Do you pay too much for power?

NICOLE GOURLEY/The Southland Times

YOU HAVE THE POWER: Invercargill man Peter Scott wants people to be aware they might be eligible for cheaper electricity prices, and if in doubt, they should ring their power companies to find out.

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Scores of people could be paying substantially more for their electricity than necessary because they are not aware of their rights.

Contact Energy customer Peter Scott, of Invercargill, said he had phoned Contact several times in recent months because he was lagging behind in his electricity payments and wanted to sort out the issue.

But it was only on his last phone call that a Contact staffer said he was eligible for its "low-user rate", which would save him more than $300 a year in electricity charges.

Contact Energy's low-user rate is available for its southern customers who use less than 9000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.

Mr Scott said he believed scores of other people might also be eligible for the cheaper electricity prices without knowing it, and he urged them to ring their respective power companies to find out.

Southland Grey Power president Geoff Piercy said Grey Power told its members about the low-user rates offered by power companies, but he believed the companies should be more open about the cheaper rate being available.

"I must admit they don't make it easy for people to understand. I would suggest that couples or anyone living alone should ring their power company and ask if they are able to go on the low-user rate," Mr Piercy said.

Spokespeople for Contact Energy, TrustPower and Meridian Energy yesterday said low-user rates were available for their respective customers who used less than 8000kWh or 9000kWh of electricity a year, depending on where in the country they lived.

Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said every electricity retailer was required to offer the low-user rate.

The three power companies said they publicised their respective low-user rates and informed their customers about it by letter once a year; but it was up to the customers to ask for it.

A key reason the companies did not offer the cheaper rate to individual customers was that they could not predict how much power each customer might use in the future. If customers were automatically put on the lower rate and then used more than 9000kWh of electricity, their bills would be higher than otherwise expected, the power companies said.

"It's better for customers to make that decision themselves," a Contact spokeswoman said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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