And on his gas bill:
- Daily charge increasing from $1.23 to $1.36 - a 10.6 per cent rise
- Per kilowatt hourly charge increasing from 8.2 to 9.0 cents/kWh to - a 9.8 per cent rise
Inflation fell in the second quarter to 6.0 per cent, from 6.7 per cent previously.
Customers have been offered a link to a page to check if they’re on the best plan.
“We are increasing energy prices for customers on our open-term plans,” Contact chief retail officer Matt Bolton told the Herald.
“This means, on average, customers will pay $2.65 more a week for electricity and $1.70 a week more for gas.
“Prices will increase for about half of our retail customers.”
Bolton blamed increases in the the wholesale cost of energy, rising transmission charges, and “inflationary pressure on the services we provide”, we have to reflect this in our pricing to customers.
Contact’s last round of price rises varied by customer, but was around a year ago, Bolton said.
He added, “We’re mindful that Kiwis are doing it tough and any price increase, no matter how small, can be a strain on household budgets. We encourage customers to speak to us as soon as possible if they need support with their energy bill.”
Consumer watchdog critical
“Contact says it’s mindful of the impact of the price hike on customers. One thing it could do, is tell customers regularly whether they are on the best plan for their consumption and what they could save if they switched to another plan,” Consumer Advocacy Council chairwoman Deborah Hart said.
“A ‘best plan’ notice is something they agreed to do when they signed up to the Consumer Care Guidelines, a voluntary code of practice for the industry,” Hart said.
“Contact is not doing it now and neither is Contact putting the name of a customer’s plan on its bill so they can easily use Powerswitch to compare different plans of all retailers. This is another way to save money.”
The Government-funded Consumer Advocacy Council was established after the 2018/19 Electricity Price Review.
Follows broadband price rise
Last month, the same customer saw the price of his broadband plan with Contact increase by $5 to $80 - a rise of 6.7 per cent.
Contact, like other broadband retailers, was passing on a price rise by wholesaler Chorus (and three smaller UFB operators). Chorus is allowed one regulated price rise per year to its rates, pegged to the CPI.
‘Bundles of confusion’
Last week, Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson, who sits on the Commerce Commission, called deals combining power and broadband “bundles of confusion”.
Gilbertson called on power companies to offer more clarity - including a prominent display of whether electricity or gas were in fact cheaper if bought standalone - and threatened regulation.
Of the big four power retailers - Mercury (587,538 customers, according to Electricity Authority figures), Genesis (533,515), Contact (441,398) and Meridian (365,565) - Mercury and Contact offer power and broadband bundles.
“Contact offers a broadband and energy bundle to provide convenience for customers who want to manage their outgoings in one bill. We aim to ensure that our bundle pricing is competitive to give our customers value for money,” Contact’s Bolton said.
“We will work actively with the Commerce Commission to ensure customers of bundled telco products continue to get the information they need to make the best decisions for them,” Bolton said.
The Electricity Authority encouraged consumers to hunt out the best plan using Consumer’s Powerswitch service, funded by the EA.
However, Powerswitch has copped criticism for not including all plans in its comparison service. Plans that include both broadband and power are not listed.
