How much are you paying for power in your home? Is it more than the average power bill in New Zealand? If it is, you could be paying too much for your power. Canstar Blue explores average power bills and how to find a better deal on your electricity.
Average Power Consumption
The most recent stats show that, last year, the average Kiwi household used 7084kWh of electricity, at 34.25c per kWh, for a total cost of $2426. This works out to roughly $202 per month. Although most homes use more electricity over winter, and less in summer, due to heating costs.
But these are average figures, as power prices vary considerably around the country: from the cost of the electricity itself, to the line charges that pay for the infrastructure required to get electricity from power stations to people's homes.
Differences in the cost of electricity
Around the country, there's a variance of over 6c in the price of electricity per kWh, from 21.35c in Christchurch to 27.74c in Westport.
Differences in line charges
The cheapest line charges are in Nelson, where consumers pay 8.49c per kWh. In Waipukurau and Cromwell, residents pay 20.29c and 20.51c per kWh, respectively. That’s quite a difference, which when spread over a year's consumption can make a big difference to household bills.
Average Power Bills
As you can see, because of these regional differences, residents in Westport and Kerikeri face average power bills that are around 42% higher than those of people living in Christchurch.
Westport | $3220 | $268 |
Kerikeri | $3218 | $268 |
Balclutha | $3152 | $263 |
Greymouth | $3146 | $262 |
Waipukurau | $3064 | $255 |
Cromwell | $3035 | $253 |
Blenhiem | $2965 | $247 |
Gisborne | $2880 | $240 |
Otorohanga | $2868 | $239 |
Taumaranui | $2868 | $239 |
Dannevirke | $2865 | $239 |
Pukekohe | $2829 | $236 |
Hawera | $2797 | $233 |
Masterton | $2797 | $233 |
Rangiora | $2790 | $233 |
Winton | $2788 | $232 |
Kaiapoi | $2763 | $230 |
Tauranga | $2754 | $229 |
Whangarei | $2742 | $228 |
Paraparaumu | $2664 | $222 |
Oamaru | $2659 | $222 |
Thames | $2654 | $221 |
Queenstown | $2613 | $218 |
Taupo | $2605 | $217 |
Rotorua | $2581 | $215 |
Whanganui | $2574 | $215 |
Timaru | $2569 | $214 |
Whakatane | $2562 | $213 |
Cambridge | $2558 | $213 |
New Zealand | $2527 | $211 |
New Plymouth | $2518 | $210 |
Dunedin | $2518 | $210 |
Napier | $2516 | $210 |
Palmerston North | $2501 | $208 |
Richmond | $2457 | $205 |
Nelson | $2433 | $203 |
Auckland North Shore | $2425 | $202 |
Auckland Central | $2418 | $201 |
Hamilton | $2406 | $201 |
Invercargill | $2355 | $196 |
Ashburton | $2314 | $193 |
Wellington City | $2270 | $189 |
Christchurch | $2262 | $188 |
Data: www.mbie.govt.nz Quarterly Survey of Domestic Electricity Prices to February 15, 2025.
High Average Power Bills: What to do about them
Unfortunately, if you live in one of the more expensive regions for power, unless you move, you're never going to experience electricity prices as low as the good residents of Christchurch and Wellington City. However, there are three easy steps you can take to secure a better power deal.
Step 1: Are you a low user or standard user
Whether you're a low or standard user affects your power plan and how much you are charged for the energy your household consumes. This is because a power bill is made up of two key charges:
- Fixed-rate daily charge – a fixed rate charged every day regardless of how much power you use
- Variable usage/per unit charge – a rate that is charged for every kWh used
And the way these charges are implemented varies depending on whether you are a standard or a low user:
Standard user: a household that uses over 8000kWh per year
A standard user consumes relatively high amounts of electricity each month. As a result, power companies offer competitive variable usage rates. To balance this, they charge a higher fixed-rate daily charge.
Low user: a household that uses under 8000kWh per year
Low users pay a lower fixed-rate daily charge, but higher prices for the power they use. This means that their fixed costs are lower than those of a standard user. And as long as they don’t use much power, especially during peak hours, their bills will be lower.
However, because most Kiwi homes are now low users, the low-user electricity tariff is being phased out, and fixed daily charges are being standardised across all users, which has seen low-user fixed-rate daily charges increase.
As a result, many power companies are expanding their power deals, offering reduced charges for off-peak power usage. Some have scrapped daily tariffs altogether, so there are plenty of deals out there.
Of course, you need to balance the per kWh charge of each power plan when comparing the savings you can make from shopping around for the lowest daily charge. And don't forget to ensure that you compare power company quotes with GST added, for a clearer picture of the costs involved.
Step 2: When do you use most of your power?
Many power providers have off-peak power deals, offering cut-price or even free electricity. Off-peak times differ between plans and providers but, generally speaking, peak times are Monday to Friday, 7am-11am and 5pm-9pm. For example, here are the current different standard-user rates offered in Auckland by one electricity retailer:
Standard electricity rates per kWh
- Peak: 0.32959c
- Off-peak: 0.23759c
- Night 0.164795c
As you can see, if you burn most of your electricity outside of peak times – or can easily move most of your power consumption to off-peak – there are big savings to be made.
Step 3: Compare providers
NZ's energy market is dominated by four big gentailers that generate electricity and sell it through their retail businesses:
- Mercury – includes the brand Globug
- Genesis Energy – includes the brand Frank Energy
- Contact Energy
- Meridian Energy – includes the brand Powershop and Flick Electric
However there are other players, and by opting for a smaller, no-frills power retailer, you could save money:
- Electric Kiwi
- Ecotricity
- Nova Energy
- Octopus
- Pulse Energy
- Slingshot
