Power companies? Advice please.

[placidfemme]

Hey, for the last few years I have been flatting so have not had to worry about power companies etc.

As of this weekend I will be in my own place again and need to set up power.

At the moment there are just 2 of us in the house and soon maybe 3, so who do you recommend?

I tried Energy Online and they said they could not give me an account because with just 2 people we will not meet the quota or some shit and they advised I try somewhere else...

So who do you recommend?

[BOGAR]

I use Genesis Energy I've had no trouble but I am set up for automatic payments and they do prefer that. try that online site.

http://whatsmynumber.org.nz/RetailersInYourArea

[slofox]

I use Genesis too. No problems so far (many years onward actually). I swapped my shop to Genesis from Mercury and saved quite a lot by so doing.

[Scuba_Steve]

yep, another with Genesis. Mostly through lazyness & "I always have been-ness". Which means they haven't done anything to warrant me looking elsewhere so thats gotta be a good thing. They're all bloody expensive tho!

[Clockwork]

I'd just wait a few months until they're all 49% privately owned. Then all their fees/prices will be considerably less, they'll be queueing up to sign you up as a customer (they may even start biding against each other for your business.) and service will be so good that they'll have you connected before you've even completed your online application.

[sil3nt]

Prices are massively different between companies depending on where you live.

This is what you want http://www.powerswitch.org.nz/powerswitch

[Jantar]

A lot depends on what area you are in. Meridian are pretty competitive in the South Island and Genisis and Contact in the North island. Trustpower is the one company to stay clear of anywhere except, possibly, the Bay of Plenty.

[Scuba_Steve]

I'd just wait a few months until they're all 49% privately owned. Then all their fees/prices will be considerably less, they'll be queueing up to sign you up as a customer (they may even start biding against each other for your business.) and service will be so good that they'll have you connected before you've even completed your online application.

:rofl: subtle

[placidfemme]

Sweet thanks all... I've gone with Contact, which turns out to be second cheapest on the list for my area yadda yadda, first was energy Online but they don't want our business.

:headbang:

[ckai]

Trustpower is the one company to stay clear of anywhere except, possibly, the Bay of Plenty.

Tell me about it. Customers of Trustpower are a little special. The company is considerably dearer than all the others, never suggest if you should change plans if it'll be cheaper, but still the customers stay! I know 'cause my parents have both their houses with them. One house is a holiday home which is rarely used, the other is a lifestyle block with heated pool and spa etc. They're both on the same plans. Now one of them is clearly not right but Trustpower have never suggested anything (unlike Genesis does every year for us).

And yet, mummy dearest complains that she's paying far too much in power! hahaha. Like I said, they're "special" people Trustpower customers.:scratch:

There is a bit of a price variation between the companies but I found there's not much difference between Genesis and the likes of Contact (who have flybuys). As far as I'm concerned, if I'm gonna be paying the same amount of money my power I wanna get rewarded.

[Str8 Jacket]

Sweet thanks all... I've gone with Contact, which turns out to be second cheapest on the list for my area yadda yadda, first was energy Online but they don't want our business.

:headbang:

Contact are arsewipes. I was with them for almost 7 years when I finally had enough of them. They will charge you for all sorts of things and they are horrible to deal with. I have been with Genesis for the past 5ish years and they are awesome and give great discounts for doing everything electronically.

[placidfemme]

Contact are arsewipes. I was with them for almost 7 years when I finally had enough of them. They will charge you for all sorts of things and they are horrible to deal with. I have been with Genesis for the past 5ish years and they are awesome and give great discounts for doing everything electronically.

oh, thats not so great to hear... I can be a massive asswipe, so we'll see if they test me... :cool: On the bright side it is easy as to change power companies, just need a month or so to kind of figure out what my bills will look like

[Jantar]

Contact are arsewipes. I was with them for almost 7 years when I finally had enough of them. They will charge you for all sorts of things and they are horrible to deal with. I have been with Genesis for the past 5ish years and they are awesome and give great discounts for doing everything electronically.

Contact now also give discounts for doing everything electronically, 22% prompt payment discount I believe.. Chancey can can give more info.

[yungatart]

We've been with Contact for ages... never been overcharged,never had any trouble either.
And you get 22% discount if you pay electronically, and on time, you get Fly Buys too!

[Oblivion]

We used to be on Genesis, but they measured our meter every 2 months, and made guesstimates on what the in between readings were. Was slack really. We often got whack bills, sometimes 40$ greater than the previous month, until we switched to Nova. We at least get our meter read every month now. Much more consistant too. Paying slightly less is still a bargain though :whistle:

[sil3nt]

We used to be on Genesis, but they measured our meter every 2 months, and made guesstimates on what the in between readings were. Was slack really. We often got whack bills, sometimes 40$ greater than the previous month, until we switched to Nova. We at least get our meter read every month now. Much more consistant too. Paying slightly less is still a bargain though :whistle:You end up paying the same no matter if they read it every week, month, 2 months or 6 months.

If at the start of the year your meter reads 1000kwh and the end of the year it reads 2000kwh then you get charged 1000kwh no matter how fked up their guesstimates are.

If they guess way too high and the next reading comes in at less than what the guesstimate was for the previous month they will credit you for that.