Consumer NZ and Electric Kiwi
www.stuff.co.nz...
I've noticed for some time that Consumer NZ gives VERY poor advice - now I know why.
As for Electric Kiwi: I found their customer support excellent, and the 10% bonus for prepay and free "Hour of Power" (you can change each day until midnight when that should be, except during peak time of 7-9 am and 5-9 pm) is fantastic - baking, washing machine, dish washer, charging phones, vaccum, etc all happens during that hour. Their app lets you know each day how much you used, paid, and saved, so I have a long spreadsheet with all the data. Last year we had 36.8% of our electricity for free, this year we managed to increase it to 39.26% so far.
That the app shows each day how much electricity you use each hour also helped us to discover within 3 days that our Hot Water Cylinder had a problem - it kept heating every few hours (so usage and costs went up too) which meant cold water was flowing in - and indeed the regulator (?) under the house had failed. We got it replaced and everything is fine, but it could have been MUCH more expensive. Top marks on the app.
If there is ONE thing I wish they would do, then it is to automatically set the Hour of Power each day that gives you the biggest savings. Sometimes I forget to change it and it is really annoying when you only have 3% instead of the 30+% you were aiming at.
A Neighbourly Riddle! Don’t Overthink It… Or Do?😜
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?
Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?
The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.
Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.
We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?
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9.5% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
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43.5% I want to be able to choose.
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47.1% Against. I want to deal with people.
Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
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