Genesis Energy have hiked up Wairarapa electricity prices in a move a local budget adviser said will eventually squeeze financially-vulnerable consumers to breaking point.
The company is the biggest electricity retailer in Wairarapa and announced the increase, which adds from $37 to $68 to yearly power bills for residential customers, in
letters and emails.
Genesis public relations manager Richard Gordon said the price surge would affect 27,000 residential customers with the 14,000 customers on the company's Classic plan hit by an annual average 2.5 per cent rate increase with the remainder who subscribe to the Household plan getting a 2.7 per cent increase.
"Those estimates are for an average, fictitious customer but everyone's different in the component make-up of how they use electricity," Mr Gordon said.
He said the average annual increase to Genesis' 8000 commercial users in the region would equate to about $108.
"The reason for the increases is a slight across-the-board increase in network charges from Powerco, an increase in energy costs and a slight increase in costs to run our business," Mr Gordon said.
He said the price rise was the first in two years for Wairarapa and was "still extremely competitive against most of our competitors in the region".
Electricity retailers Mercury and Meridian were less than 2 per cent cheaper than Genesis while Contact and Trustpower were more expensive.
Todd Button, manager of the Masterton-based Home Budget Service, said he failed to see how Genesis could justify the price hikes in a time of economic downturn;
"It's going to hurt a lot of people, like all increases it's the little man or the poorer people that get hurt and these are people that are already vulnerable and it just compounds things.
"Either the owners or managers aren't thinking about the big picture.
"Every little increase food, energy, petrol eventually squeezes the community to breaking point.
"With the New Zealand dollar losing value due to creeping inflation and prices going up it's just a double-edged sword every time prices go up living standards drop," Mr Button said.
