Battle for power customers hotting up

Photo / Simon Baker

Power companies have hit back at claims by Pulse Energy that rivals are using dirty tricks in the fierce battle to stop customers switching suppliers.

Pulse says customers should have the right to switch electricity retailers without being subjected to a series of "intimidating" callbacks or "save calls" from their existing electricity supplier.

Under the existing system, power companies informed of a customer's intention to switch have seven days to try to persuade them to stay.

This can sometimes lead to offers of loyalty payments of hundreds of dollars or discounted tariffs.

But newcomer Pulse - a minnow with slightly more than 6000 customers - says rivals are going too far in attacking it.

Sales and marketing manager Ashley Church said other companies were giving consumers incorrect information about Pulse, claiming it was solely a metering company with outdated technology, its financial viability was in question and its offers were based on the wrong tariffs.

"Those are scurrilous claims without merit," said Church, who would not name the companies responsible.

Pulse chief executive Dene Biddlecombe said the power sector should follow the telecommunications industry where there was no communication between retailers and their customer once a switch had been initiated.

TrustPower says Pulse Energy's claims are misplaced.

"In fact, the actions of Pulse door-knockers and telemarketers have led to a situation where customers in a number of regions have been put at a significant disadvantage by the new retailer," TrustPower spokesman Graeme Purches said.

Mercury Energy says competition has never been so fierce.

Its general manager consumer market James Munro said Pulse was not treated differently from other competitors. "When they take customers off us we sometimes seek to take back those customers."

Pulse had been very aggressive in picking up customers.

"They've been trucking along okay in their own modest way so it's a bit rich to turn around and say people are making save calls and say 'we don't like it'," said Munro.

He said there were isolated cases of telemarketers going too far and his company had asked outsource companies to dismiss them.

Switching rates have hit record levels this year, with 35,000 changing in March.

The Electricity Commission says it would be concerned if customers were feeling browbeaten into staying with their current supplier with no obvious incentive to do so being offered.

"However, if an increase in competitive tension occurs between retailers in an effort to retain customers, and this results in good outcomes for consumers, then this can only be a good thing in the commission's view," said chairman David Caygill.

The commission has recommended that the total switching time be cut from the current maximum of 23 business days to 10 to speed up the process.

THE RULES
* Power companies have seven days to persuade customers in danger of being poached to stay.
* If switches go ahead they must be completed in 23 working days.
* The number of customers switching hit a record of 35,000 in March.