Powershop.co.nz

After reading Russell Brown's comments on Public Address in response to the NZ Herald's John Drinnan having a go at Brown (and David Farrar and Alistair Thompson) about links to Powershop, I signed up for powershop.co.nz. Apparently, it's backed by Meridian, who were my power provider anyway.

It took about 5 minutes online. Have your ICP number handy. That's easy to do if you have your power bills emailed to you. It's on any statement. Once completed, the swap was made in a few days and I got an email telling me it was all on and I was ready to go. I saw the email and didn't think about it for a couple of days.

Today, I went and logged in and found that I was an estimated 101 units in arrears. Ooops! OK, so I went out to the meter and did a reading and came back and entered the actual number. Now I was 177 units in arrears.

Better buy some power then.

The "Buy Power" page offered me a variety of "packages", (including a branded "Crusaders" rugby pack!) and the unit price of the power was below each package. (Click on the image to the right to see a larger version.) The cheapest option today appeared to be a "Flower Power Catch-up Pack", so I clicked on that. Then I read the fine print that appeared and realised this was a week's worth of power, but it expires day after tomorrow and I'd have to use it all....or lose whatever I didn't use. it. I deleted that item from the Checkout list and went back for another, more careful look.

The power packages appear to include the line charge, despite the price per unit being about the same (or a bit more) as it would be PLUS the line charge. On the face of it - first impressions - this appears to be cheaper. Perhaps that's the benefit of paying in advance for power....because that is what is happening here.

I'm not used to thinking of power pricing like that. With the expiry on the 30th of April, I stood to lose most of $89 had I rashly checked out. I did not.

A change of power culture between my ears is clearly required. I clicked on the back button.

Instead, I bought 600 units of Standard Power for about $134 and that will see us right (estimated) until mid-May. This power must be consumed by June 30th. No problems there. I used my Kiwibank Debit VISA to make the payment, so I paid cash, not by credit.

I was also offered "Power Packs" of various types. Reading the details, they appear to come from different power suppliers. "Flower Power", for example, is from "Powerkiwi". Or you can buy "Green Power" at about 1.3 cents more per unit and they will buy voluntary carbon credits at 0.18kg of carbon for each unit purchased, to offset the fossil fuels used to generate your power. This is a chance for would-be Greenies put their money where their principles are. Or you can buy Tree Power and they will plant trees, as well as provide electricity. I might go with the tree power while the government is still in denial about climate change and ignoring the Emissions Trading System. At least then I know something will actually be done.

Don't forget to scroll the power packages left and right so you see them all. It only displays 4 at a time. You might miss out.

Or if you want to play futures with your power, you can buy a "Winter Pack" now for future use. They come in bundles of 100 units and will be doled out at 25 units / month over 4 months, at the moment, May to August. That would be, in effect, 1 day per month, per bundle, purchased in advance. I can see how buying a few of these ahead of time would lower the amount you actually have to front up with in those months. Of course, the same affect could be achieved by over-paying your usual monthly bills on a more conventional power payment regime. But the lure here is that you actually save money.

There is some obscure mumbo-jumbo describing when packages are available for use:

"Units are valid between the last date prior to the relevant month that Powershop reviews your account and the first date after the relevant month that your account is reviewed."

I can guess what "last date prior to the relevant month that Powershop reviews your account" means, but it would only be a guess. Relevant with respect to what? Reviewed when? Last date prior to....what again? If I can't find a good explanation somewhere on the site, I'll send them a note via Feedback" asking them to explain and to consider providing more detail and perhaps and example or two. ("Felix" emailed me to say "reviewed" means when they read the meter. That just leaves one to wonder what "the last date prior to the relevant month" means. )

I have the feeling I'll have to pay careful attention to the dates and any other conditions. For the moment it seems novel and might even be fun. I'll give it a good serious go and document my experiences here.