Switchme Blog

Some Northland residences are paying nearly 20 per cent more for electricity than they were three years ago.

Figures supplied by Consumer New Zealand show households in Whangarei and Northland rural areas are now paying about $2450 a year compared with $2050 in April 2009.

Empower, which is owned by Contact Energy is the most expensive among the five power companies in both areas with customers paying around $400 a year more than three years ago.  That is an increase of 19.5 per cent.

Mercury Energy is also up there with the most expensive retailers with customers paying around $270 more annually than in 2009.

The figures are based on the most common plan for a household of three to four people using electric water heating, cooking and a mix of electric and other space heating methods such as wood burners and gas heaters.

In March, both Mercury Energy and Contact Energy announce price rises in Northland of 5.8 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Consumer NZ has suggested that customers constantly check for cheaper energy retailers and to switch if it means a saving can be made.

Mercury offered a three year fixed plan for selected Auckland customers and later introduced the offer in Northland. However, Consumer have advised against signing into fixed term contracts, which locks customers in for the duration of the contract meaning a hefty termination fee of $150 will be charged if the customer decides to switch mid term or moves to an area not supplied by Mercury Energy.

With the fixed term plan, you’ll have to pay more initially. Consumer estimates that the fixed rate Mercury offers is 9 per cent higher than other existing tariffs. This means any customer agreeing to the deal is agreeing to have their electricity prices increase by 9 per cent over the next three years which must start from when they sign up. This effectively covers the fact that no further increases will affect the customers during the term of the plan.

A consumer spokesperson said “Mercury Energy also increased its prices by 4 per cent in April this year, so anyone signing up to the deal will now be paying 9 per cent on top of that 4 per cent increase.”

Energy retailer comparison site Switchme are advising people to compare all power companies prices to see how many other competitive deals are available before signing into any fixed term contracts.

Visit Switchme.co.nz or call 0800 179 482 for a FREE comparison and find out how much you could save.



Source: northernadvocate.co.nz

Contact Energy customers in Ashburton can expect higher electricity bills to increase as of April 1^st this year due to a price increase of around 5.5Per cent.

The increases are to be implemented to 22 regions across New Zealand and will be affecting Ashburton households.

Mercury Energy has also announced an increase of its power prices of an average 5.8 per cent from 1^st April which also pointed towards higher distribution charges imposed by the lines companies.

The increases are reported to be connected to the costs involved in the project of up grading the national electricity grid which is expected to be completed by 2015.

Energy retailer comparison service Switchme advises this is going to have a great impact on households, many of which are already paying more than necessary for their power.

Below is an example of the extreme differences in retailer pricing in the Ashburton area based on current rates.

The above example is based on a family of 4 using 900kWh per month with a single 24 hour electricity meter, and is based on today’s rates before any price increases are implemented. There is a considerable $612 annual difference between the cheapest and most expensive retailers supplying to Ashburton.

Contact Energy will be increasing the Anytime rate by 7.3%. The table below demonstrates the annual impact the increase will have on Ashburtons’ households.

Mercury Energy, operated by state owned power company Mighty River Power  is also implementing an increase of its electricity prices of  around 6.3 per cent in Ashburton. The impact of this on a households annual costs is outlined below.

Everyday expenses such as food and electricity constantly on the increase, everyone should be looking for a better deal for power and paying the least amounts as possible on household outgoings.

Why pay more for power than you need to?

At the end of the day, no matter which of the many power companies you choose, the electricity supplied to your house comes from the same place: The national grid. So why pay $30 or more each month than your next door neighbour? At the end of the day, you’ll only simply be changing the logo on your electricity bill.

Energy retailer comparison services such as Switchme.co.nz give you an insight to the electricity market making prices much more transparent and obvious. Switchme has recently launched a new and improved version of its website. The new site makes it even easier to compare power companies, identify savings and switch in a matter of minutes. Switching retailers is a straight forward, 100% free process and your new power company will do all the leg work. You do not even need to contact your old supplier….

The first ever NZ energy retailer comparison service has already helped over 20,000 households find a better power deal and saved Kiwi’s millions of dollars on their power bills.

Switchme are dedicated to saving people money on their household power bills. The site will be offering all sorts of handy advise from how to survive a power outage to how to making your home more energy efficient, so  even if you are already getting the best deal for electricity, the website can still help you save money!

For more information, visit Switchme now

The Electricity Authority has won the recent court battle to lower sky high electricity prices that occurred on March 26 last year which was opposed by energy retailers Contact, Genesis Energy and Bay Of Plenty Energy.

The energy retailers fought against the decision to reverse tens of millions of dollars of unexpected costs for their competitors and major electricity users, caused by the wholesale market spot prices hitting over $20,000 per megawatt hour for around seven hours last March.

The EA declared an “Undesirable Trading Situation” on the price hike which occurred on a Saturday during a previously notified maintenance outage on the national grid.

All prices for March have been reset to no more than $3000 per MWh. Electricity spot market prices normally range between $50 and $150 MWh.

The judge found a range of factors had combined on the day to constitute  the UTS, and that the Authority had made the correct decision.

The judge rejected suggestions from the retailers that the reversal punished companies that had hedged their exposure to the spot market prices appropriately while rewarding participants who had not made the necessary arrangements to protect themselves from price spikes.

“The Authority found that the vast majority of market participants did not foresee the high price.” Judge Ronald Young stated in his 91 page judgment report.

“Those that did were reassured by late March that high prices would not eventuate. In the circumstances, therefore the prices were neither foreseen nor foreseeable.

Power companies such as state owned Meridian Energy were among the worst affected along with Mighty River Power. Other Auckland consumers including New Zealand Steel, The NZ Sugar Company, Auckland War Memorial Museum, TVNZ and Vodafone.  Many of these large commercial customers will be billed on a Time of Use metering system which determines the cost of its consumption based directly on the electricity spot market.

The EA was also found to be correct to declare an undesirable trading situation for worries that the very high prices could affect confidence in the countries wholesale electricity market.

Source: www.tvnz.co.nz

Contact Energy have blamed intense customer competition between energy retailers and the need to use expensive thermal power generation on their profits falling by almost a fifth.

New Zealand’s largest listed power company made $68 million in the six months leading up to December, which is almost 19 per cent less than the profit made in the same period the previous year.

Underlying earnings fell  3 per cent to $76 million, sales rose 7 per cent to $1.9 billion.

But because of the dry weather, The energy giant had to boost low hydro generation volumes with more expensive thermal generation.

The competition for retaining and gaining new customers also heightened due to government’s campaign to encourage households to shop around for a better deal for electricity.

Contact Energy lost a large number of customers early last year as a result in the campaign but coaxed more than 4600 customers back by introducing an increased prompt payment discount to customers using online methods to receive and pay their bills.

Contact says earnings will improve in the second half of the year as retail prices rise and wholesale electricity prices improve.

The government campaigns marketing has started again recently, and is already seeing more customers switch power companies and reducing their power bills.

Source: radionz.co.nz

Northland households will  be benefiting from a pre Christmas bonus this year.

Electricity consumers in Whangarei and the Kaipara Districts will receive a $70 tax free credit on their November power bills paid by the Northpower Electric Power Trust (NEPT).

The credit was allocated to each power installation connected to the Northpower network last night.

Eligible customers will receive this credit regardless of which power company sends out their power bills.

“The distribution is the customers share of Northpower’s profits paid to the Trust by Northpower. The NEPT owns Northpower on behalf of the electricity consumers of the Kaipara and Whangarei Districts” says NEPT chairman Erc Angelo.

“Its pleasing to pass on this distribution to consumers as it reflects the continuing success of Northpower” Mr Angelo said.

Consumers also benefit from a line charge holiday paid by Northpower.

Northpower supplies power to the region through a number of energy retailers, including Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy, Mercury and Contact Energy.

“We regularly receive feedback from people on the benefits of keeping Northpower in local ownership and a distribution like this is further vindication in that decision.” Says Erc Angelo.

If for any reason customers of this region do not receive the $70 credit on their November power accounts, they should contact the NEPT information line on 0800 434 100.

Source: Voxy.co.nz

Genesis Energy is due to offer their residential customers the option to pay different prices for electricity at periods of high and low demand, instead of a single flat rate 24 hours a day.

Spokesperson Richard Gordon says that they have installed 200,000 Smart Meters that have the ability to measure electricity consumption at half hourly intervals, and have a team in place working on differentiated tariffs.

Genesis Energy customers will still have the option to pay a flat rate if they prefer and the variable pricing won’t be available to all customers until they install another 300,000 smart meters.

Contact Energy have announced recently that they would install the new meters to 150,000 North Island customers, having already rolled out 60,000 in Christchurch.

They are already offering the variable rates to some Christchurch customers  but it will be two or three years until the time of day tariffs are available elsewhere.

The variable pricing could have a knock on affect for the environment, reducing the need for new power stations and relieving the strain on the national grid.

Research suggests that time of day tariffs could cut peak demand by 5 per cent, while allowing retailers to charge high rates at short notice to counter spikes in demand could cut peak demand by up to 20 per cent.

One complication is that some electricity meters are owned by retailers, some by consumers and others by lines companies, and there is no consensus either on who should be in charge of the change to smart meters or the technology they should be investing in.

A third of the 1.8 million electricity meters in New Zealand have already been upgraded to the new technology, but Jan Wright of the Paliamentary Commission for the Environment argues that lines companies are the natural custodians partly because they have an incentive to sell people electricity.

“If I were to wipe the slate clean and start again, I think what I would like to see would be the ownership of the meters in the hands of lines companies because they have an in-built incentive to keep peak power down, retailers hardly have it at all. To me the interests of households the environment and lines companies are pretty much aligned here.”

She says retailers are expecting to sell metering data to lines companies and if they can’t settle upon a price, there is the risk of lines companies installing their own secondary smart meters just to get the information they need. This is already happening in the Waikato.

Genesis state that they are committed to ensuring customers can access data information on their electricity consumption and advise that they are not in favour of allowing monopolies to have control of this.

TrustPower spokesman Graeme Purches is a smart meter sceptic and believes that retailers are already running up unexpected costs. Some are investing in smart metering as a way of getting rid of the manual meter readers, but in practice it has proved difficult to remotely communicate with the meters without interruptions he says.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

Contact Energy have signed contractors Advanced Metering Services (AMS) to install smart meters for up to 150,000 North Island customers over the next three years.

Contact has stated that the smart meters will bring an end to estimated bills, and will allow consumers to gain more information about their electricity consumption.

General Manager of Contact Energy’s retail division Ruth Bound said that the smart meters provide an immediate benefit to customer as they electronically transmitted the electricity use data directly to the company.

“Customers with a new smart meter who use our online account management services will also be able to view a detailed record of their daily and hourly electricity usage. This more granular information gives interested customers a better understanding of their electricity use and enables them to make changes to how and when they use energy.”

More than 60,000 Contact customers nationwide already use smart meters.  The new meters will be owned and operated by AMS. Contact Energy will primarily offer the smart meters to the following regions: – Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Wairarapa, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Thames Valley and Coromandel.  Contact Energy is in the process of finalising plans to issue smart meters to other regions throughout the country.

Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie said the Contact installations would bring the total by AMS nationwide to 700,000. About 80 per cent of meters are in the North Island with the rest concentrated around the Christchurch area.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

Contact Energy’s customer migration of approximately 15,000 customers has sparked some significant and generous discounts available to consumers over the last month or so, for example Contact Energy’s Online Ontime offer of 22% prompt payment discount if received and paid for online, which is estimated to cost around $14 million per year for the company.  It is expected that the popularity of this offer could result in minimal profits.

Contact Energy previously offered customers a lower prompt payment discount of 12%, but as consumers became more aware of energy retailer comparison sites such as Switchme.co.nz, they experienced a  2 month period of considerable customer loss, on average around 7,679 per month.

Although Contact’s unit prices are still significantly higher than most of their competitors before the discount, the 22% reduction has altered Contact’s competitiveness on the Switchme website.

Recently some of the smaller power companies have been able to offer extremely competitive tariffs due to low spot prices.  But Contact Energy has the expectation that the price rises will continue to climb in future years, while the recent years of reasonably low wholesale market spot prices are unlikely to be continued.

Dennis Barnes Contact’s chief executive said that there were already 20% of customers eligible for this massive discount, but that with this offer expected that to rise to 40% as they changed over to online billing and payment.

There were other large customer losses in August for Mighty River Power which is part of the Mercury Energy brand which lost over 3,000 customers –which was more than double the previous two months losses amalgamated.  TrustPower who along with Contact have always been at the higher end of tariffs, reported a loss of over 800 customers for the same period.

The major winners were Genesis Energy who won nearly 950 customers over with their tariffs and Meridian Energy who gained nearly 1000 customers.  Both of those totals consist of the new customers who joined for their online brands, Energy Online and Powershop.

Source: www.scoop.co.nz – Business Desk

Contact Energy are now offering new and existing residential customers a whopping 22% discount on their monthly power bills if they opt to receive and pay them online.

This is more than double the discounts that most New Zealand power company’s offer for prompt payment.

The new plan called Online OnTime which was launched last week and will take effect as of 1st August 2011 is a result of the power company losing around 2000 customers a month in April and May.  A further 7679 customers switched away to other retailers throughout June.

As of the end of June Genesis Energy had the most customers with 470,060 while Contact Energy had dipped to 464,057

Last month was the biggest month so far recorded for New Zealand consumers switching  power companies, with 43,920 switch requests initiated, spurred by the governments “What’s My Number” advertising campaign which encourages electricity consumers to find the most competitive power prices in their region.

Powershop, who is a subsidiary of Meridian Energy had just 2189 customers in June 2009, and has grown over the last two years to  33,419 customers. Last month was Powershop’s busiest ever for acquiring new customers, said its chief executive, Ari Sargent.

Just Energy are experiencing a similar situation. They had 7304 customers in June last year, and 25,798 at June 30 this year.

With so many electricity retailers in the market, consumers now have a range of energy suppliers to choose from. Switching power companies has never been easier with the help of online comparison and switching services such as Switchme.co.nz.

Switchme have so far assisted almost 10,000 consumers throughout New Zealand in establishing a better deal on their household power bills and has saved kiwis over $1.25 million since the website was launched in 2009.

The site has experienced a sudden high demand in switch requests over the last few months due to the raised awareness in the varied prices offered by different energy retailers.

Find out how much you could save on your power bill by calling Switchme on 0800 179 482 or grab your latest power bill and log on to www.Switchme.co.nz

Iceland says it will send its biggest rig to New Zealand once it signs a three billion Icelandic krona ($NZ32.09 million) contract to begin drilling in the Ngatamariki geothermal steam field which is located  17 km northeast of Lake Taupo.

The steam fields will supply a new 82 MW electricity plant, the Icelandic Review magazine reported on its website.

Iceland’s largest drilling rig will be sent to Taupo with between 30 and 40 experts from Jardboranir for the two-year contract, which is expected to be signed later this month.

Mighty River Power today confirmed a further expansion of the company’s generation portfolio in New Zealand, with a NZ$466 million geothermal plant at Ngatamariki geothermal steam field.

Mighty River Power’s General Manager Development, Mark Trigg, said the new geothermal plant would provide extra reliable, renewable capacity and further diversify Mighty River Power’s generation portfolio.

The development, which follows the commissioning of projects  Kawerau in 2008 and Nga Awa Purua  in 2010, will assist to  lift Mighty River Power’s geothermal energy generation  from over 30% to more than 40% of the Company’s generation output, and lift the  total geothermal capacity under its operation to above 460MW. 

It has been reported that the geothermal power plant project by Contact Energy at Taupo estimated at a NZ$1 billion price tag, has also been granted resource consent.

The 250MW of renewable energy generated that will be added to the national grid, is sufficient to power more than 200,000 homes or the equivalent of Hamilton.

New Zealand is committed to the generation of renewable power and the use of natural resources within the country, this is reflected in the many projects on the pipeline of the power industry.

Sources – thinkgeoenergy.com , The National Business Review & Mightyriverpower.co.nz