Power plans in New Zealand, compared by shape

Most comparison of power companies in New Zealand happens at the level of the brand. That is the wrong level. The shape of the plan — how the price is structured — decides more about what you pay than which logo is on the bill.

There are four shapes.

Fixed rate

The same price per unit whenever you use it, plus a daily charge. Predictable, easy to compare, and what most New Zealand households are on.

The variable within fixed-rate plans is the balance between the daily charge and the unit rate. A low daily charge with a high unit rate suits low usage; the reverse suits high usage. That split is what the low user / standard user distinction has been about for twenty years, and the regulation behind it disappears in April 2027.

Time of use

Different rates in different parts of the day: usually an expensive peak, a cheaper daytime rate and a cheap overnight rate. Some retailers add a free hour.

It rewards movable load: an EV charged overnight, appliances on a delay timer, hot water on a controlled or timed circuit. It punishes a household whose usage is concentrated in the evening because everyone gets home at six. Needs interval metering.

Spot price

You pay close to the wholesale price, reset every half hour. Usually below a fixed retail rate over a normal year, and occasionally far above it during a supply squeeze. It suits people who can cut or shift usage at short notice and could absorb an expensive month without difficulty. It is the highest-variance option on the market and it should be chosen deliberately.

Prepay

Pay before you use rather than after. Removes the credit check from the equation, which is why it is often the route where a standard account has been declined. The trade-off is that running out of credit means going off supply.

Choose the shape, then the company

Work out which shape fits your household first: your annual kilowatt hours, your meter configuration, and whether you have anything you can genuinely move. Then look at who offers it.

The table above is what we have confirmed about each of the 8 companies we compare, read off their own sites. We do not publish plan rates yet, because we do not have verified rate files, and a modelled price for a time-of-use plan built on assumptions about your daily pattern would be a guess presented as a comparison. Ask the shortlist for a written quote against your actual usage.