Changing electricity suppliers

[Beemer]

We're currently with Meridian, no real problems and we're on the low user option so our bills are pretty low. However, I did a check with Consumer's powerswitch calculator yesterday and discovered if we changed to Genesis, we could save $140 a year. Now that is not an insignificant sum, so we're seriously considering it, but in the last Consumer survey of power suppliers, they only scored 61% in the customer satisfaction rating.

Are any of you with Genesis or have been in the past? If so, how did you find them? For $140, as long as they are reasonable to deal with, I'm happy to change, but I'd like a few opinions first.

[oldrider]

We're currently with Meridian, no real problems and we're on the low user option so our bills are pretty low. However, I did a check with Consumer's powerswitch calculator yesterday and discovered if we changed to Genesis, we could save $140 a year. Now that is not an insignificant sum, so we're seriously considering it, but in the last Consumer survey of power suppliers, they only scored 61% in the customer satisfaction rating.

Are any of you with Genesis or have been in the past? If so, how did you find them? For $140, as long as they are reasonable to deal with, I'm happy to change, but I'd like a few opinions first.

Watch out for hedged rates and peak prices it can get expensive when the peak price goes sky high during shortages! Cheers John.

[Beemer]

Watch out for hedged rates and peak prices it can get expensive when the peak price goes sky high during shortages! Cheers John.

As mentioned, we are on the low user rate so our daily rate - which is often the biggest component of the bill - is just 37.50 cents per day. Genesis' unit rates are 18.41 for the anytime and 14.11 for the controlled, whereas Meridan has just increased their rates to 22.04 and 15.64 respectively. We have a wet back on the fire so our hot water heating component of the bill is very low in winter.

Anyone out there use Genesis and has some good or bad stories to tell?

[GR81]

genesis seems to work for me.

[merv]

We're on Genesis like most of Porirua - Hutt Valley area as they picked up the old Trans Alta customers a few years back. I have no hassles with them and would say I like them as a company. As for the bills, power/gas seems damned expensive these days anyway.

In my previous working life Genesis came to the party when Trustpower wouldn't when our contract ran out and NZ was having that power crisis back in 2001. I was grateful to them - their corporate hospitality was good too which you as a customer can help fund.

[Beemer]

Thanks Merv and GR81, sounds like switching may be a goer then! We have never had any problems with electricity suppliers - but then we pay our bills by direct debit, have never missed any payments and have an accessible meter and no dogs!

We were with Contact Energy when we lived in town but their daily charges were over $1 and we had to pay about $25 a month whether we used the gas or not. We currently use between 4000 and 6000 units a year so we're well within the low user bracket.

[Flyingpony]

It can take a few weeks or months for the switch over to take place. By now you've forgotten you made a request in the first place and thought, they lost the paper work.

Then suddenly you get a bill from Meridian for $1.40 and wonder :spudwhat:

Then two or three months passes without a bill but the power hasn't been disconnected. Then suddenly :gob: the Genesis bill arrives.

They don't tell you when you're being switched etc. But maybe they've picked up their ball since my experience in Auckland back in 2000 :spudwhat:

[Beemer]

They have changed the processes so when you switch it happens much faster - they legally have to switch you within a set time limit now. Our bills are usually only about $60-$80 so even if we didn't get billed for a couple of months, it wouldn't be one of those $600 power bills anyway!

[merv]

How on earth do you live so cheaply? - my power/gas bill per month is normally over $200 and that's with compact fluoros having replaced all the upstairs downlights.

[Beemer]

House is only six or seven years old and is brick, has good insulation and well-fitted aluminium windows. Slate floors in the kitchen and dining room hold the heat, we're on a ridge so we get all-day sun. We have a log burner that heats the water in winter (which is when our power bills are just $50 or so!) and I rarely use the clothes dryer. I have an electric heater in the study but otherwise don't use any heating during the day. We both have at least one shower each a day, and we hardly ever use the bath as it's a big triangular spa bath (we hate it) and it takes too long to fill. We don't have kids, so the lights aren't on in every room and when I cook, it makes enough for two meals so it therefore saves on power. Biggest part is the daily charge - if we had to pay $1 a day, our bills would be at least another $20 per month. We only have electricity so we're not paying two daily charges either.

We're very lucky because our house is so warm that apart from the heater in my study in winter, we don't even have to light the fire until the sun goes down as the house remains warm unless it's a really cold cloudy day. Oh, and we're the types to put on extra clothing rather than turn the heater on!

[k14]

Yeah make the change, it will be worth it. At my flat we changed to Contact about a month ago and the process was sweet as. A 10 min or so phone call and it was all taken care of. Two weeks later Trustpower (rip off merchants) sent us the final bill and then a few weeks later we got the first Contact bill. Very painless indeed.

[Steam]

I used to work for Contact Energy in the Call Centre, and for a small fee i can tell you how to avoid paying power bills entirely. Note; Takes organisation and willingness to commit fraud.

[Beemer]

I'm just waiting to hear if they charge a bond as that would negate the benefits of changing. I doubt they will as we have always paid our bills on time and own our own home.

I used to work for Contact and didn't want to be with them when we moved out here as I didn't want the nosey cows in the call centre accessing my account details! Plus they were one of the dearest around Levin - in fact they don't even feature on the same page as the cheapest options given when I looked at switching.

[Jantar]

However, I did a check with Consumer's powerswitch calculator yesterday and discovered if we changed to Genesis, we could save $140 a year.
Don't always believe the Consumer information, When we switched from TrustPower to Meridian, the powerswitch calculator indicated that Meridian would be only slightly dearer. Once the Meridian bills started arriving we were pleasantly suprised to find that total payment to Meridian was almost a third cheaper than Trustpower.

The reason that we switched wasn't because of price, it was because everytime I called TrustPower to ask anything they lied to me. I changed to a company that I could Trust.

I believe that in the North Island Contact, Genisis, Mighty River and Meridian are all about equal. In the South Island its close between Contact and Meridian.

[avgas]

Go for which ever one has the smallest board of directors - cos thats where your money is going most of the time

[Indiana_Jones]

to save bills on heating, use a jumper :D

-Indy

[k14]

Go for which ever one has the smallest board of directors - cos thats where your money is going most of the time
Thats a bit of a strange thing to say. Seeing as about 70% of NZ's electricity is generated by SOE's, all the profits from those companies go into Helen's back pocket. Out of the other 30%, half of that goes overseas and the rest to the minority shareholders, of which a high percentage are kiwis.

[merv]

Geez Beemer with your approach were you born in the South Island?

The kids one helps you I'm sure, I've still got one never left home and the other is home from Uni at the moment and they live in a different time zone, lights on all night, computers, TVs, DVDs running plus all the phone charging and other toys plugged in.

[Flyingpony]

Our bills are usually only about $60-$80
Hmm, excuse me Beemer, but have you been reading my power bill?
My Summer bills are $55-70 and winter $70-110 for a 100% electric powered house without flashy heat pumps etc.
In the winter I do have a 500watt heater heating the bed room side of the house during most nights.


How on earth do you live so cheaply? - my power/gas bill per month is normally over $200 and that's with compact fluoros having replaced all the upstairs downlights.
Piece of cake. Put on an extra layer of clothes, a woollen hat, and an extra blanket on the bed. There's no secret method, I've just followed all the common stuff (switch off at the wall, etc) in the media which cost next to nothing to implement. This also means if I move, I can take them with me i.e. compact energy saving light bulbs because the original 100watt bulbs are in a box.


Geez Beemer with your approach were you born in the South Island?
I also never used heaters while living in Auckland during 1999 and 2000.

[merv]

How could you live in Auckland if you aren't capitalist resource wasters - Finn wouldn't give you an entry visa would he?

[Beemer]

Hmm, excuse me Beemer, but have you been reading my power bill?
My Summer bills are $55-70 and winter $70-110 for a 100% electric powered house without flashy heat pumps etc.

Ours are dearer in the summer than winter - in winter the wetback heats the hot water so the bills range between $45 and $60. Our latest bill is the highest we've ever had - $83 - and the estimate is actually a bit low so it should actually be $110. That's what got me hunting for cheaper options!

It's probably because although it hasn't exactly been summery weather, we haven't had the fire going and we've had a few extra people staying over the past month so the hot water has solely been heated by electricity. I've also done a few hot washes (the ham bags over Christmas) which I don't normally do.

We don't have any heat pumps or anything either, and as I work from home I can air the house most days so condensation isn't much of a problem. If I'm cold I tend to put on socks, long trousers and a sweatshirt rather than turn the heater on. Being part Scottish and part Jewish helps too!

[Flyingpony]

How could you live in Auckland if you aren't capitalist resource wasters - Finn wouldn't give you an entry visa would he?
Easy: Full Time Student, entry permit given by Massey University - Albany Campus.

[phantom]

This week I am doing IT support for the Contact call centre in Levin and am gobsmacked at how patient the operators have to be with some of the people who ring in. Looking at changing jobs at the moment but work in a call centre - no fucking way

[Beemer]

This week I am doing IT support for the Contact call centre in Levin and am gobsmacked at how patient the operators have to be with some of the people who ring in. Looking at changing jobs at the moment but work in a call centre - no fucking way

I worked there for a while years ago and funnily enough, the worst people to deal with are the very rich! I had people on the bones of their bum ringing in and asking for advice on how to lower their bills and they were almost ALWAYS polite. I got a rich cow from somewhere in Auckland ring up once as her power had been cut off. She'd been on holiday in Fiji for a fortnight and was NOT impressed. I explained that her bill had been due on a certain date, which was usually two weeks after receipt, she would have got a reminder a fortnight later, then a letter saying her power would be disconnected on a certain date if it was not paid - a total of about eight weeks, plus the fact that she'd already used the power when she was billed for it, so we really had given her every opportunity to pay and the bill was overdue long before she went on holiday. She called me every bitch under the sun and swore black and blue she'd make me suffer for cutting her power off! Sorry, but unless you pay ALL you owe, plus the disconnection and reconnection fees, you will not be having power restored! I once had a 74 minute call, but I did resolve a problem that had been going on for about seven years. It was confusing, and the person being billed was foreign so we ended up talking to a friend who spoke English, but I felt sorry that others had given up because it was too hard. We ended up owing the guy thousands and it had all been our fault.

Next time you ring a call centre, please remember that they are - on the whole - NOT idiots. Some need the money, some have university degrees, but all have been trained. Some may be rude and obnoxious, but when you consider what they have to deal with on a daily basis, at least try and be civil. Yelling at them does NOT make things happen faster - quite the opposite in fact!

[GR81]

wicked, musta been with Genesis for a year now. got the $150 bond tacked back onto the account... so no more paying power for 2.5 months! haha :)

[Beemer]

Just got an email from Genesis to say that as a home owner, there would be no bond required, so I'm about to switch power companies now. As mentioned, our estimate is a bit low this month, but I'm not going to worry about it as the underestimate will be charged by Genesis when we get our first account, so it will be at the cheaper rate anyway!

[Finn]

How could you live in Auckland if you aren't capitalist resource wasters - Finn wouldn't give you an entry visa would he?

On the contrary, the more the merrier I say. The bigger the population, the bigger the market. That's a capitalist. Of course only if they have money though. No unemployed or refugees.

[merv]

On the contrary, the more the merrier I say. The bigger the population, the bigger the market. That's a capitalist. Of course only if they have money though. No unemployed or refugees.

That's what I was thinking, you don't want those that spend nothing.

[Flyingpony]

Both Genesis and Meridian offer some sort of prompt payment discount or cash back. How do both companies compare when those are taken into account?

[Beemer]

Both Genesis and Meridian offer some sort of prompt payment discount or cash back. How do both companies compare when those are taken into account?

If our latest account with Meridian had been accurate (the estimate is very low this time, and we've had people staying plus the second fridge was going while we had the ham in it), it would be $110.95 before the 10% discount. With Genesis, the same account would be $98.39. I compared the current month's account using Consumer's powersave calculator and it showed we would save $140 a year with Genesis. I then found last month's account (which was quite a bit lower, but an actual read - $63.14 with Meridian, which would have been $56.10 with Genesis) and did the calculations over the two-month period and it showed savings of $126. Even at the lower end, it's still more than $10 a month savings, which makes switching well worth it.

[Flyingpony]

They don't have Genesis in the South Island, same for Mercury Energy. Empower does service Chch but doesn't list their prices on the web. So I could only compare Contact Energy with Meridian Energy.

Turns out that Contact Energy is cheaper per month by 20c (18c after discounts) :thud: Don't think I'll bother to switch

[Beemer]

They don't have Genesis in the South Island, same for Mercury Energy. Empower does service Chch but doesn't list their prices on the web. So I could only compare Contact Energy with Meridian Energy.

Turns out that Contact Energy is cheaper per month by 20c (18c after discounts) :thud: Don't think I'll bother to switch

Don't touch Empower with a barge pole! Worst customer service, dodgiest sales agents (they often do door-to-door campaigns) who often switch people even if they only express an interest in knowing more. They were owned by Contact but were always rated poorly. Their prices weren't always that good either.