A winter of apparent economic discontent now has the added ingredient of pessimistic consumer sentiments about power bills.

In the wake of the Northland power debacle, the Consumer Advocacy Council (CAC) said network resilience was one of the main concerns among residential and small business electricity users.

Of residential consumers surveyed, 86% were concerned about system resilience.

And that was before a pylon fell south of Wellsford, cutting power off to nearly 100,000 people further north. CAC’s question was asked in the context of extreme weather events being a challenge to system resilience.

Some 80% of surveyed small business respondents were worried about the same thing.

Possible price rises were a worry for two-thirds of consumers in the CAC survey.

Almost half of residential customers and more than one-third of small-business owners surveyed said it was harder to pay power bills now than it was a year ago.

CAC chairwoman Deborah Hart said the high cost of living had combined with power prices to take a serious toll.

About 67% of household respondents were worried about electricity costs, up from 58 per cent in the CAC survey two years ago.

Among small-business respondents, 38% said it was harder to pay bills than it had been a year earlier, up from 21% in 2022.

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The council said 80% of residential and small businesses consumers reported electricity affordability being a top concern.

And two-thirds of respondents were worried electricity would become unaffordable for some consumers in the next 10 years.

Bundled up

CAC said consumers seemed confused about the range of power offerings as some retailers bundled power with other services, such as broadband.

“One in four consumers who have bundled plans said they didn’t know if they were getting a good deal. One in 10 actually discovered that their costs had increased. Bundled plans can be deceptive,” Hart said.

CAC said one-third of consumers who thought of switching to another retailer did not find the savings worth the effort of switching.

The Benmore Dam in the Waitaki Valley generates hydroelectricity. Consumers in the latest CAC survey are not gushing about power prices or system resilience. Picture / Simon Baker

“New Zealand’s approach has relied heavily on promoting switching to drive competition and better prices for consumers, but evidence shows switching rates remain relatively low,” Hart said.

She believed retailers should be compelled to tell customers frequently if they were on the right plan for their budget.

“The Electricity Authority should make a best-plan notice mandatory.”

The Electricity Authority is the industry regulator.

Hart added: “Demand for electricity is rising with a growing population and increasing electrification of appliances and cars. But consumers can’t keep paying higher prices for an essential service.”

The survey, the third of its kind, was carried out last month, sampling views of 500 small businesses and 1000 residents.

Last month, the Herald reported futures market pricing showed wholesale power prices should fall over the next few years as many new renewable energy projects come on stream.

However, prices would still be high, relative to history, reflecting the likelihood of less gas being available for power generation, Meridian chief financial officer Mike Roan said.

Meridian, the country’s biggest power generator, said in February it would lift power prices by 6%.

It said that would happen after four years of keeping price adjustments below the rate of inflation, and price rises would affect only 30% of Meridian’s customers.

The CAC survey followed a gloomy Westpac-McDermott Miller employment confidence survey earlier today.

Meanwhile, 364,000 households and businesses in Auckland will receive the Entrust dividend in late September.

The amount can vary from year to year but in 2023 the payment was $334.