Power watchdog wants actual watchdogs to probe electricity + broadband bundling for signs of profit padding by electricity gentailers; ComCom already looking at telco side of bundling
Only because a hangi or umu is definately a bit beyond me and there will never be an end to prices going up and systems breaking down. We shouldn’t have confidence in any of it at all. It’s a vampire psychopathic system which doesn’t work for us as citizens. It’s masochistic/ sadistic to engage with or tolerate it.
It should go without saying that 'permanent half-priced public transport' is just 'priced public transport'... Cabinet no doubt realised that and, for the relatively minimal investment, figured they're better off carrying on stringing along the grift - because the alternative ('no-price public transport') is unthinkable to the Ranger-owning voter base.
For climate reasons, I think that governments should be trying to maximise ridership, and I think in general the biggest thing governments can do to achieve that is provide frequent, fast, and reliable service. For anyone who values their time, the difference between a bus ride being $6 or $3 is much smaller than their bus being on-time or being late.
Cheaper public transport would be great, but in a world with limited public funds, I would much rather governments spend on improving the quality of public transport service than make it free.
Omg Bernard, this inspired me to call my power company so they could help me fill in the power switch website questions. 25 mins on the phone to someone very helpful, and apparently I can save $450 per year if I switch! But... how do I know? And how do I know whether what they offer me will be the same as the calculation on power switch?! Ah it’s thrilling. I hope I remember to do this same exercise in March 2024
Absolutely! Brilliant. Glad I saved someone some money. Much better in your pocket than the profits/dividends of some gentailer, with three of them paying 51% of the dividends back to the Government. Bit like a tax.
What I found out is that all you have to do is apply to switch. The second your current provider gets the notification they contact you to give you a better deal than what you currently have.
Merav - actually, no, fortunately. This practice of current providers contacting you once notified of a switch away to offer you a better deal has been banned. It was known as 'win backs' and now a 'losing' retailer can't make contact again for at least 6 months to offer a new deal. Plenty of things wrong with existing market design and rules still, but this is at least one thing that was fixed.
Every time I’ve looked at these bundle deals the overall cost is more - the broadband is a bit cheaper but their kWh rates are higher than others that only supply power. They should be marketing on convenience of one bill rather than value
Thanks Tim. Needs some proper apples with apples analysis. It's what behavioral economists call 'sludge' economics, rather than 'nudge' economics. Little things dominant players do to make that little bit harder to compare providers easily and move easily.
I used to switch. Now I save my brain from the waste of time and energy. One would switch to a cheaper package but within several months it would have mutated into what you had before. As I said there’s too many other things to be busy thinking about
On the point about Portugal removing GST/VAT from fruit and vegetables to “tame inflation”: does that actually make economic sense? It might be politically popular, but cutting taxes is typically inflationary overall.
GST is a regressive tax so maybe remove it from food - a basic necessity and replace the tax generated with a progressive tax to maintain the overall tax take?
The bundling of products and services per se is not so much the issue in my view. It's that this bundling is done by suppliers, not consumers. Under reformed market rules where 'multiple trading relationships' (MTR) applied, consumers could have much more choice and control over how they access the bundling of different services. As the podcast points out, the current way that bundling is offered to consumers is all part of the 'confusopoly' that is current electricity retail market design.
So the last time I had a switch attempt must have been a while ago, then, as this is what happened. I wasn't happy at all about the lack of care to existing customers, but I got a good deal out of it so I didn't switch as a protest (which I sometimes do). Perhaps time to look into it again. Or time to consider solar.
I’m getting a solar oven😆. I’m a bit behind the eight ball on tech available using free energy and to home. But this will do me.
Only because a hangi or umu is definately a bit beyond me and there will never be an end to prices going up and systems breaking down. We shouldn’t have confidence in any of it at all. It’s a vampire psychopathic system which doesn’t work for us as citizens. It’s masochistic/ sadistic to engage with or tolerate it.
It should go without saying that 'permanent half-priced public transport' is just 'priced public transport'... Cabinet no doubt realised that and, for the relatively minimal investment, figured they're better off carrying on stringing along the grift - because the alternative ('no-price public transport') is unthinkable to the Ranger-owning voter base.
Outside the main urban areas there is hardly even an “any priced public transport” option
That's fair. And needs to be changed. Cheers Andrew.
Indeed. Would much prefer free. But it's all about the optics...
For climate reasons, I think that governments should be trying to maximise ridership, and I think in general the biggest thing governments can do to achieve that is provide frequent, fast, and reliable service. For anyone who values their time, the difference between a bus ride being $6 or $3 is much smaller than their bus being on-time or being late.
Cheaper public transport would be great, but in a world with limited public funds, I would much rather governments spend on improving the quality of public transport service than make it free.
And there he goes https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/131587192/wayne-brown-uses-casting-vote-to-pull-auckland-council-out-of-local-government-nz
Worth noting that for the $400k investment they got over $1M value from one LGNZ project. I hope they can find similar ROI now they are on their own
Cheers Andrew for the link. Which project?
Sorry my mistake. I misread yesterday’s Stuff article and it said potential to save $1.1 in one street light project.
Omg Bernard, this inspired me to call my power company so they could help me fill in the power switch website questions. 25 mins on the phone to someone very helpful, and apparently I can save $450 per year if I switch! But... how do I know? And how do I know whether what they offer me will be the same as the calculation on power switch?! Ah it’s thrilling. I hope I remember to do this same exercise in March 2024
Absolutely! Brilliant. Glad I saved someone some money. Much better in your pocket than the profits/dividends of some gentailer, with three of them paying 51% of the dividends back to the Government. Bit like a tax.
Unless, of course, Polly simply made the switch from one gentailer to another...?
What I found out is that all you have to do is apply to switch. The second your current provider gets the notification they contact you to give you a better deal than what you currently have.
Merav - actually, no, fortunately. This practice of current providers contacting you once notified of a switch away to offer you a better deal has been banned. It was known as 'win backs' and now a 'losing' retailer can't make contact again for at least 6 months to offer a new deal. Plenty of things wrong with existing market design and rules still, but this is at least one thing that was fixed.
Every time I’ve looked at these bundle deals the overall cost is more - the broadband is a bit cheaper but their kWh rates are higher than others that only supply power. They should be marketing on convenience of one bill rather than value
Thanks Tim. Needs some proper apples with apples analysis. It's what behavioral economists call 'sludge' economics, rather than 'nudge' economics. Little things dominant players do to make that little bit harder to compare providers easily and move easily.
I've updated now with the EA response.
I used to switch. Now I save my brain from the waste of time and energy. One would switch to a cheaper package but within several months it would have mutated into what you had before. As I said there’s too many other things to be busy thinking about
On the point about Portugal removing GST/VAT from fruit and vegetables to “tame inflation”: does that actually make economic sense? It might be politically popular, but cutting taxes is typically inflationary overall.
GST is a regressive tax so maybe remove it from food - a basic necessity and replace the tax generated with a progressive tax to maintain the overall tax take?
The bundling of products and services per se is not so much the issue in my view. It's that this bundling is done by suppliers, not consumers. Under reformed market rules where 'multiple trading relationships' (MTR) applied, consumers could have much more choice and control over how they access the bundling of different services. As the podcast points out, the current way that bundling is offered to consumers is all part of the 'confusopoly' that is current electricity retail market design.
More about MTR here for those who want to go deeper: https://www.araake.co.nz/projects/mtr/
So the last time I had a switch attempt must have been a while ago, then, as this is what happened. I wasn't happy at all about the lack of care to existing customers, but I got a good deal out of it so I didn't switch as a protest (which I sometimes do). Perhaps time to look into it again. Or time to consider solar.