Compare power and gas in New Zealand

Buying both fuels from one company means one bill, one account and often a discount. It also means one negotiation covering two products, which is where it gets easier to be sold something.

First: is there mains gas at the address?

This is the question that decides whether the rest of the page applies. New Zealand's reticulated gas network covers much of the North Island and essentially none of the South Island. South Island households that use gas are almost always on bottled LPG, which is a separate product from a separate supplier and is not what dual-fuel power plans mean.

If there is a gas meter at the property, you have mains gas. If there are bottles outside, you do not.

Who offers both

The table above is what we have confirmed from each company's own website, across the 8 we compare. Where a row says not confirmed, that is our gap rather than a statement about the company.

Whether bundling is actually cheaper

A dual-fuel discount is a real discount. The catch is what it is a discount on.

Work it out this way:

1. Get your annual usage for both fuels: kilowatt hours for electricity, and whatever unit your gas bill uses.
2. Price the bundle. One quote, both fuels, with the discount applied.
3. Price them separately. The best electricity deal for your usage, plus the best gas deal.
4. Compare the totals, not the discount percentage.

A bundle that ties you to a mediocre electricity rate to save on gas is usually a bad trade, because electricity is the larger bill in most New Zealand households. It can also run the other way. The arithmetic is not hard; it is just rarely done.

The other things to check

Fixed terms and exit fees on both fuels. Bundling can synchronise two commitments, which makes leaving harder than leaving one.

Whether the gas daily charge is competitive on its own. Gas has the same fixed-plus-variable structure as electricity, and a low gas unit rate with a high daily charge is expensive for a household that only uses gas for cooking.

What the discount applies to. Some are applied to the energy portion only, which is smaller than the total.

Where we are on this

We do not publish rates for either fuel yet, on any plan, because we do not have verified rate files from the retailers. What we can do is show you which of the 8 companies we compare sell both, what else we have verified about each, and route you to a written quote. Our comparison asks about mains gas from the first step, including what the gas is used for, because water heating, home heating and cooking are very different amounts of gas.