Shift your power usage and save

Get Shifty

What are my peak and off-peak rates?

Once you're up and running with Get Shifty, you'll be able to see your peak, off-peak, and in some areas, night rates, on the Your Rates page on the mobile app or in your desktop account. If you would like to find out your rates before signing up, just get in touch with us via Live chat.  Or you can download our full rates for residential customers in your area.

How can I track what times I'm using power?

You can monitor how much power you’ve used off peak vs peak on the Daily Usage graph in our mobile app, and on the Balance page of your desktop account.

Why Get Shifty can help you save across the whole year 

While the odd period of free power is awesome, we think that New Zealand would like ways to save every day through a regular pattern of energy usage. While we can’t offer free power all day (wouldn’t that be great?), we have another option that provides potential savings for households who have heavier usage habits off-peak. Best of all, cheaper ‘Get Shifty’ rates are applicable throughout the entire off-peak period in a day, not just an hour. A free hour to run electricity might work with some careful planning, but it can be hard to simultaneously run all appliances at once without rushing around the house. If your home keeps hours that allow you to make use of off-peak power for the heavy tasks like cooking, running the dishwasher and having showers, then Get Shifty could be a good option for you.

How Get Shifty provides savings

We structure Get Shifty to offer savings at off-peak times where there tends to be less demand on grid and generation. If you’re working at home, Get Shifty makes even more sense, with day time off-peak power in most regions allowing you to run the washing machine, oven, shower and heating during a cheaper stretch in the day. If your power requirements sit within peak times then Get Shifty might not be right for you. Or, if the household’s up for the challenge, shifting your usage to off-peak might be a great way to free up budget for other more important things! If Get Shifty sounds like you, head over to our pricing page for more information.

Why power is split into off-peak and peak

All power retailers like Powershop buy our power from generation companies. The cost of generating and transmitting this power isn’t consistent throughout the day, week or year. The morning rush preparing for work or school is a high-usage period, as is dinner time. During the day where the house may be empty or only occupied by one person, there’s less power demand on the national grid - we call this ‘off-peak’. Overnight when everyone is usually asleep is also a quieter period for power usage, so this also comes under off-peak power times. You can see peak/off-peak times for specific areas in New Zealand in the network list further up the page.

Each retailer has different ways of handling these costs when it comes to charges to the end user. At Powershop, we've spun up Get Shifty to give the control to shift your power usage so you can pay the least possible for your power.

How to adjust habits to an ‘off-peak’ schedule

Get Shifty isn’t just designed for those working a night shift or working from home during the day - anyone who can get creative with their cooking, washing and bathing times might benefit from this plan.

Here’s some ways to push your usage towards off-peak times:

• Morning person? Get through the showers before 7am (or start of peak time) - this reduces hot water use in peak time.
• Have young kids? If their dinner time is between 5-6pm, why not prepare this at 4pm, the hour prior before most areas have their peak?
• Even better, combine prep of the kids meals and the rest of the house at the same time pre-5pm. Some meals may just need a quick heat before serving.
• Are you a household that works longer hours and gets home after 7? Consider making dinner time an 8pm onwards ritual, where you’ll be using off-peak power instead. You might need to shift that lunch break out too!
• Leave the dishwasher off until before you go to bed - that way it’s running off-peak.
• Get the washing and drying done on the weekends or later in the evening.

 Remember, peak and off-peak times differ depending where in the country you are. Check out the network list further up the page to find yours. 

If you’re working at home, Get Shifty makes even more sense, with day time off-peak power allowing you to run the washing machine, oven, shower and heating during a cheaper stretch in the day.