Electricity industry needs better behaviour

Electricity industry needs better behaviour around switching

Pulse Energy, New Zealand’s independent electricity retailer today called for a tightening up of the rules around customer switching in the Electricity sector.

Pulse says customers should have the right to switch electricity retailers if they choose to without being subjected to a series of callbacks from their previous electricity supplier. The company believes a fairer system for all would be one similar to that employed by the Telecommunications industry where there is no communication between retailers and their customer once a switch has been instigated.

This would be in line with improvements outlined in last year’s Ministerial Review into Electricity Market Performance, which encouraged greater competition between retailers. Pulse CEO, Dene Biddlecombe, says he knows of a number of instances where customers wanted to switch to Pulse but were coerced into remaining with their original electricity retailer after receiving a number of phone calls from them.

“People are being pressured into staying with their original supplier through a series of aggressive and intimidating tactics which we feel are contrary to fair trading conditions”, says Biddlecombe. He stressed “these actions are at odds with encouraging greater competition and facilitating switching for customers which was recommended by the Ministerial Review”.

The Electricity Commission released its figures today for customers who made the switch to Pulse in May. It says these figures are healthy despite the pressure that has been brought to bear on customers wishing to change electricity retailers.

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