KEY POINTS:
Around 22,000 Genesis Energy customers are facing an increase in their gas bills. Gas bills will rise overall by an average of between 3 per cent and 14.5 per cent from November 18, said the state-owned company yesterday.
Genesis Energy public affairs manager Richard Gordon said the rate of the increase would vary from customer to customer and would depend on where they lived and what kind of price plan they were on.
The price rise has angered customer Ian Miller, who received a letter from the company last week informing him of the increase. Details of the increase were set out in a table accompanied by a letter, which was headed; "Your prices change because ours do. But one thing that will never change is our promise to be fair."
But Mr Miller, a 62-year-old corporate video producer in Whangaparaoa, said the price rise was anything but fair.
He said, "I was shocked when I got the letter ... I thought they must have made a mistake."
Mr Miller was told his daily fixed charge (the daily charge for the gas connection to his house) would increase from 50.93c to either 92.25c or 83.03c, depending on when payment was made. But Genesis Energy sent out incorrect current daily fixed charge figures to around 5000 of the 22,000 customers affected by the increase, including Mr Miller. The letter should have said his current daily fixed charge was 57.30c, not 50.93c - but that still equated to a large increase, said Mr Miller.
The company sent letters of apology and the correct figures to affected customers this week. The letter also informed Mr Miller of a slight decrease in the price of the gas itself, from 9.72 cents/kWh to either 9.27 cents or 8.34 cents, depending on when payment was made - a decrease he describes as negligible.
Mr Gordon said each customer would experience different changes in their daily fixed charge and variable rate, but overall their bills would increase by an average of between 3 per cent and 14.5 per cent.
"It's all to do with prices at different gas gates, where the gas comes out of the main pipelines into the local lines ... and it's all impacted by transmission and distribution costs ... and at the end of the day some changes in our margins to maintain a return."
He said residential gas customers in Northland, Whangaparaoa, Taupo, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne and Kapiti would be affected.
"The key message is for customers to make sure they are on the right pricing plan."
Genesis Energy, which has just over 700,000 customers mainly in the North Island, reported a profit this year of $61.3 million, down from $83.7 million in 2006.
Consumers Institute head Sue Chetwin said the increase had come without a proper explanation. She said power price increases in general were of great concern.
Genesis Energy chief executive Murray Jackson was reported last week as saying retail power prices would continue to rise 6 to 8 per cent a year.
