Authority Confirms New Next-Gen Switching Service; Proposes Multiple Trading Relationships For Consumers

The Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko (the Authority) has confirmed two key initiatives to empower consumers to take full advantage of a dynamic and competitive energy market. The first is to develop a new, next-generation comparison and switching service and the second is a proposal to enable consumers to choose multiple providers for different power services.

Authority Chief Executive Sarah Gillies says: "In 2022, the Authority’s functions were expanded to include protecting the interests of domestic and small business consumers, and we began broadening our view of consumer mobility. These two initiatives form part of the Authority’s consumer mobility programme, supporting households and businesses to become active players in the electricity market.

"We envisage a future in which consumers are equipped with data and innovative tools to seamlessly compare and switch plans and providers, choose multiple providers for different services, and sell surplus power back to the grid, all with a few taps on a smart device," says Gillies.

"This future will enable consumers to optimise costs, benefit from new technologies, and have more flexibility to choose the services that provide the best value for their needs - whether directly or through new providers and automated services.

"To achieve this, we’ll need a comparison and switching service that can leverage AI-enabled tools, improvements in data standardisation and a future consumer-data-right. Consumers will also need access to multiple trading relationships so they can engage multiple retailers, for example to buy and sell from different retailers for electricity consumption and generation."

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

The Authority's ‘Evolving multiple retailing and switching’ consultation paper sets out the case for enabling consumers to choose different retailers for consumption and generation that offer the best value.

The Authority believes this will drive lower costs, improved services, and more reliable supply. This in turn will encourage retailers to compete for and better reward consumers, including those with distributed generation like solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles. These changes will also encourage innovators to develop new products and services, leading to increased choice for consumers and more options for distributed generation.

Gillies says a new, easier comparison and switching service is considered essential to enabling consumer mobility. "The time is right to develop a service that will go beyond providing a website, to empower consumers to take full advantage of a dynamic and competitive energy market," says Gillies.

"We have been funding Powerswitch for several years, and this has served retail power consumers well over this time. We are now looking to provide an enhanced digital service that gives consumers more control over their energy bills, strengthens retail competition and encourages innovation and better service delivery."

The Authority highly values Powerswitch’s contribution to supporting consumer choice and will continue to support and promote it until a new comparison and switching solution is launched later this year. The Authority was encouraged by the strong response to the procurement process from providers with a range of new thinking, approaches and technical capability, and expects to announce a new comparison and switching service partner in coming weeks.

Note:

The Electricity Authority is an independent Crown Entity with the main statutory objective to promote competition in, reliable supply by, and the efficient operation of, the electricity industry for the long-term benefit of consumers. The additional objective of the Authority is to protect the interests of domestic consumers and small business consumers in relation to the supply of electricity to those consumers.

© Scoop Media