It takes more than just Powershop to get electricity to your property. There’s a whole supply chain and everyone’s responsible for doing their bit. To do their bit they have to charge us (and ultimately you) to do it. 

• Generators produce electricity and sell it to us through the wholesale market. 
• Transpower transmits electricity from the generators to the local lines company. 
• Local lines companies distribute power from your regional network to your property. 
• Metering companies own and manage the meters that measure your power usage. 
• Retailers – that’s us! – buy power from the wholesale market and sell it on to you. 
• Government does its bit, governing and regulating the electricity industry. 

Each of these organisations – even the government – clips the ticket along the way. Some of their charges are fixed and some of them are variable. Which is why yours are too. Add to these GST and government levies, and that’s what makes up the total price of your power. 

Powershop offers our customers a competitive market rate which we call our Standard Rate. This rate can change and reflects what is happening in the market. To get even more savings, customers (other than historic Powershop Lite and most business customers) can access our Shop to buy Powerpacks, which give you a discount on your Standard Rate for the amount of power covered by the Powerpack.  

Learn more about the Shop and how to get the best savings

Standard Rates (also called Standard Power) are the rates you are charged for your power if you don’t buy any Powerpacks. Our Standard Rate is still competitive, but by buying certain Powerpacks in the Shop, you reach what we call your Special Rates.  

Your Special Rates are the discounted rates you will pay if your actual power usage is equal to what we estimate to be your usage for your Account Review period (billing period), provided you have bought our Monthly Staying Power Powerpack and all the Special Powerpacks we make available during your Account Review period.  See Estimated Usage to find out more about how we estimate your usage.  If you get an estimate from our website or via Powerswitch, the rates you see are your Special Rates.   

Future Packs and Value Packs do not count towards the calculation of your Special Rates, but they do contribute to your overall savings.  

Check what your Standard Rates and Special Rates are by selecting the ‘Usage’ tab in your desktop account and choosing the ‘Your rates’ heading on the left. 

 We regularly review your plan to ensure you're on the best one for you. If we find that you're on the wrong plan, we'll reach out to let you know. If you're ever unsure about which plan you're on, don't hesitate to chat to our customer care team.

Typically, if you use less than 8,000 kwh a year at your primary residence (and not, for example, a holiday home), the Low User option may be best for you. This rises to 9,000 kwh in parts of the lower South Island.

Each year on your Powershop anniversary, we’ll let you know how much power you’ve used and what the best rate option is for you.  

Throughout the year we regularly review whether you are on the correct pricing for your usage and if we think (based on your past usage) that you are a low user rather than a standard user (or vice versa), we will let you know by email and make this change for you.  

Your ‘Daily charge’ is based on whether you’re a low or a standard user. This charge is fixed and includes things like meter rentals, payments to network companies, Powershop’s cost to serve and government levies. You can see what your ‘Daily charge’ is by clicking on the ‘Usage’ tab in your desktop account and choosing the ‘Your rates’ heading on the left. 

You tariff is the way your meter is set up. The most common set-ups are ‘inclusive’, ‘controlled/uncontrolled’, Peak & Off Peak (get Shifty), ‘day/night’ and ‘night only’. 

Not necessarily. Because your rates are tailored to whether you’re a low or standard user and your meter set-up, you could have a different rate to your neighbour or friends and family that live in your area. 

For example, if your neighbour is a low user and has a day/night meter, and you are a standard user with an inclusive meter, then your rates will be different. Even though you’re both Powershop customers and are supplied by the same network. 

Every year, companies involved in the electricity supply chain review their costs and decide what to charge power retailers, like Powershop. Changes in those charges often lead to movement in the prices paid by power users, like yourself. 

Your meter set-up – or your ‘tariff’ – determines: 

• how much of your supply your lines company (or network) can control 
• how your power is measured – that is, whether your meter can measure your day and night time usage, separately. Or whether your day and night time usage is bundled together. 

Your rates are made up of a daily charge and a charge for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of power you use. 

Your rates are based on: 

• Whether you’re a standard or a low user. 
• How your meter is set up – this is also called your tariff. The most common set-ups are 'inclusive'  peak/off peak (Get Shifty), ‘controlled/uncontrolled’, ‘day/night’ and ‘night only’. 
• Where you live – different lines companies (or networks) supply different regions, and all have their own way of pricing power. 

 You can see what your rates are by logging in to the app or your desktop account.  

App  

Open your app 

Select menu (3 horizontal bars in top left corner) 

Select 'Account details' 

Select 'Your rates' 

Desktop 

Select the ‘Usage’ tab, then ‘Your rates’ on the left. If you have more than one property, you can flick between the rates for each property in the drop-down menu of ‘Your rates’. 

Standard Rates versus Special Rates 

Standard Rates (also called Standard Power) are the rates you are charged for your power if you don’t buy any Powerpacks. Our Standard Rate is still competitive, but by buying certain Powerpacks in the Shop, you reach what we call your Special Rates.  

Your Special Rates are the discounted rates you will pay if your actual power usage is equal to what we estimate to be your usage for your Account Review period (billing period), provided you have bought our Monthly Staying Power Powerpack and all the Special Powerpacks we make available during your Account Review period.  See Estimated Usage to find out more about how we estimate your usage.  If you get an estimate from our website or via Powerswitch, the rates you see are your Special Rates.   

Future Packs and Value Packs do not count towards the calculation of your Special Rates, but they do contribute to your overall savings.  

Check what your Standard Rates and Special Rates are by selecting the ‘Usage’ tab in your desktop account and choosing the ‘Your rates’ heading on the left. 

To reach your Special Rates, you need to buy the Monthly Staying Power Powerpack and all the Special Powerpacks we make available during your Account Review period (billing period).  You will only pay your Special Rates if your actual usage is the same as your Estimated Usage for the Account Review period. 

Your daily charge is fixed, so it stays the same month to month. Your daily charge is based on whether you’re a low or standard user. You can see what your ‘Daily charge’ is by clicking on the ‘Usage’ tab in your Desktop account and choosing the ‘Your rates’ heading on the left. 

For most Powershop customers, your charge per kWh is variable. It will typically go down in spring and summer when demand is lower, and up in autumn and winter when demand goes up. See your rates by clicking on the ‘Usage’ tab in your desktop account and choosing the ‘Your rates’ heading on the left. 

For most Powershop customers, your rate will move with the seasons – typically up in autumn and winter when demand is generally higher, and down again in spring and summer when demand is generally lower. 

What is it? 
Control Period Demand (CPD) is a fixed charge that lines company Aurora charges some of its customers (usually businesses). Aurora calculates each customer’s CPD value based on the electricity they used over peak periods from May to August. 

These rates are passed directly onto customers who fall into this category. 

What’s behind it? 
The idea is to give customers the incentive to save electricity at times of high demand, generally during cold winter weekdays in the morning and evening. Customers with high winter usage mean Aurora must invest in additional capacity on its network to cope with peak usage during winter. 

Aurora reviews each customer’s CPD charge on 1 April based on the previous year’s winter usage. If your winter usage was substantially lower than it was the year before, you’re likely to be charged less (and vice versa if your usage was higher in comparison). If your winter usage was similar to the year before, you may see no change in your CPD charge. 

Phasing out low user fixed charge regulations 

From 1 April 2022, we’re putting in place the Government’s plan to phase out low user fixed charge regulations. This Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment webpage explains the plan in detail, including the Government’s reasons behind the change.   

What this means for you  

As a low user, this means you’ll see your daily fixed charge increase, and variable charge decrease, on 1 April every year for five years (2022 – 2026). The impact on your bill depends on how much power you use. The closer you are to using 8,000 kWh per year (or 9,000 kWh per year if you’re south of Arthur’s Pass), the less you’ll be impacted by this change. Very low users will see the biggest cost increase because of the change.  

This is only one part of the total change you’ll see to your prices each April. Learn more about what goes into your power price.