Contact Energy ups prices by 10pc

Contact Energy has hiked its pricing, blaming rising costs.

One of the power firm’s Auckland customers forwarded the Weekend Herald a Contact update on “changing” pricing.

It detailed the following electricity rises, all kicking in on November 1:

● Daily charge increasing from $2.07 to $2.27 cents — a 9.7 per cent rise

● Per kilowatt hourly charge increasing from 21.7 to 23.9 cents/kWh — a 10.1 per cent rise

And on his gas bill:

● Daily charge increasing from $1.23 to $1.36 — a 10.6 per cent rise

● Per kilowatt hourly charge increasing from 8.2 to 9.0 cents/kWh — a 9.8 per cent rise

Inflation fell in the second quarter to 6 per cent, from 6.7 per cent previously.

Customers have been offered a link to a page to check if they’re on the best plan.

“We are increasing energy prices for customers on our open-term plans,” Contact chief retail officer Matt Bolton told the Weekend Herald. “This means, on average, customers will pay $2.65 more a week for electricity and $1.70 a week more for gas.

“Prices will increase for about half of our retail customers.”

Bolton blamed increases in the the wholesale cost of energy, rising transmission charges, and “inflationary pressure on the services we provide”.

Contact’s last round of price rises varied by customer, but was around a year ago, Bolton said.

He added, “We’re mindful that Kiwis are doing it tough and any price increase, no matter how small, can be a strain on household budgets. We encourage customers to speak to us as soon as possible if they need support with their energy bill.”

Consumer watchdog critical

“Contact says it’s mindful of the impact of the price hike on customers. One thing it could do is tell customers regularly whether they are on the best plan for their consumption and what they could save if they switched to another plan,” Consumer Advocacy Council chairwoman Deborah Hart said.

“A ‘best plan’ notice is something they agreed to do when they signed up to the Consumer Care Guidelines, a voluntary code of practice for the industry.

“Contact is not doing it now and neither is Contact putting the name of a customer’s plan on its bill so they can easily use Powerswitch to compare different plans of all retailers. This is another way to save money.”

Lift follows broadband rise

Last month, the same customer saw the price of his broadband plan with Contact increase by $5 to $80 — a rise of 6.7 per cent.

Contact, like other broadband retailers, was passing on a price rise by wholesaler Chorus (and three smaller UFB operators). Chorus is allowed one regulated price rise per year to its rates, pegged to the CPI.

‘Bundles of confusion’

Last week, telecommunications commissioner Tristan Gilbertson, who sits on the Commerce Commission, called deals combining power and broadband “bundles of confusion”.

Gilbertson called on power companies to offer more clarity — including a prominent display of whether electricity or gas would in fact be cheaper if bought standalone — and threatened regulation.

“We will work actively with the Commerce Commission to ensure customers of bundled telco products continue to get the information they need to make the best decisions for them,” Bolton said.

The Electricity Authority encouraged consumers to hunt out the best plan using Consumer’s Powerswitch service, funded by the EA.