Energy Efficiency Will Help Homes, Businesses Temper Electricity Bill Shocks Starting Today

Homes and businesses must relook at energy efficiency as a way to minimise electricity bill shocks from April 1, an energy efficiency expert says.

“Power prices are headed in one direction – up – as Transpower and lines companies from today start increasing their network charges to fund improved capacity and resilience of their networks,” said Chris Mardon, managing director of Ecobulb.

Electricity retailers will be passing on larger lines’ charges along with other increases, such as the higher cost of generation.

Dr Mardon said a typical power bill in Wellington will increase 12 percent or $24 a month tomorrow, from $2,296 a year to $2,580 a year[1].

“This is considerably higher than the Commerce Commission estimate that Wellington bills would rise on average $6 a month[2] excluding GST.

“While $6 might be the increase for the lines’ component of the bill, the total bill is what people care about, and the bottom-line is considerably higher.”

“As the weather cools, and people start using more power at higher prices, they’ll be wondering what they can do about it. One option is to invest in more efficient appliances such as LEDs, efficient shower heads and heat pump water heaters, which benefit homes and businesses wanting to save money,” Dr Mardon said.

Many New Zealand households could save over $1,000 a year by switching out key household appliances for more efficient options.

One of the positive changes from April 1 is the possibility for lines companies to spend money on supporting energy efficiency, which is a regulatory objective under the Commerce Act.

“We’ll be watching closely to see when, where and how much lines companies allocate their $91.9[3] million of funding to support energy efficiency.”

Meanwhile customers should be looking at their own options to reduce their power consumption through energy efficiency.

“Rolling out various low-cost energy saving measures to 1.5 million New Zealand homes could save kiwis $1 billion a year in power, with a four-month payback based on energy savings,” Dr Mardon said.

[1] A customer using 7,200 kWh a year; lines charge increasing to $1.50/day from $1.20 a day, variable charge increasing to 23.57 c/kWh from 21.66 c/kWh. GST then added.

[2] Default-price-quality-paths-for-electricity-distribution-businesses-from-1-April-2025-Final-decision-Reasons-paper-20-November-2024.pdf page 109

[3] EDB-DPP4-Final-decision-Reasons-paper-Attachment-D-Innovation-and-section-54Q-incentives-16-December-2024.pdf page 13

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