Price of power to rise up to $1000 a year for some households, Consumer NZ warns
Friday, 1 April 2022
Consumer NZ is warning homeowners to check their power bills, because some will face price hikes up to $1000 a year.
Paul Fuge, manager of Powerswitch, a Consumer NZ website which compares plans and prices of power, said April 1 was traditionally the day power companies raised prices.
“But this year is shaping up to be a real doozy,” he said.
Recently, several factors have snowballed to affect annual price rises, and there were several ways price rises were hitting consumers, which he described as the “perfect storm”.
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They included the industry phasing out low-use power plans, which had given companies permission to double how much they currently charge low users for having electricity supplied to their home.
People with a gas connection would also be affected by gas companies getting the green light to charge more for supplying gas, to recoup some cost of their infrastructure, he said.
“The biggest losers will be low-use dual-fuel consumers – consumers who use lower than average amounts of electricity who are also gas users.
“Finally, the actual prices of both power and gas used is also going up for a lot of people, as we’ve seen in letters notifying consumers of prices changes taking effect from April 1.”
Consumer chief executive Jon Duffy said he had received a notification from his power company, which showed it was not just a matter of a few extra dollars each month.
His family’s bill for their Wellington home was one hit by a quadruple whammy of rises.
Duffy's power company would increase the daily charge for supplying power and gas, as well as the cost of the power and gas they used. Within a year they would pay about 25 per cent more, about $850 in total or about $70 a month.
“The extent of the price rise this year has caught me off guard,” he said.
He said he’d look to see how much he could save by switching to another company.
“By switching providers, you keep the power companies on their toes, and they can give you competitive rates to nab you as a customer,” Fuge said.
“Unfortunately, there are no incentives to being a long-term customer, so you are best to switch and save yourself the dollars.”
Powerswitch will update its price comparison on April 4.