Powershop has been powering NZ homes and businesses for ten years now, doing our bit to shake up the power industry along the way. If you aren’t one of the 70,000 Kiwis who have already switched to us, you may have some questions. So here are some answers!
1) Are you prepay?
Not really. Not as in ‘if you haven’t bought enough power we turn your lights off’. While, if you have access to our online Shop, you can buy Powerpacks in different sizes and prices before you actually use the power, you can also put them towards power you’ve already used. But if you don’t buy any Powerpacks, you can just pay for the power you have used at the end of your billing period. Like you would with a normal, less-pink power company.
2) Do I need a smart meter?
No, it’s not a must-have. Around 87% of our customers have a smart meter, which automatically sends us daily reads. This makes sure the data in your mobile app and desktop account is as accurate as it can be. If you have a standard, or ‘legacy’, meter we will get meter readings from our contracted readers every other month. You can also send us regular meter reads yourself if you want to. We make this really easy on our app – there’s even a torch you can turn on if your meter is hard to see.
3) Do you sell electricity from different providers?
No. We buy all our power from our parent company, Meridian Energy.
4) Do you have spot pricing?
No, we don’t expose you to the risks of sudden price fluctuations in the wholesale energy market. We set your rates for each month in advance, so there are no surprises. You can always see what you’re paying on the Your Rates page in our app or on your desktop account.
If you’re not yet a Powershop customer, you can get an estimate of your average monthly rates in our Get a price calculator.
5) Do you have prompt payment discounts?
No. We’ve said all along that these are really just a disguise for late payment penalties. Instead, if you have access to our Shop, you can save through the month by buying our regular discounted Powerpacks. Like our Staying Power that comes out at the start of each month and gives you around five days’ worth of power with at least a 20% discount.
6) Are you in my area?
Almost 100% yes. Over the last couple of years we have made a push into many of the areas we weren’t in before – including the East Coast of the North Island, the West Coast of the South Island, and the Far North of the North Island. So we’re now available to around 97% of New Zealand homes and businesses. Oh and if you’re heading offshore, we’re also available in Australia (Victoria, New South Wales and South East Queensland) and the UK.
7) Is it easy?
Buying Powerpacks? Well if you use the Shop, it only takes a few clicks or taps a few times a month to buy our discounted special packs and ensure you’re getting the maximum savings. So that’s no time at all, and not any harder than anything else you do online or on your smartphone. And most probably less than the time it takes to get an old-school electricity bill out of the letterbox, open it up and try to decipher the contents.
But it’s totally up to you. You can just pay for the power you’ve used at the end of your monthly billing period if you’d prefer.
8) Do you supply businesses?
Indeed we do. Check our business page for details. Send us a bill if you’d like us to run a savings comparison for you.
9) Do you supply gas?
Not at the moment but it is something we may offer in the future. BTW we don’t sell broadband or phone services either, we do one thing and do it well.
10) How long will you lock me in for?
We don’t have fixed term contracts for our residential customers. If you sign up to us you won’t sign your life away!