Consumers Not Well-Served by UTS Decision

28 February 2019

News release
Consumers Not Well-Served by UTS Decision, Says Electric Kiwi

The interests of Kiwi consumers are not being looked after by today’s UTS decision from the Electricity Authority, says Electric Kiwi.

“This is another case of the EA looking for ways to do nothing,” says CEO Luke Blincoe. www.electrickiwi.co.nz

“The EA has a statutory objective to promote competition for the benefit of consumers – and that’s why independent power companies like Electric Kiwi we will continue to hold both the regulator and industry to account.

“Consumer interests are not well-served with this decision. We have already seen prices moving up since the event late last year with recent price increases from both Genesis and Mercury.”

Blincoe says the EA findings seem to be at odds with their own news release. “They reference the need to alter the rules which surely undermines their own findings.

“They’ve also referred certain trading behaviours to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, which is a very serious step and suggests a disparity in standards between the EA here and ASIC. Any ASIC investigation should be a major cause for concern for a listed company.”

About Electric Kiwi:

Electric Kiwi is an independent digital electricity company. Now the fastest-growing power company in NZ, Electric Kiwi puts the power in the hands of the consumer by making it easy to switch with no break fees or contracts. Electric Kiwi created the Hour of Power, which gives its customers an hour of free off-peak power every day. It takes only two minutes to sign up online. Electric Kiwi took on its first customers in December 2014 and has been audited and certified by the Electricity Authority (EA) as a reconciliation participant. Last year, it won the Deloitte Fast 50 award for the Fastest Growing Retail or Consumer Products Business, the Consumer NZ Energy Retailer of the Year title at the Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards and picked up a People’s Choice Award from Consumer NZ. Previously, Canstar Blue awarded Electric Kiwi the “2017 Most Satisfied Customers Award – Electricity Providers”.

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