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The cost of electricity to the consumer is a combination of:
Where does most of the power in New Zealand come from?
There are five major players in New Zealand when it comes to generating power.
They are Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy, Contact Energy, Trustpower and Mighty River Power.
Almost all of electricity is hydropower, geothermal power and natural gas.
The National Grid, owned and operated by Transpower, transmits all electricity from the generators (or power stations) to towns and cities across the country.
The power lines in each part of the country are owned and operated locally by lines companies that connect the power from Transpowers National Grid, to your home.
The retailer is generally the company that sends you your power bill.
These retailers buy electricity via a complicated trading scheme called the New Zealand Electricity Market.
Some of the terms used are 'wholesale' and 'spot prices'. The cost of your electricty bill depends on the wholesale price the electricity retailers are able to buy at.
There are two things to note:
The following is a short article written by a concerned Nelson Grey Power member that appeared in the September newsletter.
"Interesting how power suppliers have had a reduction in profits due to giving customers discounts to match other suppliers.
Where were these discounts before competition?
Also, they are now warning of increases to cover the cost of development of new sources of generation while increasing their asset base.
Most businesses reinvest profits to improve business, not use existing customers to pay for this.
Power suppliers are proposing to have development costs covered by existing users, not by reinvesting profits".
There is a great website, called Consumer Powerswitch, that allows you to compare your electricity costs with other suppliers It is accessible by following the link below.
There are many ways of reducing your energy bill from changing your supplier to turning off lights you aren't using.
The EECA Energywise website provides many other ways of saving energy.
They also provide information on the government subsidised scheme where you can save up to $1300 when insulating your home. Follow the link below for more.