What Is The Average Power Bill In New Zealand?

How often do you check your power bill? Do you know what is the average annual power consumption around New Zealand? There is a high chance that you are currently overpaying for your electricity bill and you don't even know it.

In fact, we bet you didn't know that you can save up to $400 on your yearly power bill in New Zealand? That's right! Don't believe us? You can compare power bills now.

With so many bills each month, it's sometimes hard to keep on top of things. Hence, the glimp' power comparison team will do all the work for you. We've collected the average annual power consumption across the major cities in New Zealand and presented it in a nice table below.

The results may surprise you:

Annual average power bill per provider in major cities

	Auckland	Hamilton	Tauranga	Wellington	Christchurch	Dunedin
Contact Energy	$2,121	$2,354	$2,435	$2,211	$2,247	$2,026
Electric Kiwi	$2,072	$2,492	$2,411	$2,063	$2,073	$2,159
Energy Online	$2,169	$2,300	$2,342	$2,301	$2,310	$2,078
Flick Electric	$2,108	$2,408	$2,110	$2,124	$2,065	$2,031
Genesis Energy	$2,369	$2,606	$2,758	$2,388	$2,515	$2,832
Globug	$2,238	$2,657	$2,487	$2,350	$2,350	$2,235
Mercury Energy	$2,365	$2,283	$2,209	$2,381	$2,446	$2,051
Meridian Energy	$2,340	$2,318	$2,556	$2,379	$2,458	$2,161
Nova Energy	$2,235	$2,221	$2,222	$2,383	$2,275	$2,173
Powershop	$2,164	$2,109	$2,123	$2,223	$2,271	$1,935
Pulse Energy	$2,237	$2,293	$2,308	$2,240	$2,392	$2,118
Trustpower	$2,220	$2,210	$2,662	$2,079	$2,840	$2,308

After going through these results, you can start saving on your electricity bill today, if you're not happy with how much you are currently paying for your power bill. All you have to do is switch power companies or ask for a better deal from your existing electricity supplier. 

Read: How To Read Your NZ Power Bill

About the figures

All figures are based on average annual consumption for a medium-sized household and were taken from Powerswitch. The power consumption figures are:

1. Auckland: 7576 kWh per year
2. Wellington: 7972 kWh per year
3. Dunedin: 8210 kWh per year
4. Christchurch: 8131 kWh per year

If you think you're paying too much for your annual electricity bill, you can compare and find a better power deal with us. It only takes a few minutes and you can save up to $400 per year.

Read: What Causes Power Outages In New Zealand?

Why is my power bill so high?

If you see that your power bill is above average and you want to change that, the best question to ask is “why is my power bill so high?”

There are many factors that affect the cost of your power bill each month — from efficiency of use, number of people you have living at your home, and your current power rates. Lack of efficient power usage means that you're not using your power in the smartest way. From leaving lights on in rooms that you aren’t using to leaving heaters and heat pumps on overnight, it can be considered wasted electricity.

Using your appliances efficiently means calculating when and when not to use certain appliances. For example, instead of keeping the heat pump on the entire night, turn it off after an hour or two and close all the doors and windows. This way, heat will stay trapped in the room for a few hours. You can turn the heater back on if need be. 

Apart from not using your appliances efficiently, there are other factors that can cause your power bill to be higher than another people, such as the number of people living in your home. Whether you’re flatting or you have a large family, this is something you can’t change. By rule of thumb, the more people you have living with you, the higher the power usage will be.

Even though this is something you can’t really change, you can make sure each of your family members are using the household appliances as efficiently as possible. If you’re renting, you can make sure that each flatmate is paying their fair share of the power bill.

How to reduce my power bill 

Once you’ve figured out what’s causing your power bill to be skyrocket, you can start making changes, starting with your power consumption.

Use air conditioning and heating wisely

Making a few changes to your usage of air conditioning and heating can save you tonnes of money each month. Air conditioning during the summer and heating in the winter can account for most of your power bill, so it’s important to use these as efficiently as possible.

When using things like heaters and heat pumps, close all the doors in the room to trap heat. This way, not only will you be warmer, but you can also turn off the heating early and keep the room warn for longer.

Read: How To Save On Your Power Bill During Lockdown

Avoid using the dryer as much as possible

If you’re someone who can never be bothered with washing your clothes or always using the dryer, you may want to reconsider. Dryers can be really expensive to use. While using them once in every while is fine, using them on a weekly basis can help add to the power bill.

Even if it can be hard to dry your washing during winter, you should still look to use the outside washing line when you can. Check the weather forecast to see which days of the week have good weather to hang up your clothes. You can also use inside clothes horses to dry your clothes inside on rainy days. 

Watch out for idle appliances

Leaving your appliances on standby may just be a habit that you’ve gotten into. You may think this doesn’t have too much of an effect on your power bill but it does — big time! Leaving these appliances on standby can add over $100 on your annual power bill. These appliances tend to be the entertainment devices such as the TV, gaming consoles and computer equipment.

One simple way to turn these off without using too much effort is to plug all them into one multi-plug. When you turn off the multi-plug, you can turn off all of the connect appliances at once. 

Take quick hot showers during winter

The amount of water you use can have a toll on your power bill too. Heated water can be extremely expensive, especially in Auckland. According to Newshub’s article, the average cost of water in Auckland is increasing rapidly.

Watercare said that they expect the price of water to increase by an extra $2.30 per month for an average household of 3 people. You can start reducing your water bill by taking short showers. While it may be tempting to take longer hot showers in winter since it’s cold, every minute costs more compared to other seasons because you’re likely to use higher temperature.

If you and everyone in your family limit their showers to just 5 minutes a day, you could save 66% on your hot water bills for showers, compared to a 15-minute shower!