Earthlings Mums Community Forum.

Last winter our drier stopped working - so we decided we could live without it...
We managed right through the winter, but the power bills were STILL big.
we thought, OK - this is jsut because we have de humidifiers/heaters etc...
Then, summer hits, we start using our dishwasher - the power bill is still rotten, we stop using the dishwasher - still massive???
What is with the power bills? We have nothing on all day(excpt the computer!!)
How are your power bills? Do you use a drier/dishwasher etc....

Unreal aye. When I was living in Napier about 5 years ago we only paid $80 a month now we pay between $180-250 a month..it stinks its like paying a smaller rent every week...we hardly use any power (well I dont think we do) its just me and a baby at home ..We have nothing on all day(excpt the computer!!) same lol

We don't have a drier, I am very power concious and ours are about $160 ish a month. I remember when Jakeb was a babe they were about $80-$100 month with a heater going in his room, so that was about 6/7 years ago.

I also think it is the daily line charges etc, they are huge, then there is the GST added on, and the commision charge. All add to the power. Sometimes I look and we haven't used much power but the charges are high.

We are getting solar hot water end of the month. Apparently it will save 75% on the hot water bill, our bill is about $120 for hot water so this should be a big help.

We are always shocked by some of our power bills..... over winter the bill was around $350 and I went mad..... then I found out that the oil heaters are to be left on and stay warm as it takes soooo much power to heal the oil in them every time.... and then our water pump had a fault and was always going so that was chewing up the power....now I can say that our bill is always around $160-180 and I can live with that. I pay everyweek and amount fromt he bank which means I get the discount even if its only $2 credit towards the next month.... but I love the idea of Solar for cooking and hot water......They know they have us...we all need power.... so the daily charges are getting dearer..... its a no win situation....we need power

Our power bills in summer are $80 -$100 (tank water with water pump going, airconditioning at times plus I am at home most days) and in winter can be up to $250 max (3 x heatpumps going and a dryer). Heatpumps are the way to go over winter (and cooling in summer) - we used to use oil heaters and they are horrendous! The initial outlay for a heat pump may be expensive but you save in power on the long run. Mind you, we are lucky here..hubby is an airconditioning engineer! Rather handy

Actually there a website to go to (www.power.govt.nz or something like that) were you can work out what power company is the best for you. I did that an actually changing my power company as we would be saving at least $20 per month and its free and very easy to changeover. Worth a look anyway.

Wow Marie your power bill is small!

Yeah we were talking about this this morning and remember the days when a normal poer account was like $80-$100 in summer and double that in winter NOW its HUGE

At Rotorua the only heating was the Heatpump, I was home all day computers running, DW, occasional drier (but just to get dampness out of thick things so they didnt stink), we used eco bulbs, but there were some llights that werent (hallogen?) + new baby so had to have it warm + 52" plasma.. I used to log in readings every couple of weeks to spread it out. But in saying that, in 2005 when I had Maree, our bills in winter were small (but power is cheaper than the gas bottle! and firewood)

So not much help in that area as felt that some of the power consumption, but yes there is a place to compare http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch

Our power bills just keep getting bigger and bigger! But I figure, I want to be comfortable so will spend the money - within reason of course! Hannah we had that same problem and I couldnt figure it out, but I think it was actually our fridge. We had an older one then - the older they are the more power they chew!

Wow guys, I don't think we would be able to cope paying that much in power....
We have been in our new home for 6 years now. Its fully insulated etc. Good location for the sun. At the moment is 26 degrees inside. We have our heatpump/airconditioner on most of the time to keep the place cool. We have dishdrawer going every 2nd day. Our power bill a month is about $30. We are on a low user plan. We have even checked it so many times, rung up the company checking to see if we were getting charged properly. Didn't want a huge bill out of it if something was wrong. We had our meter checked and they wrote us a letter saying that we were paying the correct amount.
We are about to move to another new home hopefully in April - not built yet. Will be interesting to see what the price difference it as we will be moving to Gas heating and electricity. We have rung up to check the price difference and they said we should be looking at about $60 a month.

I pay mine every 3 months....this time it was about $380 but thats just the electric...my heating and cooker is powered by gas so we are expecting another bill about the same for that. We have energy efficient bulbs fitted everywhere but what we save on that we use other ways. It seams as though every room I go in there is something on....Josh and Richard are terrible at not turning them off. Richard loves gadgets too and its ridiculus the amout of electrical things weve got...Im pretty sure our TV uses loads on its own. When I lived alone it was a lot cheaper!

Ours are like $250 a month - way to high. My partner is an electrician so has been around the house with meters trying to figure out whats doing it - probably the stupid old pump in the bottom paddock which is our outdoor tap water and back up water if we run out of tank water. We have a pool which only runs in summer... and a fireplace with wetback for heating in the winter. But there is only 3 us living here, and I rarely use the drier... I do try and save power.

$30 a month?!! Wow that is so low! I'd love ours to be that low, but I dont think it's possible! We have a really warm house too, and we dont even have a drier - but our bills would still be $150-$250 a month. Thats for power and gas. The lowest I can ever remember getting a bill for would be about $80. I cant believe $30 a month! Lucky you!!

Yeah $30 a month is impossible here. Even if we didnt use a single unit of electricity or gas the line charges alone are more than that. Here it is about $100 over summer and $300-350 over winter. Its a 220m2 house so its a lot of space to heat over winter.

Wow this house is RIDICULOUSLY hot over summer but our power bill still seems to be about $180 a month. It is a 5 bedroom 2 storey home though.
Winter is going to be interesting. The lounge has wooden floors so I'm picking it's going to be cold as heck.
We don't have a heater haha so hoping it's not TOO cold

Wow that is excellent it is $30 a month, we are just about to move into our new house so I will be interested to see what the ducted air-conditioning with draw!

can I move into your house with the $30 a month power bill....lol..... Our line rentals are more than that and now Vector gets a part of the the bill to ge the cables to our gate...everyone has their hand out tfor money in the power industry, I wonder if they are related to the IRD... they also have their hand out for evey cent you can't afford.

I would seriously check your power account Kazza, as just the line rental is about $30... just in case you have the problem like that business owing $55 k because of the power co reading his meter wrong. I presume that you shows actual consumption and not just a line charge? and are you in your own home or rental? as I have heard of cases where someone has fiddled with the meter and got a HUGE fine....

Hey Tiger. Yeah we own our own home and we have checked for the past 6 years of being here about the charges. Our bill shows our usage and how many units are calculated. We have a written letter from the power company saying we are being charged the correct amount. So they wouldn't be able to turn around and say we owe this much $$.

wow thats amazing really, your lucky to have a letter, as it definately sounds wrong! what an amazing savings you must be making! You say there is a usage showing, but what about the daily charges (seperate from usage, ie 32 days at 33.33 cents = )

Yeah we classic composite charge which is how many units used and we have a daily fixed rate which is the daily charge.

and its still only $30 per month?????

if so share the knowledge LMAO - so who are you with/name of the plan/ and a contact phone number haha

Yeah still $30 a month. We are with Genesis. I signed up for the low user plan Use less than 8000kwts a yeah.

Our power bill drives me nuts! When we lived in town a few years ago it was $80 a month, but now it's either $120 or $220! Our estimates are always around the $120 mark, but the actual reads are always more like $220! It makes me crazy - would be so much easier if they'd just do the estimate a bit more accurately. Our power bill comes through DH's work, so I can't do anything to get it sorted & nobody there seems very interested in calling them, grrrr.

our power bill came today and it was only $120...(well actually it is in so mucg credit i dont have to pay). I see its cheaper than this time last year so it does pay to check your water pump...saving me $40 a month by fixing the pump..... i pay weekly towards power so i seem to always be ahead of account and always get the discount for the next month even if i have $10 credit towards following months power...mum says i still have the most expensive surplier...... so it might pay to shop around for a good rate.

Im sick of ours here as well. We have a new home, solar, and gas for cooking i only turn the oven on about once a week. Tv only on when we get home about 3pm and computer on. Only have lights on in one room at night that we are in. Ours are still about $160 over summer and anywhere from $300-$400 over winter. For those that have trouble paying big bills just ring them (depending on who you are with) we put ours on smooth pay so the same amount comes out each fornight and we still get the promt payment discount even though its still in the red:) They review it about twice a year and you can pay extra off at anytime.
Not sure if we have any options here in Nelson for other suppliers might have to look into it.