Powershop: Powering Kiwi Homes

Regardless of your energy needs, only you have the power to secure a better deal on your electricity bill. In New Zealand, the five main energy companies are also the main generating companies. However, consumers still have a lot of choice when it comes to their power provider.

Over the past two decades, a lot of smaller players have emerged. Harnessing the power of new smart electricity meters and the internet, they’ve driven competition in the market and helped keep a lid on prices. In the process, they’ve shifted control of power bills into the hands of consumers.

There are now 37 different electricity providers in the market, from the big players and their own smaller brands, to independents. And although only around 14 brands dominate the residential market, that still adds up to a lot of choice for consumers.

So as part of our mission to inform consumers of the best NZ has to offer, Canstar Blue canvassed the opinions of 3986 New Zealanders who have electricity accounts across a range of categories, to measure and track their satisfaction.

To decide which electricity provider offers the best level of customer satisfaction, each was rated across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Bill & Cost Clarity
• Customer Service
• Ease of Sign-up
• Focus on Environmental Sustainability
• Online Tools and Advice
• Value for Money

Coming out on top and winning Canstar’s Blue’s prestigious award for Most Satisfied Customers | Electricity Providers is Powershop. In this year’s ratings, it’s the only power company to score 5 Stars for Overall Satisfaction. It’s a rating that’s backed with further 5- and 4-Star ratings across the board, including 5 Stars in the all-important category Value for Money.

Also deserving of a special mention are Electric Kiwi, our winner in 2020, and Flick Electric. Each power company earned a total of three top 5-Star ratings, combined with four 4-Star awards. Online Tools and Advice being a strong category for both of them.

What Kiwis Want From their Power Providers

What do we all want from our electricity providers? Given the increasing costs of powering and heating our homes, it’s not surprising that Value for Money tops the list for close to a third of our respondents (27%). This is reflected by the 35% of people in our survey who worry about their power bills.

Next comes Customer Service and Bill & Cost Clarity, both sitting around the 20% mark. Overall, the main drivers of satisfaction:

Powershop to the People

Powershop has been around since 2009, and is part of Meridian Energy, which, in turn, is the country’s biggest power generator and majority-owned by the government.

Powershop prides itself on its agile and innovative approach to empowering customers’ electricity usage. On top of great customer service, it offers:

• Guaranteed Savings
• Range of smart online tools
• No fixed contract
• Flexible billing
• Free power credits for signing up friends and family

Now Powershop has got something else to recommend it to Kiwi consumers: winning Canstar Blue’s award for Most Satisfied Customers | Electricity Providers.

According to our latest research, two-thirds of Kiwis haven’t compared electricity prices in the last 12 months. And if you’re one of them, you could be missing out on a better deal. So what are you waiting for, plug into our latest ratings and award results and start comparing today. You could be shocked by the savings!