So now that we know what the different types of meters are, what are some of the ways you can use this information?
1) If you are building a house consider what you can put on a controlled meter. Put anything that you don't mind going off for 4 hours at a time. Consider your hot water cylinder (obviously), washing machine, driers, and dishwashers. These high end appliances are expensive to run, but you can afford them to turn off for 4 hours at a time. If your house is built to achieve this you do have to change internal wiring which can be expensive.
2) If you have a night store heater, ensure you are on a night meter for this.
3) If you have a day/night meter, call up your electricity company and get them to calculate if you would pay less on an economy meter. Your electricity company can calculate this for you right there and then.
4) Check the meter types before moving into a new property (particularly if renting), having controlled hot water will save you about $20 a month. If it doesn't see if you can get a discount from the landlord.
5) If you find you have no hot water in the evening in winter, get your hot water off controlled power.
6) If you use a lot of electricity across the night consider going onto a night/day meter.
7) If you have a prepay meter - change now. See our earlier blog post on why this is so.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
More on Meters
Now we talked about the basic meter types last time, however there are a few other types of meters:
Day Meters: These opperate between 7am and 11pm. They are like a night meter in reverse, however they are more expensive than an anytime meter.
Day/Night Meter: These meters are more common in the South Island. When a Day & a Night Meter are merged what it means is that different rates are charged during for the day to the night. Power is supplied all the time (through the Day meter during the day, and the Night meter at night). What this means is that if a lot of power usage occurs at night these meters wind up being cheaper than an anytime meter.
Night Boost: This is identical to a night meter except that during the day there is a 2 hour 'boost' of electricity supplied past the meter. The time of this boost is determined by the network company.
Composite Meters : Composite Meters are the most complex of all meter types. They are a merger between controlled meters and anytime meters. The best way to discribe them is imagine you have a house, most of your house is wired to an anytime meter, whilst your hot water is wired to a controlled meter. In this situation you would have 2 meters, and your hot water would be controlled. Your meter reader would take two readings.
A composite meter has the same situation but with only one meter. Your hot water is controlled, and the rest of your house is uncontrolled. However the Power Company does not know how much electricity you spent on your hot water, and how much on the rest of the house. So they bill you at one flat rate, which is about 1c a kWh cheaper than the uncontrolled rate. These meters were common in the 60s but are now almost obsolete.
That should explain all the different meter types in New Zealand. Tomorrow we'll explore ways that you can use this information to benefit you.
Day Meters: These opperate between 7am and 11pm. They are like a night meter in reverse, however they are more expensive than an anytime meter.
Day/Night Meter: These meters are more common in the South Island. When a Day & a Night Meter are merged what it means is that different rates are charged during for the day to the night. Power is supplied all the time (through the Day meter during the day, and the Night meter at night). What this means is that if a lot of power usage occurs at night these meters wind up being cheaper than an anytime meter.
Night Boost: This is identical to a night meter except that during the day there is a 2 hour 'boost' of electricity supplied past the meter. The time of this boost is determined by the network company.
Composite Meters : Composite Meters are the most complex of all meter types. They are a merger between controlled meters and anytime meters. The best way to discribe them is imagine you have a house, most of your house is wired to an anytime meter, whilst your hot water is wired to a controlled meter. In this situation you would have 2 meters, and your hot water would be controlled. Your meter reader would take two readings.
A composite meter has the same situation but with only one meter. Your hot water is controlled, and the rest of your house is uncontrolled. However the Power Company does not know how much electricity you spent on your hot water, and how much on the rest of the house. So they bill you at one flat rate, which is about 1c a kWh cheaper than the uncontrolled rate. These meters were common in the 60s but are now almost obsolete.
That should explain all the different meter types in New Zealand. Tomorrow we'll explore ways that you can use this information to benefit you.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Meter Types
We at the Power Panda get a lot of questions about whether the Power Panda works with "my meter which is X". The short answer (also found on our Frequently Asked Questions ) is yes but we expect the savings to be at the lower end of the range.
However we ask all of our customers what type of meter they have, and a substantial portion of them are unsure of the difference, so we thought we'd try to explain it in case you were in the same situation.
Anytime/24hr - This type of meter has lots of names with Anytime and 24hr being the most common. This is the most common type of meter, it supplies electricity to everything 24 hours a day (power cuts and external outages not included).
Controlled/ economy - these meters are the meters the lines company is able to turn off when desired. Often these meters are labeled with the code CN18, or CN19 on your bill. Usually these meters are wired to your hot water cylinder only, as everything wired to them goes off when the lines company cuts the power to the meter. This off time can be for up to 6 hours on a CN 18, and 5 hours on a CN19. Your hot water still stays hot and you can still use it. However the reason only hot water is wired up to these is simple - would you want your TV cutting off at 7pm during the winter?
Night Meters - These meters only allow power to flow at night, generally this is 11pm til 7am, however the exact hours vary depending on your network company. The largest exception is the Orion Network. Usually only underfloor heating is hooked up to this. You can hook a hot water cylinder, but most people will notice the temperature drops towards the end of the day. On your Power Bill these generally have the code NO8.
These three meter types are the most common. 24hr is the most expensive, however Controlled is generally 2-3 cents cheaper per KwH (it used to be even cheaper, but now it's hardly worth it). The Night Rate is generally half the cost again in the South Island, but only another few cents cheaper in the North island.
When we post again we'll talk more about some other rarer types of meters.
However we ask all of our customers what type of meter they have, and a substantial portion of them are unsure of the difference, so we thought we'd try to explain it in case you were in the same situation.
Anytime/24hr - This type of meter has lots of names with Anytime and 24hr being the most common. This is the most common type of meter, it supplies electricity to everything 24 hours a day (power cuts and external outages not included).
Controlled/ economy - these meters are the meters the lines company is able to turn off when desired. Often these meters are labeled with the code CN18, or CN19 on your bill. Usually these meters are wired to your hot water cylinder only, as everything wired to them goes off when the lines company cuts the power to the meter. This off time can be for up to 6 hours on a CN 18, and 5 hours on a CN19. Your hot water still stays hot and you can still use it. However the reason only hot water is wired up to these is simple - would you want your TV cutting off at 7pm during the winter?
Night Meters - These meters only allow power to flow at night, generally this is 11pm til 7am, however the exact hours vary depending on your network company. The largest exception is the Orion Network. Usually only underfloor heating is hooked up to this. You can hook a hot water cylinder, but most people will notice the temperature drops towards the end of the day. On your Power Bill these generally have the code NO8.
These three meter types are the most common. 24hr is the most expensive, however Controlled is generally 2-3 cents cheaper per KwH (it used to be even cheaper, but now it's hardly worth it). The Night Rate is generally half the cost again in the South Island, but only another few cents cheaper in the North island.
When we post again we'll talk more about some other rarer types of meters.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Back to complaints
We apologize for not posting yesterday, and when we posted on Tuesday it wasn't on the topic that we promised, so coming back to our normal schedule.
Something that we have seen happen is in complex situations the complaint often winds up in the wrong hands. This is because there is often two types of complexity. The first type is technical complexity, if a complaint regards technical details of your electricity supply, such as the specific frequency of the electricity or the loading you are being supplied you have a technically complex issue.
If however you have a long and protracted dispute over a long time this is a complexity due to length. Often this means you've spoken with many different people who have all given you many different stories.
With a technically complex query you are better off speaking with a manager. The reason for this is that managers are promoted from the competent staff whilst the complaints team is often recruited externally. This means that the complaints team are more skilled at handling difficult customers but managers know more about the technical aspect of electricity. Thus they are more able to understand a technically complex issue.
However once you raise a complaint all of your issues are resolved with the one complaints person. This person is probably the only person in a contact center who will call you back.
What it means is that your complaints person becomes highly familiar with your situation and so is less likely to screw up by not being aware of what has happened.
However with a manager the manager will take 3 minutes to 'review the account' (meaning they read the last three notes and then give you their opinion. They are not likely to call you back, and you will find it hard to get ahold of them again. So when the dispute stretches across a long time go with the complaints team.
Hopefully now when your issues arise you know what to do.
We'll write again tomorrow.
Something that we have seen happen is in complex situations the complaint often winds up in the wrong hands. This is because there is often two types of complexity. The first type is technical complexity, if a complaint regards technical details of your electricity supply, such as the specific frequency of the electricity or the loading you are being supplied you have a technically complex issue.
If however you have a long and protracted dispute over a long time this is a complexity due to length. Often this means you've spoken with many different people who have all given you many different stories.
With a technically complex query you are better off speaking with a manager. The reason for this is that managers are promoted from the competent staff whilst the complaints team is often recruited externally. This means that the complaints team are more skilled at handling difficult customers but managers know more about the technical aspect of electricity. Thus they are more able to understand a technically complex issue.
However once you raise a complaint all of your issues are resolved with the one complaints person. This person is probably the only person in a contact center who will call you back.
What it means is that your complaints person becomes highly familiar with your situation and so is less likely to screw up by not being aware of what has happened.
However with a manager the manager will take 3 minutes to 'review the account' (meaning they read the last three notes and then give you their opinion. They are not likely to call you back, and you will find it hard to get ahold of them again. So when the dispute stretches across a long time go with the complaints team.
Hopefully now when your issues arise you know what to do.
We'll write again tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Mercury Energy's fixed price electricity
Yesterday we had one of the most fantastic letters arrive on our desk. It was about a fixed price offer from Mercury Energy. Strangely enough it was also mentioned in this article which puts it well when it says "Mercury Energy is offering fixed rates to selected Auckland consumers who must pay higher tariffs now to qualify for the deal, but face no increases until 2013."
According to our letter you pay 10% more for electricity initially.
What this means is the Mercury Energy is expecting electricity prices to rise by more than 10% across three years.
Also Mercury Energy has put it's prices up in 1 July in anticipation of the emissions trading scheme.
Other power companies such as Genesis have not.
So how much is your Power going up by in the next three years?
You could buy a Power Panda and combat this rise, or ... well you can discuss your options.
Also see our other take on Mercury's fixed price offer here. And see our further information on the fixed price plan here.
According to our letter you pay 10% more for electricity initially.
What this means is the Mercury Energy is expecting electricity prices to rise by more than 10% across three years.
Also Mercury Energy has put it's prices up in 1 July in anticipation of the emissions trading scheme.
Other power companies such as Genesis have not.
So how much is your Power going up by in the next three years?
You could buy a Power Panda and combat this rise, or ... well you can discuss your options.
Also see our other take on Mercury's fixed price offer here. And see our further information on the fixed price plan here.
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Compliants team
On Friday we talked about asking to speak with a manager at your power company. Now what might not be known is that in addition to managers there are also complaints teams at Power Companies.
The complaints teams handle complaints that are either
1) Submitted in writting, or
2) Submitted by staff. We at the Power Panda are not yet aware of any Power Company where the contact centre staff can submit complaints to the complaints team. Usually only managers have this authority.
The Complaints team are the last step before the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission. This means that the complaints team want to settle all complaints at $5000 or less. (For reasons see our earlier blog post) This also means that they have more power than Managers.
In addition the Complaints team can also be more flexable in policy than managers. This is because the Complaints team are graded (and their pay is dependent upon) solving as many complaints as possible. The right or wrong doesn't matter as much as the resolution.
However because they are managers complaints about staff and rudeness should go to managers who have more power to see this corrected. However any time you want a different policy followed and a manager is not being helpful insist on putting a complaint through.
Also if for any reason you want compensation, put a complaint in writing. This gives you the best chance it will be seen by the people who can grant it.
Hopefully this makes sense, tomorrow we'll come back and finish off some of the differences and some more specific situations when you would choose the complaints team over a manager.
The complaints teams handle complaints that are either
1) Submitted in writting, or
2) Submitted by staff. We at the Power Panda are not yet aware of any Power Company where the contact centre staff can submit complaints to the complaints team. Usually only managers have this authority.
The Complaints team are the last step before the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission. This means that the complaints team want to settle all complaints at $5000 or less. (For reasons see our earlier blog post) This also means that they have more power than Managers.
In addition the Complaints team can also be more flexable in policy than managers. This is because the Complaints team are graded (and their pay is dependent upon) solving as many complaints as possible. The right or wrong doesn't matter as much as the resolution.
However because they are managers complaints about staff and rudeness should go to managers who have more power to see this corrected. However any time you want a different policy followed and a manager is not being helpful insist on putting a complaint through.
Also if for any reason you want compensation, put a complaint in writing. This gives you the best chance it will be seen by the people who can grant it.
Hopefully this makes sense, tomorrow we'll come back and finish off some of the differences and some more specific situations when you would choose the complaints team over a manager.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Asking to speak with a manager
This is a question that comes up often when calling a Power Company, you just don't feel satisfied with the service. Something doesn't seem right, you're not getting an aswer that makes sense and you certainly aren't being treated like a normal human being.
When do you ask to speak with a manager?
We reccomend that the following are good times to ask to speak with a manager
1) When you want more than $20 back from the Power Company. Or if you want compensation. Generally contact centre staff are unable to do this and are told to simply say no. So ask for a manager.
2) If the staff member's story changes. This means they don't know what they are doing. Ask for a manager. Get the correct story, it will save you hassle. In this case I would suggest saying "look I'm still unclear about this and I'm not understanding you, can you locate a manager who can explain it better?" This gives you the best chance of getting a manager who understands.
3) If the staff member is ever rude to you, or if they ever interupt you. It's just not worth the agro.
4) If the staff member ever says "That's against policy". Demand a manager. Most policies are set up for the benefit of the Power Companies, don't feel forced to follow silly policies.
Hopefully that gives you a good picture of when speaking with a manager is helpful. Tommorrow we'll talk about some of the other things you can do to get hte reults you need.
When do you ask to speak with a manager?
We reccomend that the following are good times to ask to speak with a manager
1) When you want more than $20 back from the Power Company. Or if you want compensation. Generally contact centre staff are unable to do this and are told to simply say no. So ask for a manager.
2) If the staff member's story changes. This means they don't know what they are doing. Ask for a manager. Get the correct story, it will save you hassle. In this case I would suggest saying "look I'm still unclear about this and I'm not understanding you, can you locate a manager who can explain it better?" This gives you the best chance of getting a manager who understands.
3) If the staff member is ever rude to you, or if they ever interupt you. It's just not worth the agro.
4) If the staff member ever says "That's against policy". Demand a manager. Most policies are set up for the benefit of the Power Companies, don't feel forced to follow silly policies.
Hopefully that gives you a good picture of when speaking with a manager is helpful. Tommorrow we'll talk about some of the other things you can do to get hte reults you need.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Something more positive
After some fairly depressive reflections on the electricity industry in New Zealand we thought it was time to mention something more positive.
It's more a marketing comment. The Power Panda also extends the life of your element. The reason for this is that the elements cause a massive influx of electricity into the cylinder when the cylinder starts to heat.
This electricity is not needed, and the Power Panda feeds the cylinder the correct amount of electricity. This saves the customer about 9% of their electricity usage.
We remove that spike, and save the customer money. However when elements 'blow' (which is the most common cause of damaged cylinders) it is due to this influx of electricity. The element draws too much and breaks. The Power Panda prevents the influx and extends the life of the cylinder.
However it's not something our marketing is geared towards. Elements last 7-8 years anyway, and in our experience the average consumer doesn't feel a need to ensure that their element lasts longer. We train our sales agents in these facts because occasionally they are useful, but we've yet to have any report that this information gained them a sale.
There was some discussion early on as to whether we should advertise this feature, and we now think we made the right decision not to. But it does make you think about what other items are being marketed via 'useless features'
For example, why do manufacturers of Baking Soda not put "Fantastic cleaner" on the box and put it with the cleaning products? We use baking soda to clean regularly, and hardly ever for cooking, yet it's still in the cooking isle.
It's more a marketing comment. The Power Panda also extends the life of your element. The reason for this is that the elements cause a massive influx of electricity into the cylinder when the cylinder starts to heat.
This electricity is not needed, and the Power Panda feeds the cylinder the correct amount of electricity. This saves the customer about 9% of their electricity usage.
We remove that spike, and save the customer money. However when elements 'blow' (which is the most common cause of damaged cylinders) it is due to this influx of electricity. The element draws too much and breaks. The Power Panda prevents the influx and extends the life of the cylinder.
However it's not something our marketing is geared towards. Elements last 7-8 years anyway, and in our experience the average consumer doesn't feel a need to ensure that their element lasts longer. We train our sales agents in these facts because occasionally they are useful, but we've yet to have any report that this information gained them a sale.
There was some discussion early on as to whether we should advertise this feature, and we now think we made the right decision not to. But it does make you think about what other items are being marketed via 'useless features'
For example, why do manufacturers of Baking Soda not put "Fantastic cleaner" on the box and put it with the cleaning products? We use baking soda to clean regularly, and hardly ever for cooking, yet it's still in the cooking isle.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
And then the bad debt spread
Just to give you an idea of how far the medical dependent rot spread is this -
WINZ will pay the electricity bills of beneficiaries when the Power is in danger (or has been) disconnected. WINZ has an 'allowance' for each beneficiary to cover expenses such as these, broken down cars, medical bills etc.
However the customers who tend to have used all of their allowance also seem to not pay their Power Bills.
WINZ case officers were then telling these customers to advise the Power Company that they had a nebulizer
at the property so that the Power would remain on. The customers says this and then didn't pay their Power Bill.
It took an age of the Power Companies complaining to get an investigation started, and this lead to further training for a number of WINZ staff.
Just to let you know.
WINZ will pay the electricity bills of beneficiaries when the Power is in danger (or has been) disconnected. WINZ has an 'allowance' for each beneficiary to cover expenses such as these, broken down cars, medical bills etc.
However the customers who tend to have used all of their allowance also seem to not pay their Power Bills.
WINZ case officers were then telling these customers to advise the Power Company that they had a nebulizer
at the property so that the Power would remain on. The customers says this and then didn't pay their Power Bill.
It took an age of the Power Companies complaining to get an investigation started, and this lead to further training for a number of WINZ staff.
Just to let you know.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Ripple Relays in the South Island
For the more senior readers, they will remember when ripple relay meters were installed to give a much cheaper rate of electricity.
Lines companies can only carry so much electricity on their lines at any one time. The ripple relay was used originally so that during hours of peak demand (i.e evenings) the lines company could stop the power to these meters and reduce the electricity used at that point in time. Water in electric cylinders stays hot for several hours and so electric hot water cylinder were wired to these relays to get cheaper power.
Fast forward to now, and the Lines companies have not expanded their lines but they have more users. Now the ripple relays are being cut more frequently at at many different hours as the Lines companies cannot carry all of the demanded electricity.
Things have been bad in Auckland for years now with revolving ripple cuts in order to ensure that the lines are not overloaded.
We just had a call from a customer in Christchurch who had his power cut from 8pm-10pm at night
What this means is that the Orion network have so much demand on their lines at this time they need to cut power to hot water cylinders.
Do you think they're building any more lines?
They are overloaded, so do you best to reduce your loading. We recommend a Power Panda (of course) but if you have millions consider starting your own lines company and assisting all of us.
Lines companies can only carry so much electricity on their lines at any one time. The ripple relay was used originally so that during hours of peak demand (i.e evenings) the lines company could stop the power to these meters and reduce the electricity used at that point in time. Water in electric cylinders stays hot for several hours and so electric hot water cylinder were wired to these relays to get cheaper power.
Fast forward to now, and the Lines companies have not expanded their lines but they have more users. Now the ripple relays are being cut more frequently at at many different hours as the Lines companies cannot carry all of the demanded electricity.
Things have been bad in Auckland for years now with revolving ripple cuts in order to ensure that the lines are not overloaded.
We just had a call from a customer in Christchurch who had his power cut from 8pm-10pm at night
What this means is that the Orion network have so much demand on their lines at this time they need to cut power to hot water cylinders.
Do you think they're building any more lines?
They are overloaded, so do you best to reduce your loading. We recommend a Power Panda (of course) but if you have millions consider starting your own lines company and assisting all of us.
Unbelief
We had a delightful email yesterday from someone who didn't quite believe what we described. They didn't think that anybody would be that silly to set up a scenario that would encourage bad debts.
The situation is bizarre. However it is a result of the Power Companies are too large. What happened is that the board members and directors of the companies had huge pressure put on them to change their policies and ensure that nobody ever died.
I will describe now what we saw in the Power Company I worked for. The board members summoned the head of customer operations and said "do something NOW to ensure that this cannot happen to us"
The first thing the head of customer operations did was institute a policy that on every phone call into the call centre the customer must be asked "are you medically dependent". This was asked on every call.
Call centre staff had half an hour training on medically dependent customers. Most of them wound up even more confused than they were before. What started happening is that contractors would go out to homes to disconnect for non payment, the customer would call up the contact centre and be asked "are you medically dependent?" The customer would say "what does that mean?" and get the response of "it means we won't disconnect your power"
And then the obvious followed.
Customer operations then designed a plan to ensure that nobody else would be cut off. They did this without reference to the credit team, and without reference to finance.
You see the Power Company was too big that customer operations was completely divorced from the credit team. The customer operations was in it's own little 'box' away from everything else and all it was going to be measured on was 'ensuring nobody dies'.
That was how it happens. Unlike small companies where managers see the big picture, nobody in that Power Company could see beyond their little area.
Hopefully that gives you some more information.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Back to price rises
We have to apologize for not realizing on Friday that when we said that we would "write about this tomorrow" it would be Saturday.
What we posted on Saturday about the Russians was not part of our usual schedule it's just we were in the office reviewing our advertising when that stat was discovered.
There is another reason why electricity prices have risen recently, and are likely to rise again next year. The reason has to do with the after math of the story of Folole Muliaga.
Now we don't want to discuss this case too much as the events that lead to this are a blog series in themselves.
However suffice to say that Mercury Energy was lambasted in the media, was vastly unpopular and the government of the time made it very clear that if something of this type was to ever happen again there would be consequences.
Before this story the Power Companies (almost universally) had this policy - If the customer said they were reliant upon electricity for a reason all disconnection action would cease for 30 days. The customer had that time to provide proof of this. Usually this was in the form of a doctors note.
At the end of the 30 days action would resume.
What happened after the story is that the Power Companies felt that actually obtaining proof was too onerous on the customer. All that was required was for the customer to claim they were reliant upon electricity. Once this claim was made the property would never be disconnected.
What happened then was the segment of society who otherwise would have been bad debts claimed they had oxygen machines and all of a sudden their electricity was left on.
Bad debt ballooned. To the tune of millions.
Suddenly the Power Companies realized they were essentially throwing money away they wanted to make it back.
They did this almost universally by raising prices.
Your prices will stay high. We recommend purchasing a Power Panda. We've already expressed our disgust with the Power Companies for their behavior, but feel free to do that also.
What we posted on Saturday about the Russians was not part of our usual schedule it's just we were in the office reviewing our advertising when that stat was discovered.
There is another reason why electricity prices have risen recently, and are likely to rise again next year. The reason has to do with the after math of the story of Folole Muliaga.
Now we don't want to discuss this case too much as the events that lead to this are a blog series in themselves.
However suffice to say that Mercury Energy was lambasted in the media, was vastly unpopular and the government of the time made it very clear that if something of this type was to ever happen again there would be consequences.
Before this story the Power Companies (almost universally) had this policy - If the customer said they were reliant upon electricity for a reason all disconnection action would cease for 30 days. The customer had that time to provide proof of this. Usually this was in the form of a doctors note.
At the end of the 30 days action would resume.
What happened after the story is that the Power Companies felt that actually obtaining proof was too onerous on the customer. All that was required was for the customer to claim they were reliant upon electricity. Once this claim was made the property would never be disconnected.
What happened then was the segment of society who otherwise would have been bad debts claimed they had oxygen machines and all of a sudden their electricity was left on.
Bad debt ballooned. To the tune of millions.
Suddenly the Power Companies realized they were essentially throwing money away they wanted to make it back.
They did this almost universally by raising prices.
Your prices will stay high. We recommend purchasing a Power Panda. We've already expressed our disgust with the Power Companies for their behavior, but feel free to do that also.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Upon which we find out....
The truly bizarre fact that 8% of our readers are from.....
Russia.
According to their IP addresses and the blogger statistics.
With most of the Russian referrals coming from this Russian search engine
We are seeing readership of this blog in the hundreds (which is absolutely fantastic). However either a lot of Kiwis use a proxy to disguise themselves as Russians, or for some reason a lot of Russians want information about their power bills.
Who would have thought it. If you do pay too much for Power in Russia, we can sell you a Power Panda unit, but you will have to pay more for shipping.
And we don't do Russian instructions at this point in time.
до свидания до следующего раза
Russia.
According to their IP addresses and the blogger statistics.
With most of the Russian referrals coming from this Russian search engine
We are seeing readership of this blog in the hundreds (which is absolutely fantastic). However either a lot of Kiwis use a proxy to disguise themselves as Russians, or for some reason a lot of Russians want information about their power bills.
Who would have thought it. If you do pay too much for Power in Russia, we can sell you a Power Panda unit, but you will have to pay more for shipping.
And we don't do Russian instructions at this point in time.
до свидания до следующего раза
Friday, November 12, 2010
Lines Companies and Power Costs
My mother told me once that the Power companies raise their prices two time a year, in April, and September, like clockwork.
Now I will be the first to admit that my mother isn't infallible, but when I worked with a power company they did raise their prices regularly. Everybody got a price rise at least once a year.
Most people got a price rise twice a year.
The reason for these two price rises is to do with lines companies.
When the electricity market was deregulated, privatized, and split up in 1987 the government of the time made it illegal to be involved in the transmission AND sale of electricity at the same time.
In other words you could either transport electricity, or you could sell it, you could not do both.
The reasoning behind this was to prevent local monopolies. These were areas where there was only one person transmitting the electricity, and the same person was setting the price. It was felt that this would lead to prices that were too high.
However what happened is that each area only had one lines company. Over time these companies amalgated and purchased each other out. There are now 24 lines companies, and this is a good map showing their areas. Some of these like WEL are owned by trusts and put their profit back into the community. Some, like Powerco, are owned by overseas companies and managed for a (healthy) profit.
In almost all areas of New Zealand, the lines companies bill the power companies who include these charges in your electricity invoice. Each lines company is a monopoly in its own area. And every year they put their prices up. Without fail. They are a local monopoly, and the ones out for a profit know this and keep raising their prices. Switching Power Companies will not help you, every Power Company will pass this increase in price onto the consumers. And the lines company will increase the price for every Power Company.
It isn't fair but it is one of the reasons why Power keeps going up and up and up. And there is very little you can do to stop this.
We recommend purchasing a Power Panda, save 20-30% on every power bill, and pay the blighters less.
Or you can just keep on paying high power bills, it's your choice.
Tomorrow we'll talk about some of the other reasons prices just go up.
Now I will be the first to admit that my mother isn't infallible, but when I worked with a power company they did raise their prices regularly. Everybody got a price rise at least once a year.
Most people got a price rise twice a year.
The reason for these two price rises is to do with lines companies.
When the electricity market was deregulated, privatized, and split up in 1987 the government of the time made it illegal to be involved in the transmission AND sale of electricity at the same time.
In other words you could either transport electricity, or you could sell it, you could not do both.
The reasoning behind this was to prevent local monopolies. These were areas where there was only one person transmitting the electricity, and the same person was setting the price. It was felt that this would lead to prices that were too high.
However what happened is that each area only had one lines company. Over time these companies amalgated and purchased each other out. There are now 24 lines companies, and this is a good map showing their areas. Some of these like WEL are owned by trusts and put their profit back into the community. Some, like Powerco, are owned by overseas companies and managed for a (healthy) profit.
In almost all areas of New Zealand, the lines companies bill the power companies who include these charges in your electricity invoice. Each lines company is a monopoly in its own area. And every year they put their prices up. Without fail. They are a local monopoly, and the ones out for a profit know this and keep raising their prices. Switching Power Companies will not help you, every Power Company will pass this increase in price onto the consumers. And the lines company will increase the price for every Power Company.
It isn't fair but it is one of the reasons why Power keeps going up and up and up. And there is very little you can do to stop this.
We recommend purchasing a Power Panda, save 20-30% on every power bill, and pay the blighters less.
Or you can just keep on paying high power bills, it's your choice.
Tomorrow we'll talk about some of the other reasons prices just go up.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The surprising things that you might not know about Power Companies
Power Companies are a little bit clever with some of their marketing. After working in the electricity industry there are a few things that you learn that aren't immediately clear about the Power Companies relationships.
To give you an idea, Mighty River Power and Mercury Energy are the same deal. Might River Power is simply the name for their generation arm, and Mercury Energy is the name of their 'sales team'. The reason for this is that they can avoid being cross recognized. For example when it is reported that the boss of Mighty River Power is paid an obscene amount of money people don't switch away from Mercury.
Also the Globug system is completely owned by Mercury Energy and operates in accordance with their rules and policies. The two do work in tandem. Try picking that up from the Globug site.
A little bit more obviously, Pulse Energy, and Just Energy are owned by the same people, with the same staff, with just slightly different colours.
Powershop is a 100% owned subsidiary of meridian Energy whilst Energy Online is a 100% owned subsidiary of Genesis Energy. Again, try finding that information out from their website.
On the last note Energy Online was actually a cheaper independent retailer that was purchased by Genesis Energy. I'll leave you to speculate why this was, and why the prices for Energy Online then increased.
To give you an idea, Mighty River Power and Mercury Energy are the same deal. Might River Power is simply the name for their generation arm, and Mercury Energy is the name of their 'sales team'. The reason for this is that they can avoid being cross recognized. For example when it is reported that the boss of Mighty River Power is paid an obscene amount of money people don't switch away from Mercury.
Also the Globug system is completely owned by Mercury Energy and operates in accordance with their rules and policies. The two do work in tandem. Try picking that up from the Globug site.
A little bit more obviously, Pulse Energy, and Just Energy are owned by the same people, with the same staff, with just slightly different colours.
Powershop is a 100% owned subsidiary of meridian Energy whilst Energy Online is a 100% owned subsidiary of Genesis Energy. Again, try finding that information out from their website.
On the last note Energy Online was actually a cheaper independent retailer that was purchased by Genesis Energy. I'll leave you to speculate why this was, and why the prices for Energy Online then increased.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The thing everyone should know about Prepay electricity
Prepay electricity goes by many names "Incharge" (Genesis Energy) and "Globug" (Mercury Energy) are two of the common ones.
The electricity companies love to tell you that this is not more expensive, it's just another way of buying power.
They lie.
The first way they lie is often there are more fees associated with prepay power. With Globug there is a 50c processsing fee with each transaction in addition to any other fees associated with paying your bill.
The next way they lie is that electricity companies by law have to have two plans, a low user, and a standard user. Electricity companies are not being nice when they offer a low user plan, nor are they being nice when they contact you every year to recommend the best plan for you, this is government mandated and obligatory.
The low user plans are not big money earners for power companies. The standard user plans are.
The only option on prepay is the standard pricing plans. There is no low user option.
The final (and largest) way they lie is that prepay users do not qualify for prompt payment discounts.
Every electricity company we are aware of offer a 10% (or more) discount for paying your bill on time.
Prepay users NEVER get this, even though they pay in advance. So they always pay 10% more than any other paying customer.
It's no wonder that our contacts with Mercury Energy have informed us that Mercury Energy refuses to remove Globug meters and forces people in those properties to be on prepay power. This appalling behavior has apparently been happening for six months now and has no signs of stopping.
The electricity companies love to tell you that this is not more expensive, it's just another way of buying power.
They lie.
The first way they lie is often there are more fees associated with prepay power. With Globug there is a 50c processsing fee with each transaction in addition to any other fees associated with paying your bill.
The next way they lie is that electricity companies by law have to have two plans, a low user, and a standard user. Electricity companies are not being nice when they offer a low user plan, nor are they being nice when they contact you every year to recommend the best plan for you, this is government mandated and obligatory.
The low user plans are not big money earners for power companies. The standard user plans are.
The only option on prepay is the standard pricing plans. There is no low user option.
The final (and largest) way they lie is that prepay users do not qualify for prompt payment discounts.
Every electricity company we are aware of offer a 10% (or more) discount for paying your bill on time.
Prepay users NEVER get this, even though they pay in advance. So they always pay 10% more than any other paying customer.
It's no wonder that our contacts with Mercury Energy have informed us that Mercury Energy refuses to remove Globug meters and forces people in those properties to be on prepay power. This appalling behavior has apparently been happening for six months now and has no signs of stopping.
The Power Panda and Savings
I got asked a question today, it's one I get asked a lot. In fact it's a question that gets asked of all of our staff a lot.
"Why should I buy a Power Panda when I can just turn my lights off and save the electricity that way?"
The answer is surprising to some people.
The simple answer is that an electric hot water cylinder accounts for 50-60% of a standard household bill. If we were to take the cylinder at my place, it uses 18 KwH of electricity a day.
If you have a 60W lightbulb it would mean running 12 lightbulbs for 24 hours a day means you use the same amount of electricity.
With my Power Panda my cylinder now uses 8.5KwH. So I could install a Power Panda or I could find 144 hours of lights bulbs I'm not using every day.
It's like turning off screens or appliances when you're not using them. You can certainly do this, but you have to turn off a lot of appliances.
It's a bit like washing your clothes in cold water, if you use cold instead of hot you save $50-$75 a YEAR
Cutting your shower time down by 1 minute day will save you $80 a year
Or you can buy a Power Panda and save 20-30% on every Power Bill. And the best thing is that you just have to install it and it keeps running. It's simple, effective, and the savings are significant. It's not in the realm of $50, $75, or $80 a year, a Power Panda will save the average usage at least $500 in the first year. It pays for itself in the first year, and it keep on running. We have a 5 year warranty, and we expect it to last for longer.
But don't just take my word for it, see our testimonials of some of our satisfied customers.
And that is why we recommend the Power Panda above other energy saving ways. It's not that you can't save energy by turning off lights, it's just you save so much more with a Power Panda.
"Why should I buy a Power Panda when I can just turn my lights off and save the electricity that way?"
The answer is surprising to some people.
The simple answer is that an electric hot water cylinder accounts for 50-60% of a standard household bill. If we were to take the cylinder at my place, it uses 18 KwH of electricity a day.
If you have a 60W lightbulb it would mean running 12 lightbulbs for 24 hours a day means you use the same amount of electricity.
With my Power Panda my cylinder now uses 8.5KwH. So I could install a Power Panda or I could find 144 hours of lights bulbs I'm not using every day.
It's like turning off screens or appliances when you're not using them. You can certainly do this, but you have to turn off a lot of appliances.
It's a bit like washing your clothes in cold water, if you use cold instead of hot you save $50-$75 a YEAR
Cutting your shower time down by 1 minute day will save you $80 a year
Or you can buy a Power Panda and save 20-30% on every Power Bill. And the best thing is that you just have to install it and it keeps running. It's simple, effective, and the savings are significant. It's not in the realm of $50, $75, or $80 a year, a Power Panda will save the average usage at least $500 in the first year. It pays for itself in the first year, and it keep on running. We have a 5 year warranty, and we expect it to last for longer.
But don't just take my word for it, see our testimonials of some of our satisfied customers.
And that is why we recommend the Power Panda above other energy saving ways. It's not that you can't save energy by turning off lights, it's just you save so much more with a Power Panda.
Monday, November 8, 2010
What your Power company desperately tries to hide pt 3
Well we come to the conclusion on this short series about meters and making sure you are billed correctly.
In order to determine if you are being billed correctly you have a few ways of going about this.
Firstly, and the most accurate, involves getting an electrician to look at your meter board. If you have a friend/relative who comes over for social visits that is the perfect time.
However if you are like most of us with relatively little electrical knowledge and the only electricians you know seem to charge the following method may be more to your liking. Key to this method is that the cheaper meters (such as Night meters, and controlled meters) only operate at certain times. Or put this another way - you won't get electricity through the meter 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Devices on these meters will either
- only work between 11pm and 7am, or
- only work between 11pm and 7am with a random 2 hours slot occuring around midday, or
- randomly go off for up to 4 hours generally in the evening, or
- only work between 7am and 11pm.
If you recognize the above happens with your appliances, call your power company and tell them. They will give you a reason, and insist they put it to you in writing. Once you have it in writing compare it to your bill, if everything matches, fantastic. If not call back and ask to speak with a manager. Don't take no for an answer.
Also if you bill lists more than one meter, the following meter combinations are something you should watch out for
- A day meter WITHOUT a night meter
- Two 'Composite' meters
- Two 'anytime' (also known as '24 hour') meters
- Three meters where two meters are 'controlled' (also known as 'economy').
What we have described is the most common results of an incorrect meter configuration. If any of these match your bill, call your Power Company and insist they check it free of charge.
In order to determine if you are being billed correctly you have a few ways of going about this.
Firstly, and the most accurate, involves getting an electrician to look at your meter board. If you have a friend/relative who comes over for social visits that is the perfect time.
However if you are like most of us with relatively little electrical knowledge and the only electricians you know seem to charge the following method may be more to your liking. Key to this method is that the cheaper meters (such as Night meters, and controlled meters) only operate at certain times. Or put this another way - you won't get electricity through the meter 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Devices on these meters will either
- only work between 11pm and 7am, or
- only work between 11pm and 7am with a random 2 hours slot occuring around midday, or
- randomly go off for up to 4 hours generally in the evening, or
- only work between 7am and 11pm.
If you recognize the above happens with your appliances, call your power company and tell them. They will give you a reason, and insist they put it to you in writing. Once you have it in writing compare it to your bill, if everything matches, fantastic. If not call back and ask to speak with a manager. Don't take no for an answer.
Also if you bill lists more than one meter, the following meter combinations are something you should watch out for
- A day meter WITHOUT a night meter
- Two 'Composite' meters
- Two 'anytime' (also known as '24 hour') meters
- Three meters where two meters are 'controlled' (also known as 'economy').
What we have described is the most common results of an incorrect meter configuration. If any of these match your bill, call your Power Company and insist they check it free of charge.
Friday, November 5, 2010
What your Power company desperately tries to hide pt 2
Yesterday we established how your electricity company could bill you and not have any idea what type of meter you actually have on your property.
So you can see how the errors occur, you may be asking 'don't they read my meter every month and check that?'
The answer is no, they don't. All the meter reader is paid to do is to go out, look at the two meters and return the readings. In fact most meter readers wouldn't be able to tell the meter types apart.
You see meters have serial numbers, but these serial numbers to not link in any way to the type of meter at the property. All the meter readers do is return the readings for a particular set of meter numbers.
Having established that the meter readers won't check this information, who will?
Has your Power Company come out to your property to check the meter?
Have you done it?
The answer is almost certainly no.
The scary thing is if you ring up your electricity company and ASK them to do this they will say either "no" (the answer if you get most of the contact centre staff) or "we could but it would cost you $60.00"
$60 for them to do something any other business would do.
It's obscene and if it didn't cost you money it'd funny.
So how are you going to remedy this? Well Monday we'll explain some of what you can do to see if you are being charged incorrectly.
We'll give you a teaser, if you are in Wellington and have 2 composite meters - you are being screwed.
If you think we're being alarmist remember this - Genesis Energy is visiting EVERY farmer in the country because they have determined that HALF of all farms are being billed incorrectly.
We can assure you that the percentage is the same for residential houses, however the errors with the farmer usually result in the farmers being undercharged. However the errors in residential properties usually result in overcharging.
We'll explain on Monday, this is getting too long!
Minor update - We changed the date & time to reflect NZ time. For some reason it was previously populating with another timezone.
So you can see how the errors occur, you may be asking 'don't they read my meter every month and check that?'
The answer is no, they don't. All the meter reader is paid to do is to go out, look at the two meters and return the readings. In fact most meter readers wouldn't be able to tell the meter types apart.
You see meters have serial numbers, but these serial numbers to not link in any way to the type of meter at the property. All the meter readers do is return the readings for a particular set of meter numbers.
Having established that the meter readers won't check this information, who will?
Has your Power Company come out to your property to check the meter?
Have you done it?
The answer is almost certainly no.
The scary thing is if you ring up your electricity company and ASK them to do this they will say either "no" (the answer if you get most of the contact centre staff) or "we could but it would cost you $60.00"
$60 for them to do something any other business would do.
It's obscene and if it didn't cost you money it'd funny.
So how are you going to remedy this? Well Monday we'll explain some of what you can do to see if you are being charged incorrectly.
We'll give you a teaser, if you are in Wellington and have 2 composite meters - you are being screwed.
If you think we're being alarmist remember this - Genesis Energy is visiting EVERY farmer in the country because they have determined that HALF of all farms are being billed incorrectly.
We can assure you that the percentage is the same for residential houses, however the errors with the farmer usually result in the farmers being undercharged. However the errors in residential properties usually result in overcharging.
We'll explain on Monday, this is getting too long!
Minor update - We changed the date & time to reflect NZ time. For some reason it was previously populating with another timezone.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
What your Power company desperately tries to hide...
Yes that's correct, we're discussing what your Power company desperately tries to hide -
Your Power company actually has NO idea what meter is at your house. Before we go any further I'll briefly explain why meters matter -
Meters measure the quantity of electricity going through them.
Power companies bill different meters art different rates. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the simple fact is that different meters are charged different rates.
So you would think that your power company would know what meter is at your property. The truth is that they don't.
The reason for this is that 90% of the meters in New Zealand are owned by third parties. The largest of these parties is AMS (advanced meter services) an organisation that doesn't even need its own website.
Almost all electricity retailers have lease arrangements with these third parties for these meters. This lease arrangement means when you switch electricity companies the meter remains on the site.
However what happens is that your old electricity company passes on the meter information that they hold to the new electricity company.
This information is never checked by the meter owner (i.e. AMS). And with some retailers they manually process this information.
What this means is if you shift house, lets say you move to 9 Jones Crescent, you call up your retailer, Genesis and say "I've moved to 9 Jones Crescent, please supply my power" the person in the Genesis contact centre will say "certainly, this property is currently supplied by Contact Energy, we can certainly supply you with electricity, but the switching process will take 6-8 weeks".
What happens is that the 'back office' of Genesis Energy will manually write out the details about the property, and send this in an email to Contact energy. Contact Energy will locate their details about 9 Jones Crescent, and manually send the metering details to Genesis Energy. Genesis Energy will then manually by hand input these details into their database.
The number of times a mistake is made is HUGE. The number of times a meter is entered incorrectly and the customer is billed incorrectly is HUGE.
This post is turning long, so we'll stop it here and continue tomorrow. Hopefully you can see why the errors are made, tomorrow we'll talk about why these errors are not picked up upon, and what you can do.
Your Power company actually has NO idea what meter is at your house. Before we go any further I'll briefly explain why meters matter -
Meters measure the quantity of electricity going through them.
Power companies bill different meters art different rates. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the simple fact is that different meters are charged different rates.
So you would think that your power company would know what meter is at your property. The truth is that they don't.
The reason for this is that 90% of the meters in New Zealand are owned by third parties. The largest of these parties is AMS (advanced meter services) an organisation that doesn't even need its own website.
Almost all electricity retailers have lease arrangements with these third parties for these meters. This lease arrangement means when you switch electricity companies the meter remains on the site.
However what happens is that your old electricity company passes on the meter information that they hold to the new electricity company.
This information is never checked by the meter owner (i.e. AMS). And with some retailers they manually process this information.
What this means is if you shift house, lets say you move to 9 Jones Crescent, you call up your retailer, Genesis and say "I've moved to 9 Jones Crescent, please supply my power" the person in the Genesis contact centre will say "certainly, this property is currently supplied by Contact Energy, we can certainly supply you with electricity, but the switching process will take 6-8 weeks".
What happens is that the 'back office' of Genesis Energy will manually write out the details about the property, and send this in an email to Contact energy. Contact Energy will locate their details about 9 Jones Crescent, and manually send the metering details to Genesis Energy. Genesis Energy will then manually by hand input these details into their database.
The number of times a mistake is made is HUGE. The number of times a meter is entered incorrectly and the customer is billed incorrectly is HUGE.
This post is turning long, so we'll stop it here and continue tomorrow. Hopefully you can see why the errors are made, tomorrow we'll talk about why these errors are not picked up upon, and what you can do.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Little known fact about your Electricity Companies
You may have heard about the EGCC. This body resolves all disputes between electricity companies and consumers. It's a government funded program, and if your electricity company cannot resolve your issue the complaint goes through to the EGCC.
Little known fact - as soon as a complaint is laid with the EGCC your electricity company is charged $5000.00. This money is not refunded. You read that correctly, your Power company is charged five grand for simply having a complaint unresolved.
So if you have a complaint with your Power Company ask for $4900 or under. It means that they'll be most anxious to come to an arrangement and save themselves the $5000 charge.
Little known fact - as soon as a complaint is laid with the EGCC your electricity company is charged $5000.00. This money is not refunded. You read that correctly, your Power company is charged five grand for simply having a complaint unresolved.
So if you have a complaint with your Power Company ask for $4900 or under. It means that they'll be most anxious to come to an arrangement and save themselves the $5000 charge.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
They are all as bad as each other
Well according to you they are all as bad as each other. Once you get past the first section of the article you find that the real numbers are "Of the SOEs, Genesis fared worst over that time with the number of electricity customers down 3 per cent or 15,100 to 542,300."
Which means that despite large numbers of customers leaving each electricity company, they also acquire new customers.
It's like a great big roundabout. Customers leave one power company disgusted, and go to another, and are equally disgusted and move on. This is because beneath all of the smooth talk all of the Power Companies charge you an arm and a leg and try desperately to provide you with less and less.
It doesn't look like it will change at all, the companies are all the same and their prices keep going up and up.
At the Power Panda we recommend our device as a way to reduce your power bill, as changing power companies just won't do it.
You can find advice about reducing your electricity bill here and most of it is very good, but even if you do everything it suggests you are still likely to save less than a Power Panda will save you.
Which means that despite large numbers of customers leaving each electricity company, they also acquire new customers.
It's like a great big roundabout. Customers leave one power company disgusted, and go to another, and are equally disgusted and move on. This is because beneath all of the smooth talk all of the Power Companies charge you an arm and a leg and try desperately to provide you with less and less.
It doesn't look like it will change at all, the companies are all the same and their prices keep going up and up.
At the Power Panda we recommend our device as a way to reduce your power bill, as changing power companies just won't do it.
You can find advice about reducing your electricity bill here and most of it is very good, but even if you do everything it suggests you are still likely to save less than a Power Panda will save you.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Because this is the sort of news we pay attention to
Power Company bosses paid too much
That's not what the headline said, but it sure is what most people are going to think. The difficulty that everybody has is that their power prices have risen, service is still incredibly bad, and yet managers are being paid more for their years work than most people have made in their current role.
It is sad and it is twisted.
It's also something we hear from our customers, they are sick of paying too much for their power and not getting any type of service in return. One of the most common questions we get is 'What can we do?'
The answer is - stick it to the Power Companies, buy a Power Panda and start slashing your bill.
Just to give you an idea, if every person in Tauranga purchased a Power Panda, Trustpower (the dominant company) would loose $33 million a year.
They'd probably have to pay their management less.
That's not what the headline said, but it sure is what most people are going to think. The difficulty that everybody has is that their power prices have risen, service is still incredibly bad, and yet managers are being paid more for their years work than most people have made in their current role.
It is sad and it is twisted.
It's also something we hear from our customers, they are sick of paying too much for their power and not getting any type of service in return. One of the most common questions we get is 'What can we do?'
The answer is - stick it to the Power Companies, buy a Power Panda and start slashing your bill.
Just to give you an idea, if every person in Tauranga purchased a Power Panda, Trustpower (the dominant company) would loose $33 million a year.
They'd probably have to pay their management less.
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