75L free petrol

[resjudicata]

I only found out about this recently but if you change your electricity provider to Z electric and use a referral code (can find them on choice cheapies) they will deposit 75L free petrol into your sharetank account within 14 days. If you do end up changing electricity provider after that then there is no penalty. If you stay with Z Electric you can earn 5L per $100 you spend on your power bill so could get quite a bit of free fuel.

 

[lolaorchid]

@resjudicata Hey folks, I'm a data scientist for the NZ electricity industry. This sounds like a pretty good deal! However, make sure that you compare the overall costs of a deal like this before you dive in. A lot of companies offer fancy-sounding stuff to get you onboard but then the actual price of your electricity bill can cost you more in the long run.

For example, in the past 40 weeks with my current power company I paid about $1500 in electricity costs. Pulse Energy are currently offering me $150 joining credit (sweet!) BUT I just calculated that they would have charged me $250 more over the same timeframe for my electricity, meaning I'd have made a net loss of $100 hidden in the extra fees and higher per-unit costs, and I'd only get that credit if I switched to their broadband, too.

Be very cautious when people offer you free appliances, joining credits, free "night power", or whatever. No such thing as a free lunch. Someone's paying for it and it's probably you.

If anyone needs help understanding their electricity bills or comparing providers, you can reply to this comment and I'll do my best.

 

[lolaorchid]

@lolaorchid I've just run the numbers for Z Electric and they're pretty good! They're offering me 5L of fuel per $100 I spend on power plus 50L of fuel credit as a signing bonus. When I put that in my spreadsheet it comes out that I'd have saved roughly $100.

I would not have known this unless I'd done the calculations - you should do the same.

 

[resjudicata]

@lolaorchid If you sign up make sure to use a referral link as this increases the 50L sign up bonus to 75L. You can also earn an additional 50L per referral you make that also signs up.

 

[modestshadow]

@lolaorchid They're probably doing this great deal so people get a good feeling about using Z services. They end up using their app, using sharetank, using the pre-order coffee, and so on, and then they recommend to their friends, and it goes on.

It is like an ecosystem that could trap a user to it, even though it is free to leave. I am not saying it is bad, it does work well. I use sharetank and haven't been to any other petrol stations since its creation. Had a few coffees and recommend it to bunch of friends that now also use sharetank lol.

 

[lolaorchid]

@modestshadow Oh it's 100% a marketing move, as you suspect. The trick is in discovering whether it's actually good for the consumer or not.

 

[ulfric]

@modestshadow If it’s free, you’re the consumer.

 

[jon1032]

@lolaorchid Any suggestions for what deals work best for ev owners?

 

[daughteroftheonetrueking]

@jon1032 Genesis offers Chargenet charging rates for same cost as electricity at home https://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/about/news/genesis-launches-energy-roaming-service-for-ev-drivers

 

[jon1032]

@daughteroftheonetrueking I just find them to be very expensive in comparison to contact and my home usage outweighs using external chargers. So I’ve stuck to contact for now.

 

[amelia41]

@lolaorchid Thank you for this reminder! Many people are understandably trying to lower their costs, and it's tiring just sorting through all the nonsense when trying to figure out the best deal.

 

[catholicbat]

@lolaorchid yeah I'm so tired of comparison and peak/offpeak rates with all the bonuses or whatever. At some point the friction costs of constant switching just to fake a market economy end up padding the price to consumers. due to recent weather events chances are valuation of maintenance will go way up too. why can't we have a fixed margin power company, more true to our model. and that way if someone always uses power at cheaper times their rate drops over time, likewise if someone is always using power at peak time they pay a bit more etc..

 

[lolaorchid]

@catholicbat I'm being a bit reductive here but we could probably just do away with the retail layer of the industry completely, at that point. Not as silly of an idea as it sounds.

 

[csa_ap_hill]

@resjudicata Pays to run your numbers before switching.
Using the Z numbers I would be paying ~$700 more per year and receiving approximately $500 in fuel

And there are mathematic mistakes in their user t&cs, so nah, not for me thanks

 

[saurab]

@csa_ap_hill Would you mind sharing your current electricity provider?

I'm of the assumption that my current provider (Nau Mai Ra) are the cheapest I can get in my area. I just ran my numbers to compare with Z and, overall, it works out to be almost identical overall (I would pay an extra $34.23 over the same billing period (12 weeks), and earn $33.72 in fuel; resulting in breaking even with my current provider literally within the dollar).

Though, based on your comment, now I'm wondering if I can get an even cheaper provider...

 

[csa_ap_hill]

@saurab Frank Energy now, just changed over due to Nova doing a big old price increase.

 

[saurab]

@csa_ap_hill Thanks, I’ll check it out.

 

[nguyenanh126]

@resjudicata Is there a minimum amount of fuel that needs to be purchased in each transaction when buying fuel or filling up?

I ride a Vespa and 5-7 litres free fuel a month would be great for me, it would save me about 25% of my fuel budget (or all of it if I don’t need to take my bike anywhere)

 

[resjudicata]

@nguyenanh126 I believe for sharetank you just choose how much you wish to use as it normally has already been pre-purchased.

 

[starling]

@nguyenanh126 No, no minimum spend at all, I usually save it up and put in 40L at once to get a full tank for bigger trips