices.

Slightly off topic:
The one thing with Meridian I will be looking into is why their ECC levy is .0024 cents/kw when Contact only charge .00186. It's only a 31 cent difference per month, but I thought these charges were fixed, so there shouldn't be a difference between providers.

I keep a spreadsheet of my electricity usage/bills, so my calculations are based on my average monthly consumption of 570kw over the last 4 years.

EDIT: *This is over a one year period, as Powershops unit prices rise and fall with seasonal influences.

Better to support a NZ majority owned company too, rather than seeing most profits head over the creek.

vexxxboy

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#438719 12-Feb-2011 22:37

dont just look at how much they charge per kw etc , also look at how much discount they give you for early payment there's as much as 5-6 % difference in what the companies will give you which adds up

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Klipspringer

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#439424 14-Feb-2011 19:48

Dratsab: I've just switched to Meridian as they're currently offering 20.63 cents/kw fixed for 2 years. I found the Powershop site quite vague, but from the calculations I've done I figure I'm going to between $5-$6 a month better off with Meridian.*

WOW, a wooping saving of 5bucks per month, enought to buy, ummm not even a small mac!!! LOL. Just shows how desperate people are getting with these ridiculous power prices here in NZ. Switching for a couple of $$$ does nothing, made that mistake before, a month or two down the road and the company you switched from is cheaper. We need real competition in this country, talking about a couple of $$$ savings is ludicrous.

My rant for the day....

pogostickconz

47 posts

Geek

#439442 14-Feb-2011 20:28

I keep an eye on whats around but powershop has worked for me, and i think being able to monitor daily usage is almost a saving in itself because you can see whats costing you and change it right away.

gas - avoid it in the first place if you can - it will always be more expensive than power and will only get worse - we have it for hot water and cooking, i love it but its not cheap but getting a good deal with the bobtail deliveries (not returning cylinders not fully empty!) and paid to have cylinders for 10 years, which saves us around $100 a year

richms

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#439449 14-Feb-2011 20:46

pogostickconz: I keep an eye on whats around but powershop has worked for me, and i think being able to monitor daily usage is almost a saving in itself because you can see whats costing you and change it right away.

gas - avoid it in the first place if you can - it will always be more expensive than power and will only get worse - we have it for hot water and cooking, i love it but its not cheap but getting a good deal with the bobtail deliveries (not returning cylinders not fully empty!) and paid to have cylinders for 10 years, which saves us around $100 a year

Last I checked, powershop didnt get the daily or hourly data from the meters, just the same data that all the other powercos work off. Has that changed?

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

20147 posts

Uber Geek

#439473 14-Feb-2011 21:18

pogostickconz: I keep an eye on whats around but powershop has worked for me, and i think being able to monitor daily usage is almost a saving in itself because you can see whats costing you and change it right away.

gas - avoid it in the first place if you can - it will always be more expensive than power and will only get worse - we have it for hot water and cooking, i love it but its not cheap but getting a good deal with the bobtail deliveries (not returning cylinders not fully empty!) and paid to have cylinders for 10 years, which saves us around $100 a year

I remember when they used to advertise that it was a lot cheaper than electricity. But things have changed. I think we now import most of our gas, and we export most of the gas we produce which is strange

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