Power plan switch shock for customer
An Auckland businessman was shocked to find his electricity company had shifted him onto a different power plan without his permission.
Hiking New Zealand owner Malcolm O’Neill reckons over a year, he’d have ended up paying $400-$800 more on the plan Mercury had switched him onto, and took to social media to warn others to check their power bills.
‘‘I chanced a couple of days ago that our high consumption household was switched to a low user plan a couple months ago unknown to us. Low daily connection rate but kilowatt hour 40 per cent more,’’ O’Neill posted on Neighbourly.
Mercury moved quickly to switch him back when he complained. It said the switch was part of its ‘‘Price Plan Review’’ process designed to ensure customers were on the best plan for their household. The review, which is required by law, is an automated process in which Mercury’s system analyses the past 12 months of a household’s power use, and automatically switches it onto the plan that would have cost it least.
But because the previous 12 months power use may not be a good guide to the next 12 months, the customer is either sent a letter, or a link is added to their online bill, warning: ‘‘If you’re expecting big changes in your household over the next year which would mean that your energy use might go up or down, or you don’t want to change your price plan for any other reason, give us a call and we’d be happy to help.’’
Mercury’s Andrew Peckham said: ‘‘Our process goes slightly beyond compliance with those regulations and we have gone for an ‘Opt-out’ rather than an ‘Opt-in’ simply because it’s better for customers.’’
‘‘Our logic is that if there is a cheaper, regulated tariff available why wouldn’t you take it?’’
‘‘We make a purely mathematical determination of the cheapest tariff (Low User or Standard User) and there is no profitability strat- egy or trickery involved.’’
O’Neill was pleased Mercury quickly put him back onto his original plan, but remained concerned his power company had made a ‘‘transaction’’ on his behalf, which could have cost him so much.
Households were bombarded with marketing, making it hard for individuals to read everything sent to them by the companies they have dealings with. ‘‘When you are standing under a waterfall, you don’t notice every drop,’’ he said.
Peckham said: ‘‘If a customer misunderstood or missed the letter then, provided they make contact within a reasonable time after we sent the letter, we would be happy to refund them.’’