Power users advocate won’t ‘be timid’

The head of a new body set up by the Government to advocate for electricity consumers says it won’t be afraid to speak up about big issues such as pricing or the structure of the industry.

The Consumer Advocacy Council held its first board meeting on Thursday and chairperson Deborah Hart said one of its first goals would be to improve the consistency of information in power bills.

The council plans to develop a model for an electricity bill with standardised information by October, that she hopes power companies will then adopt.

Hart said many consumers couldn’t tell the name of the power plan they were on from their bills which made it difficult for them to use websites such as Consumer NZ’s Powerswitch service to compare plans and work out whether they were getting the best deal.

‘‘There are inconsistencies across retailers and it makes it really hard for consumers to have the right information at their fingertips.’’

It might also be helpful for power firms to also tell consumers on their power bills when the term of any fixed plan they were on was ending, so they could plan ahead to shop around, she agreed.

She noted a Consumer NZ survey suggested about a fifth of consumers didn’t even look at their bills.

Hart said the council was also concerned that some consumers on pre-paid power plans, who are often more vulnerable consumers, were paying fees that might not be justified.

‘‘The cost for the actual electricity is usually the same as for those who are on time-of-use plans.

‘‘But some retailers are charging disconnection and reconnection fees that put the price up and sometimes we can’t see that there is a cost to the retailer, or of the amount that is being charged, so it looks punitive,’’ she said.

Consumer NZ said the two main prepay power providers, Mercury-owned Glo-bug and Wise Prepay Energy, had about 27,000 customers between them.

Consumer NZ Powerswitch manager Paul Fuge said that was relatively unchanged, but 28% of people it surveyed had said they struggled to pay their power bills over the past year and had been disconnected previously, up from 15% who answered ‘yes’ to both questions in 2019.

Hart said the Consumer Advocacy Council wouldn’t be afraid to get stuck into more meaty issues in the sector, including whether the structure of the power market was working out for consumers and whether the prices they were paying for power were fair.

‘‘We will not be timid about saying what we think but it will be based on the evidence,’’ she said.

ROBERT KITCHIN/ STUFF Consumer Advocacy Council chairperson Deborah Hart says the Governmentestablished body will have a ‘‘laser focus’’ on consumers’ interests and electricity.