Weird Brochure

Marie from Waikanae

Today, as a superannuitant, I received a mailout from MSD with a brochure from consumer telling me how to save money on my power bill.
Its entitled Finding Money In Weird Places and looks a bit like Finding Nemo without the fins. I am really fed up with these edicts, the media is awash with them, telling us how to save money on power bills, food bills, clothing, the list goes on. They all ignore the elephant in the room and treat the issue as if it were all down to individual choice. Meanwhile, the powerco's, the supermarkets, the big box hardware outlets, the banks, are all raking in obscenely large profits at our expense. It feels like victim blaming: "Its your fault you cant make ends meet. Its your choice". And its all BS. The ministry is out of touch if it thinks that people on low incomes still use hot water in their washing machines, waste hot water in the shower and leave appliances on when not in use. Its condescending and makes the assumption that we cannot afford power because we are a bit stupid. Actually, we cant afford power because its too expensive. The money spent on this MSD mailout would have been better directed toward helping those on low incomes pay for power use.

We are told to shop around for power prices. But the powerswitch website shows there is very little in it. Once again its framed as a matter of personal choice. This is rubbish. You will save rats and mice by shifting, and the amount you save by switching off standby appliances is also minimal compared to the thousands you will pay for power use every year.

These days I try and avoid going to supermarkets as much as possible. I grow a lot of food, shop at pick your own outlets and market gardens (recommend a trip to House of York outside of Levin or Penray gardens who have gold card discounts on Thursdays).
Buy in bulk where I can and avoid having to shop at the big two supermarket chains. I will even pay a premium for places like Commonsense Organics who haven't ramped their prices up. Their organic flour prices haven't changed much. If everyone boycotted the supermarket I reckon they would soon be adjusting their profit margins. I dont pay for electric hot water or heating in winter and I'm with the cheapest crowd in town: Toast electric (who also have a social responsibility component and subsidise low income earners) but I still consider I am paying too much for power. I dont use the oven as its too expensive to run and this isnt the retirement I envisaged, as I like to bake for friends. Im looking at solar as a means of achieving a sustainable retirement lifestyle. I may not get to live long enough to reap the full benefits of solar, but it will give me great satisfaction not to be writing out a cheque for megabucks every month to maintain a subsistence lifestyle.

The Commerce Commission needs to stop buying into the bullshit and look at the real reasons we are paying too much to live.
And MSD needs to acknowledge that these issues are not one of individual choice and start getting behind people on low incomes with some effective support.