Power and fibre providers

[niknak91]

Moving into a unit by myself and it will be my first time living solo, and thus the only time I’ve actually cared about what provider I use given my budget is going to be tight (but well worth the higher cost of living to have a place to myself).

Interested to know what other companies are worth checking out, I imagine I’m going to qualify as a low power user (while this exists) - I work full time and am generally out of the house between 8am-7pm.

Rates I have thus far (all direct from their sites vs using a comparison tool):

• Octopus; $1.04 daily, $0.42 kWh peak, $0.36 kWh off-peak and $0.21 kWh night.
• Electric Kiwi; $0.34 daily, $0.45 kWh peak, $0.195 kWh night (+ a free hour of power that I pick)
• Frank; $0.69 daily, $0.26 kWh controlled, $0.37 kWh uncontrolled (what is the difference between controlled vs peak/off-peak?)
• Nova; $1.035 daily, 0.41 kWh peak, 0.28 kWh off-peak.
• Flick; $1.035 daily, $0.46 kWh peak, $0.33 off-peak.

Any others I should consider, or avoid altogether if on this list?

Fibre is another question, 2 degrees is offering 4 months free for a 12mo contract which brings their 876mbps download speed plan to $872 annually (4 mo free then $109 for the remaining 8). Zeronet was next at $950 annually (5 months half price at $50pm and then $100pm for the remaining 7). My republic is $984 annually.

I appreciate this question gets asked every 6-8 months if not more frequently, but even with those power rates in front of me I’m struggling to pick what is most sensible.

 

[resjudicata]

@niknak91 I strongly recommend putting this all into excel. Calculate for each power company based on your last years usage, split up into peak, off peak and night.
And then add fibre to it.

Once you built the excel, you can use it yearly to compare all prices.

 

[robaya]

@niknak91 Didn’t my republics ISP business get sold to 2 degrees?

 

[iamthatiam]

@robaya Yup, switchover was last month.

- A myrepublic customer.

 

[thecoming2k]

@niknak91 I personally think:

Fibre - pick the cheapest every time at the speed that you want. Price comparison is extremely easy and your spend consistent; there is always someone with a good deal on a 12 month contract. The process of switching is easy. The other thing is, do you really need that 876 mbps speed? That's the kinda speed you need for a family, like even 8k streaming only needs 100 Mbps.

Power: As someone else have said, use excel and make a spreadsheet. Power comparison is always going to be hard, especially when you are moving to a new living set up. But, unless you are living in an extremely poorly insulated house/use a lot of power, chances are lower usage rate but higher daily charge is more worth it over the other way round. I don't think anyone can give you a definitive answer to what is cheapest for you, you will need some data to work it out. Again, switching is not too hard, and you can get good deals without being locked into contracts generally.

 

[nguyenanh126]

@niknak91 Controlled vs uncontrolled is about power to your hot water cylinder.

Peak/off peak/nights is different price rates for the different times of day.

I’m currently with octopus with no daily charge and my rates are less(the rates are less because of my location), I don’t have a daily charge cos I signed up when the first started so I’ve maintained that deal (not sure how long that will last).

I’m with 2degrees and recently got my plan switched to the 4 months free deal.

 

[olympica]

@niknak91 Those all seem very high rates - are you somewhere like the far north or something?

 

[niknak91]

@olympica Central Otago

 

[olympica]

@niknak91 Oh right. Yeah you're probably with Aurora, unfortunately they've chronically underinvested in order to pay dividends to the council so current customers are having to pay the price...

 

[resjudicata]

@niknak91 I’d recommend Skinny for fiber. The speeds are the same as other providers (it’s generally the same network) and they’re cheaper! $90 per month and two months free with a free modem on 12 month contract.

 

[niknak91]

@resjudicata Thanks, I think 2degrees still wins out here, averaged over a 12mo period it’s $72.66p/m. Have to supply my own router but have just bought a decent one so that should hopefully be better than the ones most ISPs provide.

 

[trisal19]

@niknak91 just try powercompare.co.nz to compare power plan as per your usage and you can also check broadband compare on same website … also make some use of AI to calculate your usage based on availability ask Claude.ai or any gpt chatbot to calculate it for you, provide it with the rates …

 

[breezyberlin]

@niknak91 Contact energy has free power from 9pm-midnight