Latest / Best of Business / Paul Fuge: Consumer NZ spokesperson calls for reprieve as thousands of Kiwis suffer from 'power poverty'

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Paul Fuge: Consumer NZ spokesperson calls for reprieve as thousands of Kiwis suffer from 'power poverty' · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
• 0:12
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• 0:17
  Speaker 2: All right, and of course keen to hear your thoughts
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  Speaker 2: throughout the afternoon. You can text anytime on ninety two
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: ninety two right. Consumer New Zealand is calling for power
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  Speaker 2: companies to stop switching off the power for those who
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  Speaker 2: can't pay. Each year, around forty thousand New Zealanders are
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  Speaker 2: disconnected from their power supply for non payment. Despite this,
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  Speaker 2: the big four power companies together made more than half
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  Speaker 2: a billion dollars in profit last year. Paul Fuge is
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  Speaker 2: Power switch manager at Consumer New Zealand and he joins
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  Speaker 2: me now, thanks for your time, Paul, Hi, gooday, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: how many payments do you have to have missed before
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  Speaker 2: the power is switched off?
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  Speaker 3: What depends on the retail Usually depends on which sort
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  Speaker 3: of plan you're on. If you're on a pre pay plan,
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  Speaker 3: because the power can be disconnected automatically. If you're on
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  Speaker 3: a post pay plan, usually get two or three reminders
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  Speaker 3: before you're disconnected, so.
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  Speaker 2: That could be a months then or two months maybe
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  Speaker 2: after you hadn't paid a bill.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, on post pay, it'll be a couple of months
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  Speaker 3: before it got to that point.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, how long are these people disconnected from their power
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  Speaker 2: supply because they don't pay the bills?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it varies, you know, on prepay it can be
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  Speaker 3: a matter of hours, you know, on other options it
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  Speaker 3: can be a lot longer. It can be days or
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  Speaker 3: even weeks. We've heard.
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  Speaker 2: So, was that because you've all of a sudden contacted
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  Speaker 2: them said I've made a payment and they switched it
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  Speaker 2: back on for you. Or is that just the length
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  Speaker 2: of time it can take for them to get a
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  Speaker 2: power back on.
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  Speaker 3: No, it's right. So with modern meters, the power can
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  Speaker 3: be reason toward pairly, fairly immediately. So as soon as
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  Speaker 3: you know, pay what's owed, they continue on back on immediately.
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  Speaker 2: Forty thousand New Zealanders is a lot, isn't it. Are
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  Speaker 2: you surprised by that?
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  Speaker 3: No, not really, It's been that way for a few
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  Speaker 3: years now. It's been pretty consistent finding we've had deal
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  Speaker 3: been cut off. I guess what's what more can soon
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  Speaker 3: as the prepay for us is that's the automatic disconnections
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  Speaker 3: that can be we feel as a little bit dangerous.
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  Speaker 3: With the other one. For post pay, there's usually quite
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  Speaker 3: a bit of time for intervention before disconnection occurs.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I can understand the concerns around the prepay. If
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  Speaker 2: we don't ever switch the power off, aren't we just
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  Speaker 2: sending the message that it's okay not to pay.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's that's right. It needs to be balanced that's
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  Speaker 3: right if people will Just if we just said no,
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  Speaker 3: you wouldn't need to be cut off. That would create
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  Speaker 3: another issue, wouldn't it, because bigger then we'll not pay well.
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  Speaker 3: So we're not saying that it needs to be balanced out.
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  Speaker 3: We need to be more protections around disconnections and more
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  Speaker 3: time for interventions and other mechanisms need to be in
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  Speaker 3: place to stop those people who genuinely can't afford it,
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  Speaker 3: and whether it be genuine harm caused to take place
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  Speaker 3: before disconnection occurs.
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  Speaker 2: I've occasionally received litlepool. I'm going to admit this where
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  Speaker 2: I've missed a bill and the first that I get,
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  Speaker 2: generally the utilities company will say to me, hey, look,
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  Speaker 2: if you're having problems paying, we can come up with
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  Speaker 2: a payment plan. Does that happen with the power companies?
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  Speaker 3: And yes, that's right. Generally they're pretty good about it.
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  Speaker 3: And as long as people are making a genuine effort
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  Speaker 3: to pay, you won't be cut up. Lotele don't realize
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  Speaker 3: that the people who get cut off. We hear the
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  Speaker 3: people who go to ground who just don't respond. But
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  Speaker 3: if you're making it, if you do you are having
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  Speaker 3: trouble paying, and you contact your retailer, they most of
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  Speaker 3: them will come to the party and help you out
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  Speaker 3: and come up with the payment plan or some other mechanism.
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  Speaker 3: And as long as you're making an attempt to pay,
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  Speaker 3: generally you will not be cut off.
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  Speaker 2: Great, So the advice is, don't be shy about it,
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  Speaker 2: get on the phone, call them, explain the situation, and
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  Speaker 2: find a solution as opposed to being cut off.
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  Speaker 3: That's right. The worst thing you can do is just
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  Speaker 3: not respond.
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  Speaker 2: Is the problem here that power companies are charging too much?
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's right. If you take a step back, we
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  Speaker 3: have to ask why ultricity has got so expensive. And
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  Speaker 3: I guess that's the elephant in the room. You know
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  Speaker 3: what's causing you know the you know what's causing this
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  Speaker 3: problem is ultracy has got quite expensive. It's thirty five
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  Speaker 3: percent more expensive in real terms than it was at
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  Speaker 3: the beginning of the market. As we would offer a
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  Speaker 3: bit more recently, but it has got increasing expensive and
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  Speaker 3: it's a cost of living crisis, so it's not just
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  Speaker 3: not just ultrue. Everything else has got more expensive as well,
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  Speaker 3: so people are finding it generally a lot harder to
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  Speaker 3: pay their bill. About nineteen percent of people are struggling
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  Speaker 3: to pay their power bills at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Paul, thanks so much for joining us today and
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  Speaker 2: talking us through that. That was Paul Fuge from power Switch.
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