Power: Who's the cheapest?

Powershop _ one of the newest and smallest players in the energy market _ has rated highly in a Times-Age investigation into what power companies offer Wairarapa consumers the best deal.
Using Consumer NZ's online tool Powerswitch, we looked for the cheapest deal for a household of three to four people.
We assumed that the household mainly used a woodburner for home heating, an electric water cylinder and wetback on a woodburner to heat its water, an electric oven and electric cooktop for cooking and that the house was empty during weekdays.
With Powerswitch assuming our estimated annual energy use is 6507kWh and that our plan type is controlled peak and for electricity only _ Powerswitch has not yet factored in gas in Wairarapa plan comparisons _ we then looked across the 10 power companies listed for Wairarapa to see which came up the best.
The cheapest plan was Energy Direct NZ's lower-user ''all day with controlled'' option, which carried an estimated, GST-inclusive annual cost of $1679 and a comparatively high service rating of 82 per cent.
The next best offers were Powershop's controlled plan, with an annual cost of about $1706 and a 92 per cent service rating, followed by Energy Direct NZ's ''all day with controlled'' option.
According to Powerswitch, the three most expensive plans were all provided by TrustPower, with annual estimated costs ranging from $1938 to $2020 and all with service ratings of 70 per cent.
Genesis Energy, the main provider for the Wairarapa region, rated sixth best of the various plans available for its Classic Anytime package, at an estimated $1754 a year, but a low 60 per cent service rating.
Using the same heating and cooking assumptions, but this time for a Wairarapa household of one or two people and an annual power use of 4141kWh, Powerswitch identified Powershop's controlled plan as the cheapest, at an estimated annual cost of $1085 but subject to special conditions.
The next best deals were from Energy Direct NZ, with an annual cost of around $1113, and Meridian Energy, with an annual cost of around $1147.
The most expensive plan was again through TrustPower, at an annual estimated cost of $1410.
Genesis rated fifth in this category with a cost of $1161 on its Classic Anytime Controlled programme and 14th with a rate of $1213 for its Household Anytime Controlled package.
Powershop general manager Ari Sargent said ''a couple of hundred'' Wairarapa people had joined Powershop since its launch in February last year.
''We're relatively happy with the uptake there, which is tracking about the same in other regions.''
Powershop, which has its call centre in Masterton, currently holds about 1 per cent of New Zealand's energy market share.
Mr Sargent said Powershop had received a ''pleasing'' satisfaction rating in a recent consumer survey, ''and I think that demonstrated that we're doing something right''.
To compare prices for power plans, visit www.consumer.org/powerswitch