[shakyle2906]

www.consumer.org.uk/powerswitch

Just read in yesterdays paper, like the UK, you can see what company offers the best rate!

Worth a go.

We are classed a a low user, with Energyonline, under 8,000 kwh per year, so have been able to downgrade to the lower user pricing plan, saving some money every month as well as the usual 20% prompt discount we pay.


Sharon
x

[DB]

Although it's easy to switch between retailers, it's actually really hard to know which electricity plan one should be on.

When we bought our house it had a day/night meter, which is a dual rate meter, all electricity consumed between about 11.30 pm and 7 am costs less than the standard rate, and thus it seemed obvious that by running the dishwasher and tumble drier overnight we would save money compared to a single meter scheme. We also manually switched the hot water tank on after 11.30 and off in the morning so water heating also used the cheaper electricity. The day/night scheme is very similar to the economy 7 scheme the UK uses.

It only dawned on us a few months ago that the day/night arrangement charges more per KWH than a single meter does, and thus in fact we were paying more for all of our daytime usage electricity than we would if we had a single rate meter. We were being penalised by the power company for helping them by shifting some of our load to off the peak!!! In addition the daily standing charges for a day/night meter are roughly double those of a single meter.

It was only after much daily readings of meters and spreadsheeting that we figured out what (we think!) the right metering arrangement is and we now have a day + night plan, for which we pay the ordinary rate for all electricity consumed all of the time, except for the hot water tank which is heated on cheap juice over night.

This we have calculated will save us a few hundred bucks a year compared to the dual meter we had, and is a bit better than just a single meter. However, we've not actually used any hot water heating electricity since we got the new meters as the wetback has been doing the job on it's own. So we are going to have to wait until summer to see if the calculations are correct.

We've also got a Cent-a-meter. When you have one of these you spend your life watching the meter, and we have got fairly obsessive about reducing unnecessary consumption.

[IanW99]

...
We are classed a a low user, with Energyonline, under 8,000 kwh per year, so have been able to downgrade to the lower user pricing plan, saving some money every month as well as the usual 20% prompt discount we pay.
...


Which energy provider gives you a 20% discount for prompt payment?

Ours only gives us 10%

Ian

[vitalogy]

www.consumer.org.uk/powerswitch


www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch

Fixed the link for ya ;-)

[vitalogy]

Which energy provider gives you a 20% discount for prompt payment?

Ours only gives us 10%

Ian

EnergyOnline.

[IanW99]

EnergyOnline.

Oops, I didn't recognise EnergyOnline as a supplier, so assumed it was a plan name, thanks.

Ian

[shakyle2906]

www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch

Fixed the link for ya ;-)

Thanks!
Must have been having a blonde moment!

Sharon
x

[kanatakiwi]

Really relating to DB's experience now.

I havent paid much attention to this in the past but with the price of everything rising, I thought maybe I should have a look. We get an annual statement from our current supplier (Genesis) telling us we are on the best plan for gas and electricity, but then they must only mean within their own service as I don't expect they would let us know we might be better off on Mercury or another supplier.

So off to the site listed in this thread, consumer.org.nz. I have dutifully plugged in all my data only to find out that I could save $50 a year by going on another plan within Genesis or $80 a year by switching to Mercury. :)Fairly straightforward but here's where it gets interesting. :uhoh

The small print says:
Some retailers charge a fee for existing customers who want to switch to another plan with their company;
Some retailers insist that if you want to switch to them as a new customer, you must first go onto a plan equivalent to your existing plan, and then (after you've switched) pay the appropriate fee to switch to any new plan you want;:confused:
Switching to a new plan may require a new meter or modifications to your existing meter. You will be charged for this

At this point I start to ask myself if I would save any money at all. That's right after I get angry and frustrated with the NZ attitude that the consumer should be charged and charged again for every little thing that any one can possibly think of. Why should I be charged a fee for switching to another plan with my current supplier??:mad:

End result, put the whole decision off for another day.