Mission to save Kiwis $371m in power bills

8 November 2018

New Zealanders, on average, would save more than $200 per household every single year if they were on the best power provider for their needs, and a new service launching today will help them get there.

CompareBear.co.nz is a comparison website for power, broadband, and travel insurance which goes live today after two months of beta testing.

It’s the brainchild of Michael Speight and Denis Tyurkov who — thanks to their other comparison website Glimp.co.nz — have become experts in what people should be paying.

For most New Zealanders it’s bad news: we’re paying far too much.

Data from the Electricity Authority shows New Zealanders spent $371,381,591.00 more than they needed to on power last year — an average of $231 per household.

“I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer that $371m stayed with Kiwi families rather than go to the power companies,” Speight says.

“Our data from the last three years, gathered from helping tens of thousands of users switch to a more appropriate provider, shows that some New Zealand households could be saving more than $400 in power bills, every single year.

“All it takes to stop that waste of money is a switch to a better-suited provider, so we’re on a mission to help New Zealanders find the right provider for them and help them hold onto their hard-earned cash.”

CompareBear is a new and improved version of Glimp, but the premise is the same.

Users simply type in a few details about their current power provider, or upload their latest bill, and are delivered a better alternative on-the-spot. The whole process takes less than four minutes.

The best thing is that the service is 100% free for all users and CompareBear, through bulk buying, is able to negotiate better deals for New Zealanders with power providers than individual customers can directly.

“We launched CompareBear because we found it so hard to know which provider to go with ourselves when we first signed up for power,” Tyurkov says.

“Back then, there wasn’t a tool like CompareBear, so we built it. We quickly realised we weren’t the only ones who wanted it and that’s why we’ve made it public for all New Zealanders to reap the benefits.”

The service is not limited solely to comparing power providers; it also compares broadband and travel insurance, also completely for free. Mobile plan comparisons will soon also be added to the list.

“We’re truly passionate about helping New Zealanders only paying what they need to for their utilities. After adjusting for inflation, Kiwis are paying almost 80% more for power today than they were in 1990 and we don’t think that’s right,” Speight says.

“We think utilities are basic human rights — no one should have any difficulty paying for fundamentals such as power, internet, and mobile phone plans because all of these are essential to our lives.

“Unfortunately, too many Kiwis are finding it hard to pay those bills because they’re wasting money by being with a provider which isn’t providing the best value for their needs.”

ENDS

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