Meters cause market anger
New electricity market entrant Electric Kiwi is accusing Trustpower of dragging its feet with the introduction of smart meters, because it does not want to lose customers.
Nationwide, just over 78 per cent of households now have a smart meter. But while penetration is high in centres such as Auckland and Wellington, in parts of the country where Trustpower is dominant, few households have made the switch.
Smart meters record information at half-hourly intervals and send the information to the power company at least daily. It means readings are more accurate and the meter does not have to be physically read.
Some new competitors, such as Flick and Electric Kiwi, require a smart meter if households want to take up their services.
Tauranga is one area where households have been slow to get smart meters, industry data shows. There, Trustpower is dominant with more than 70 per cent of the market. But it has more than 37,000 legacy meters that have not been replaced by smart meters.
That is about the same number as across all the retailers in Auckland combined. Tauranga also has the lowest switching rate of the main centres – at just 15 per cent per year compared with more than 25 per cent in Hamilton.
Electric Kiwi chief executive Luke Blincoe said it meant Tauranga customers had fewer options. ‘‘The two leading new players, us and Flick, both require smart meters,’’ he said.
‘‘The absence of smart meters on networks reduces the amount of competition.’’
One customer, Aimee Ansell, said she wanted to move from Trustpower to Electric Kiwi but had been told she would need to pay $150 to have a smart meter installed if she wanted to do so.
‘‘I feel I’m paying higher rates than other providers. I’m quite keen to switch suppliers but all the pricing is going up in April for the big companies, so there really are limited options of who I can switch to since I’ve got an old Trustpowerowned meter that’s inside my house,’’ she said.
Blincoe said it was in the interests of the market leaders to maintain their share by not deploying smart meters rapidly.
Trustpower spokesman Matt James agreed the company had not focused on moving customers to smart meters in the same way other retailers had.
He said Trustpower had historically owned power meters, and had 75 staff employed as meter readers, so it saved on some costs that other firms were trying to avoid by moving to smart meters.
‘‘We have been really happy with legacy meters and readings as a service to customers.’’
But he said things were now changing. Many of the customers who switched to the company from other retailers had smart meters.
Now, Trustpower was thinking about what service it could provide its customers by using them.
He said the decision to wait was not designed to protect Trustpower’s market share.
The Commerce Commission said the issue had not been raised with it. ‘‘The commission would only be involved if there was evidence that energy retailers were colluding in any way in breach of the Commerce Act.’’
Electricity Authority CEO Carl Hansen said he was happy with progress on smart meters.