Customers switch out of TransAlta

TransAlta's nightmare is growing, with tens of thousands of customers continuing to switch to rival power retailers in the past few months.

FreshStart Energy, a subsidiary of Wellington company Todd Energy, and TrustPower of Tauranga have netted nearly 18,000 customers - mostly from TransAlta - in the past two months.

TransAlta is now thought to have lost more than 40,000 customers to other power companies in the past six months.

The losses have escalated since Petone-based TransAlta, New Zealand's largest power retailer, lifted its fixed rate charges to 75c a day in August.

FreshStart said it had snared 13,000 customers six weeks after first entering the Wellington market. FreshStart took a strong anti-TransAlta stance when it arrived, estimating that TransAlta customers with a monthly bill of $57 could save $110 a year by switching companies.

TransAlta spokesman Bruce Thompson said he believed his firm had put past difficulties behind it and was now making significant improvements to its service.

TransAlta is being merged into Natural Gas Corp, which now owns it 100 per cent.

- NZPA