Latest news with #ConsumerNewZealand
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials for Thursday 10th July 2025
In today's episode, Local government politicians still have questions about how future climate adaptation will be funded; The Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand's Covid-19 response is in the middle of another day of public hearings, this time focusing on vaccines; Consumer New Zealand says penalties under our fair trading laws may need to be tougher to deter bad behaviour; The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says urgent funding is needed keep a South Auckland hospice from cutting services. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
05-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
How To Keep Your Power Bill Down This Winter
Twenty percent of Kiwis are struggling to pay their power bills, with 11 percent cutting back on heating their homes, according to Consumer New Zealand's latest energy survey. Stats NZ figures show the price of electricity has gone up almost 9 percent in the past year. Some people have told Checkpoint they are in bed by 5pm to save on heating costs, while others take extreme measures, like turning off their hot water cylinder or bathing in cold water. However, Consumer NZ Powerswitch manager Paul Fuge told Checkpoint people could make significant savings on their bill, if they cut back on their energy use. "Typically, we would say [you can save] around 20 percent, if you're really disciplined." He said the price of energy had increased significantly, resulting in more people getting into energy hardship and struggling to pay their power bills. "One in five have experienced financial difficulty in paying their power bill over the last year and around the same number basically missed a payment because of that. That results in late fees, so the issue compounds." The top household energy user was hot water, amounting to around 30 percent of an average home's electricity bill. Fuge said this was followed by refrigeration at 17 percent and space heating at 15 percent. "Those are the biggest things that use energy and offer the biggest potential to save money." He said the most effective way was to get onto a time-of-use plan, enabling energy usage at times of day when the price was cheaper. "The price of electricity is constantly changing and it's higher when more people are using electricity. "That's early morning, when people are getting up and getting ready for work, and in the evening, when people are coming home. That's the highest price of electricity on the wholesale market." At times, like the middle of the night, when there is less demand for power, the price falls. "Retailers take advantage of this and buy electricity at lower cost periods, and pass those savings on through time-of-use plans." He said this included keeping your hot water cylinder on a timer, heating it up in the middle of the night, when electricity is often half the price, and again in the middle of the day, another off-peak time. Not every hot water cylinder operates on a timer system, typically only newer models. Fuge said the age of appliances also had a significant impact on its efficiency. "Modern appliances are much more efficient than the old ones, particularly things like fridges, but also hot water cylinders." While some may be tempted to power off the hot water cylinder completely to save costs, Fuge warned strongly against it. "We would not recommend doing that at all, because you can get diseases in the hot water cylinder, when the water's not hot enough, particularly legionnaires' disease, which sort of thrives in those warm stagnant water temperatures." He said another key energy drainer was the 'beer fridge'. "Modern fridges are way more efficient than the old fridges and that's a real saving. "We stick that old fridge at the bach or out in the shed, so you get an old inefficient appliance in an environment that it's not designed for and it's a perfect storm of badness in terms of electricity consumption." Fuge said, while the key way to save was a time-of-use plan, it wouldn't suit every household's needs perfectly. "If you can use those high-consumption appliances away from peak times and move them into cheaper times, there's some potential savings there, but I would caution that it requires discipline and it doesn't suit all households."
Otago Daily Times
04-07-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Tips to keep your power bill down this winter
Twenty percent of Kiwis are struggling to pay their power bills, with 11 percent cutting back on heating their homes, according to Consumer New Zealand's latest energy survey. Stats NZ figures show the price of electricity has gone up almost 9 percent in the past year. Some people have told Checkpoint they are in bed by 5pm to save on heating costs, while others take extreme measures, like turning off their hot water cylinder or bathing in cold water. However, Consumer NZ Powerswitch manager Paul Fuge told Checkpoint people could make significant savings on their bill, if they cut back on their energy use. "Typically, we would say [you can save] around 20 percent, if you're really disciplined." He said the price of energy had increased significantly, resulting in more people getting into energy hardship and struggling to pay their power bills. "One in five have experienced financial difficulty in paying their power bill over the last year and around the same number basically missed a payment because of that. That results in late fees, so the issue compounds." The top household energy user was hot water, amounting to around 30 percent of an average home's electricity bill. Fuge said this was followed by refrigeration at 17 percent and space heating at 15 percent. "Those are the biggest things that use energy and offer the biggest potential to save money." He said the most effective way was to get on to a time-of-use plan, enabling energy usage at times of day when the price was cheaper. "The price of electricity is constantly changing and it's higher when more people are using electricity. "That's early morning, when people are getting up and getting ready for work, and in the evening, when people are coming home. That's the highest price of electricity on the wholesale market." At times, like the middle of the night, when there is less demand for power, the price falls. "Retailers take advantage of this and buy electricity at lower cost periods, and pass those savings on through time-of-use plans." He said this included keeping your hot water cylinder on a timer, heating it up in the middle of the night, when electricity is often half the price, and again in the middle of the day, another off-peak time. Not every hot water cylinder operates on a timer system, typically only newer models. Fuge said the age of appliances also had a significant impact on its efficiency. "Modern appliances are much more efficient than the old ones, particularly things like fridges, but also hot water cylinders." While some may be tempted to power off the hot water cylinder completely to save costs, Fuge warned strongly against it. "We would not recommend doing that at all, because you can get diseases in the hot water cylinder, when the water's not hot enough, particularly legionnaires' disease, which sort of thrives in those warm stagnant water temperatures." He said another key energy drainer was the 'beer fridge'. "Modern fridges are way more efficient than the old fridges and that's a real saving. "We stick that old fridge at the bach or out in the shed, so you get an old inefficient appliance in an environment that it's not designed for and it's a perfect storm of badness in terms of electricity consumption." Fuge said, while the key way to save was a time-of-use plan, it wouldn't suit every household's needs perfectly. "If you can use those high-consumption appliances away from peak times and move them into cheaper times, there's some potential savings there, but I would caution that it requires discipline and it doesn't suit all households."
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
How to keep your power bill down this winter
20% of New Zealanders are struggling to pay their power bills with 11% cutting back on heating their homes, according to Consumer New Zealand's latest energy survey. Stats NZ figures show the price of electricty has gone up almost 9% in 12 months. Some people have told Checkpoint they are in bed by five to save on heating costs, others are taking extreme measures like turning off their hot water cylinder or bathing in cold water. Consumer's Manager of Powerswitch, Paul Fuge spoke to Lisa Owen about how to keep your power bill down this winter. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Newsroom
27-06-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
The double-whammy bill natural gas users have to pay
A controversial $200-million fund for investment in local gas exploration aims to tackle ever-dwindling supplies, but it won't be soon enough for thousands of households trapped with gas connections they don't want, a consumer expert says. The four-year contingency fund to subsidise new fossil fuel fields was announced by Resources Minister Shane Jones at last month's Budget. Just weeks later, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment revealed that our natural gas supply is running out faster than previously thought, with latest data showing reserves have fallen 27 percent from last year. But any new developments will take years, and gas households already face surging costs, says Paul Fuge, manager of Consumer New Zealand's Powerswitch. Residential consumers make up only 4 percent of the country's total gas use and Fuge says it won't be running out in the near future. But that is no consolation for gas customers who are being hit in the pocket twice. 'It costs more to have gas than electricity so an electricity-only house is much cheaper to run than a gas-electricity house because you can substitute all your gas appliances for electric appliances … but you can't run a TV on gas or your lights on gas,' says Fuge. That means gas customers have to have an electricity connection, which means double the costs of the infrastructure – gas pipes and electricity lines – needed to deliver the energy to people's homes. Gas customers are also locked out of cheaper electricity plans because most gas suppliers also demand that customers take their electricity. The companies that provide cheap electricity don't provide gas, Fuge says. Add to that the phasing out of low electricity charges for low users, which was a benefit for gas customers. 'What that means is people's electricity connections for the low users are getting more expensive every year over five years and that disadvantages gas customers,' he says. Customers who are renters are stuck with gas, as are people on low incomes because they can't afford to switch, Fuge says. He explains to The Detail why he thinks thousands of new households have connected to gas in recent years, despite rising prices. 'I wonder if it's when people are building new houses, developers may be putting in gas for various reasons.' The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment does not have specific figures for new connections but based on rising residential use, Fuge calculates that the number of household connections has increased by around 18,000 since 2019, to 290,000. Residential customers make up the smallest proportion of gas use. According to industry group GasNZ more than half a million New Zealand homes and businesses rely on gas and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). There are 300 large industrial gas customers, from methanol exporter Methanex to dairy plants and wood processors. Newsroom senior political reporter Marc Daalder says the large industrial users are more imperilled by the declining gas supply, as well as the electricity generators that rely on gas. He says the coalition's plans to repeal a ban on new oil and gas exploration will not solve our dwindling gas supplies any time soon. 'The fastest we've had from a conversion from finding that gas to producing that gas is 10 years and it's hard to say in 2035 we know exactly what our gas needs are going to look like. 'The reality is they're probably going to be a lot lower because we're going to be electrifying everything and some of the industries that we've got that rely on gas are going to be electrifying or closing down.' The other option is finding more gas in the existing fields which has been going on consistently and continually for many years, including since the exploration ban was put into place. 'About a billion dollars has been spent trying to find extra gas in those existing fields and there have been a few minor successes but nothing major.' However, two fields are showing potential new gas finds, which the $200-million government co-investment fund could boost. 'Shane Jones would really like for the Government to be able to completely revitalise the gas industry and send people out looking for brand new gas in brand new places. The reality is we haven't found any gas in a brand new place for two decades or longer,' says Daalder. 'It's not like the Gulf of Mexico where there is all this gas sitting there. The resource probably isn't that strong; $200 million isn't going to suddenly make it commercial to take that big of a gamble.' Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
