Electricity retailers derided for needing regulation

28 January 2015

Electricity retailers derided for needing regulation to do right by consumers

Following the Electricity Authority’s announcement that from February 2016 all electricity retailers will need to supply usage data to their customers, Flick Electric Co. has criticised other retailers for needing regulation to do the right thing.

“We are extremely supportive of the EA’s action in this area, and their commitment to driving change, but it really is ridiculous that retailers aren’t doing this already,” says Flick CEO Steve O’Connor.

All Flick customers have full access to their half-hourly usage data from the day they join in their personalised online portal.

“It’s a matter of transparency and fairness. Kiwis cannot fully understand their power bill if they aren’t told, in a meaningful and usable way, how much power they’re using and what they’re paying for it.

“There would be no other major household expense where the true cost of what the consumer is buying is as deliberately obfuscated as it is with power.”

Flick is the only retailer in New Zealand that offers consumers a fully transparent pricing model where all of the costs of getting power to a property are passed through without any mark-up, including the spot price of the power they use, when they use it. Flick charges a separate fee to be a household’s retailer.

“Flick customers see what they use every half hour, and they see the market price they are paying for that electricity every half hour too. This empowers people to make changes to their energy use to chase low prices, which happen 25% of the time*, and take real control of their power bill,” says O’Connor.

He adds that it is concerning, but not surprising, that many retailers objected to the change in requirements.

“We think it’s about time Kiwis got a fairer deal from their power retailer. But historically the industry has made this hard by not leading change, made possible by technology like smart meters, that puts Kiwis in control.”

For more information visit www.flickelectric.co.nz

ENDS

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