A new age in electricity pricing arrives

A new age in electricity pricing arrives

From this week onward, Genesis Energy customers with installed Advanced Meters will be able to choose a new Peak and Off-Peak pricing plan that will deliver extra savings if they take advantage of the night-time rates. These rates will be offered in the first instance to customers in the Waitakere and North Shore areas of Auckland.

Customers and consumer groups have been calling for the advantages of Advanced Meter or ‘smart meters’ to be made available. The new Advanced Meter Peak/Off-Peak pricing plan delivers savings from day one, without any effort or change in behaviour from customers. Further savings are possible by customers changing the time of day they use electricity.

Genesis Energy’s General Manager Retail, Dean Carroll, said “the new Peak/Off-Peak plan being offered to 3,500 customers is the first step in offering Advance Meter tariff options. We want to ensure new pricing plans based on this new technology will match our customers’ needs”

The Genesis Energy Advanced Meter Peak/Off-Peak pricing plan is the country’s first seven day a week, Peak /Off-Peak Plan enabled by an Advanced Meter. The new Advanced Meters being installed free of charge to the customer can provide a range of tariff options without a site visit.

The numbers

Depending on whether a customer is on a Variable Anytime or Composite Rate it will cost them around 9 or 12 cents less per kilowatt hour when running appliances such as a dishwasher, washing machine or clothes dryer between 11pm and 7am.

Because appliances such as fridges and hot water cylinders are already working through the night, switching to the Advanced Meter Peak/Off-Peak pricing plan means an average saving of $89 (incl. GST) off the annual energy bill before changing consumption patterns.

Dean Carroll also said “Genesis Energy has calculated that by using a 2 Star washing machine and clothes dryer four times per week during the Off-Peak Price period will save an additional $122 (incl. GST) per year, if a customer was previously on the Composite Rate and more if they were on the Anytime Rate.”

Variable rates for Genesis Energy customers on Anytime Rates will, under the Peak/Off-Peak pricing plan, reduce from 22.22 cents per kilowatt hour to 20.8 cents during the day and to 10.58 cents from 11pm to 7am. These tariffs are excluding GST and before a 10% prompt payment discount.

The Variable Rate for Genesis Energy customers on the Composite Rate will change from 19.55 cents per kilowatt hour to 20.8 cents during the day and 10.58 cents from 11pm to 7am. Daily fixed charges of 91 cents per day remain unchanged.

Background on Advanced Meter

Genesis Energy has a five-year plan to provide Advanced Meters to the bulk of its electricity customers. Around half a million Advanced Meters will be installed by the end of the programme in 2013. The Advanced Meters are installed and owned by Advanced Metering Services, a joint venture between Vector Limited and Siemens. Genesis Energy has contracted AMS to provide consumption data from its customers.

Customers with an advance meter will also no longer receive an estimated read or a visit from a meter reader as Advanced Meters send half-hourly electricity consumption data to Genesis Energy via a wireless network.

ENDS

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