Electricity Prices

[king1]

Who's thinking about changing power companies this month, prices set to rise for 'Low' users apparently 

At least 40 percent of Kiwi households are likely to see a jump in their power bills next month as the industry does away with low-use plans.ÔÇ»
https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/low...by-changes

[king1]

It did make me have a look at ours and change plans to one with off peak rates, rather than the flat rate we were on - should save a few dollars...

[harm_less]

This price rise regime for electricity comes as no surprise and is part of the power company 'death spiral' which is occurring in many countries. The increase in the cost of being connected to the grid will increase to offset the falling revenues caused by increasing amounts of electricity consumers self generating. The next part of the process is that more and more customers with home generation (i.e. PV, wind turbines, micro-hydro) will invest in battery storage and go off grid leaving fewer and fewer customers to cover the operating costs of the power co's. The added factor is the increasing adoption of EVs which improve the economics of PV investment by decreasing the running costs of EVs, which in turn are essentially batteries on wheels which can be used in a V2G way to act as storage for excess PV generation.

All detailed in Tony Seba's video presentations of these matters. Welcome to the future  



ETA. I find it curious that Consumer display an interest in this issue but their Powerswitch service stubbornly refuse to include ownership of an EV in the input data they require to select customers their best power supplier. Living in the past?

[joe 90]

^^^ Nice bit ofcompany self promotion there Harm Less Alarge proporion of NZers could never afford to put in solar yet alone go fully off grid ,unless the govt give big subsidy . This will hurt the low income earners already struggling & removes the incentive to save power . Bad enough she forced them to drop the early payment , . But once upon a time i believe there was a incentive to instal solar HW heaters but dont see them being put in these days . fairly cheap & saves about 40-50% of HW costs short payback time . Mines paid for itself many times over ithe last 10 years , very popular in Aussie

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Interesting that it is the low users who will suffer. The folk who budget carefully, who make regular direct payments to offset the monthly bill shock, the ones with an aversion to bad debts and the ones who think reducing their power use is good for the planet.

Why is it always this way?

Even the Healthy Homes thing supports more electricity use, not less. It's just so damned short sighted...

[The BDI]

From the Consumer Article " The regulations were meant to help low-income households.ÔÇ» However, they have had the unintended consequence of penalising many of them.ÔÇ» This is because many low-income households have no choice but to use a lot of power ÔÇô such as those with a lot of people living under the same roof or in houses with poor insulation. These households pay the higher fixed rate, as well as having a big bill for all the power they have to use"

I'll bet those with multiple families, for instance, (and therefore with multiple incomes) , with ten or so in a household pay less per person than we couple of OAPs do! Well done Cindy.

[Olive]

I'll bet those with multiple families, for instance, (and therefore with multiple incomes) , with ten or so in a household pay less per person than we couple of OAPs do!  Well done Cindy.

I assume you are referring to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.    Why do you feel the need to call her by a nickname?  Are you a close friend?

[king1]

From the Consumer Article " The regulations were meant to help low-income households.ÔÇ» However, they have had the unintended consequence of penalising many of them.ÔÇ» This is because many low-income households have no choice but to use a lot of power ÔÇô such as those with a lot of people living under the same roof or in houses with poor insulation. These households pay the higher fixed rate, as well as having a big bill for all the power they have to use"┬á

I'm actually inclined to think that these folks would probably be better off on the standard user plans, not really a low use household anymore...

The gist of what I got from the article was that because of the decline in power usage per household over the last 20 years, there was now something like 60% of households qualifying as 'low use', which would seem to undermine the purpose of it.  

Maybe there was an argument for reviewing the criteria for 'low user' idk

[The BDI]

I'll bet those with multiple families, for instance, (and therefore with multiple incomes) , with ten or so in a household pay less per person than we couple of OAPs do!  Well done Cindy.

I assume you are referring to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.    Why do you feel the need to call her by a nickname?  Are you a close friend?

  
AFAIC politicians must earn their respect.   Many fail.

[Ferrit47]

I have enquired thru a few But most of them only Do power or Gas on own Most dont do Both.
At Presently Im with Genesis Energy who do both. This way you just receive one Bill. They give you a better discount too.

[Oldfellah]

I have joined Grey Power Electricity which is just an offshoot of Pulse Energy and I see no real benefit at all even though it is supposed to be for us oldies. The only power savings I get is by not using the dishwasher anymore and not turning on heating until absolutely necessary, so yes I will change again if things get worse, but at least we will have the Winter Energy Payment kick in next month, I wonder if the other lot get in next election if they will cancel it?

[harm_less]

From the Consumer Article " The regulations were meant to help low-income households.ÔÇ» However, they have had the unintended consequence of penalising many of them.ÔÇ» This is because many low-income households have no choice but to use a lot of power ÔÇô such as those with a lot of people living under the same roof or in houses with poor insulation. These households pay the higher fixed rate, as well as having a big bill for all the power they have to use"┬á

I'll bet those with multiple families, for instance, (and therefore with multiple incomes) , with ten or so in a household pay less per person than we couple of OAPs do!  Well done Cindy.

Just for clarity I presume you're referring to our prime minister and not the governor general, Cindy Kiro, who has no responsibilities in this matter.

You seem wholly misguided in your apportionment of blame relating to the current state of New Zealand's electricity sector. The responsibility can more accurately be laid on two previous National governments, firstly the Shipley lead government of the 1990's who introduced their "Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, and for changes to the retail sector of the electricity industry in 1998, otherwise known as the Bradford reforms. This was followed by the Key government's privatisation of a significant portion of our major electricity generating companies which has further compounded the issues from the Bradford reforms. A good summary of how NZ's electricity (doesn't) work here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/31-08-2...o-be-fixed

If you take the time to view the Tony Seba presentation in my earlier post you'll see where energy supply systems are headed in the coming years. As the price of PV continues to fall it will reach a point where the ingoing cost vs. its revenue from generation becomes a viable option for most households, to their benefit and to the demise of the big power co's.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I assume you are referring to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.    Why do you feel the need to call her by a nickname?  Are you a close friend?

  
AFAIC politicians must earn their respect.   Many fail.

I think respect is a gift we hand out to everyone and everything around us. A gift it is then up to them to lose. It may well be possible to earn it, but like trust, once lost, that is a real challenge.

[The BDI]

From the Consumer Article " The regulations were meant to help low-income households.ÔÇ» However, they have had the unintended consequence of penalising many of them.ÔÇ» This is because many low-income households have no choice but to use a lot of power ÔÇô such as those with a lot of people living under the same roof or in houses with poor insulation. These households pay the higher fixed rate, as well as having a big bill for all the power they have to use"┬á

I'll bet those with multiple families, for instance, (and therefore with multiple incomes) , with ten or so in a household pay less per person than we couple of OAPs do!  Well done Cindy.

Just for clarity I presume you're referring to our prime minister and not the governor general, Cindy Kiro, who has no responsibilities in this matter.

You seem wholly misguided in your apportionment of blame relating to the current state of New Zealand's electricity sector. The responsibility can more accurately be laid on two previous National governments, firstly the Shipley lead government of the 1990's who introduced their "Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, and for changes to the retail sector of the electricity industry in 1998, otherwise known as the Bradford reforms. This was followed by the Key government's privatisation of a significant portion of our major electricity generating companies which has further compounded the issues from the Bradford reforms. A good summary of how NZ's electricity (doesn't) work here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/31-08-2...o-be-fixed

If you take the time to view the Tony Seba presentation in my earlier post you'll see where energy supply systems are headed in the coming years. As the price of PV continues to fall it will reach 

My comment was not related "to the current state of New Zealand's electricity sector"   just to the change of regime, dictated not by John Key but the current government, relating to the canning of low user charges.. As I recall Max Bradford was not in sight either.

Perhaps you might now comment on the point I raised re relative costing in bigger/smaller households

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I am a genuine low user, and have the benefit of the early payment Friends programme Trustpower runs. My last bill was $56, the one before that shocked even me at $42. I work hard to get my usage down that low, primarily because I am deliberately Green around the edges and it is like gardening, one of those things I can do - so I will not be a happy woman if as predicted my usage stays the same but my bill goes up...

[harm_less]

Just for clarity I presume you're referring to our prime minister and not the governor general, Cindy Kiro, who has no responsibilities in this matter.

You seem wholly misguided in your apportionment of blame relating to the current state of New Zealand's electricity sector. The responsibility can more accurately be laid on two previous National governments, firstly the Shipley lead government of the 1990's who introduced their "Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, and for changes to the retail sector of the electricity industry in 1998, otherwise known as the Bradford reforms. This was followed by the Key government's privatisation of a significant portion of our major electricity generating companies which has further compounded the issues from the Bradford reforms. A good summary of how NZ's electricity (doesn't) work here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/31-08-2...o-be-fixed

If you take the time to view the Tony Seba presentation in my earlier post you'll see where energy supply systems are headed in the coming years. As the price of PV continues to fall it will reach 

My comment was not related "to the current state of New Zealand's electricity sector"   just to the change of regime, dictated not by John Key but the current government, relating to the canning of low user charges.. As I recall Max Bradford was not in sight either.

  Perhaps you might now comment on the point I raised re relative costing in bigger/smaller households

The point you raised is just collateral damage resulting from the Electricity Price Review being little more than rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic that is the cluster f*ck instigated by the combination of the two previous government dalliances into our electricity market.

We are low users due to the inputs we gain from our PV and so will see our fixed 'supply' charges double from this month forward, but for us this will signal the start of the end so far as being connected to the grid is concerned. Battery storage options are getting cheaper as fixed charges increase (along with the 'energy' charges) so both factors serve to make going off-grid increasingly more viable.

[nzoomed]

Im still pretty happy with powershop, i dont believe they are the cheapest anymore, but because ive been with them for so long i get a good loyalty discount which means im still probably paying the same as any competitor such as electric kiwi or energy online etc.

[Olive]

We've used Powershop for many years and our electricity costs compare well with other similar
households using other suppliers. I like the ease of getting information and the loyalty discounts, and when we moved house the transition was seamless.

[king1]

used to be with powershop years ago but it was a bit annoying having to keep watching/buying the different blocks of power 'to get the best deal' - has that changed now?

BTW last weeks bill with Electric Kiwi was $104 on the single rate plan we were on. This week after swapping to the day/night rate plan was only $87... so I'm happy...
We are definitely not a 'low usage' customer - approx 1600 kwh a month here, multiple PC/servers and we both work from home...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

March 2021 179kw hours
March 2022 155kw hours

Feb 2022 was a good one though, only 137kw hours

Definitely a low user.