How it works

Full Questionnaire or Quick Calculator 

Powerswitch offers you two easy options. Our Powerswitch questionnaire includes both electricity and gas plans, takes around 10 minutes to complete, and assists you in switching providers if you'd like. Or, for a quick estimate of possible electricity savings, you can use the quick calculator which takes around 3 minutes.

The estimated annual savings figure produced by the quick calculator is the difference between your current retailer and the cheapest retailer available in your area. We assume that you are currently on the cheapest plan for your retailer. The price estimates we provide with the full questionnaire will be much more accurate because we build a more detailed profile of your household power use and identify the plan you are currently on (see below).

We estimate your energy use

We take the information you provide about your pattern of electricity and gas use, and information from your bill (if you provide it), and estimate how much energy you will use in a year.

Using this estimate, we compare the different pricing plans available to you and identify the cheapest. To find out how we estimate the amount of energy you use each year, see Estimate details.

Accurate information is important

It's important that you answer all the questions as accurately as possible and make sure that the power bill you use:

• Is based on an actual, rather than estimated, reading.
• Relates to a period of typical energy usage. For example, don't use a bill which includes a time when you were away on holiday or were doing something such as renovation work, that meant you used more or less power than you normally would.

No bill? No problem

By creating a number of "standard households" we've made sure you can use Powerswitch regardless of whether you have a bill handy.

If you ask us to estimate your usage, the answers you give let us work out which of our standard households most closely matches your own in terms of energy use. We are then able to compare the cost of the various pricing plans available and identify the cheapest.

For more information, including details of the assumptions we have made see Estimate details.

Important: It's possible to use Powerswitch without usage information from a bill. But the price estimates we provide will be much more accurate if you do have information from a bill based on an actual meter reading.

Why so many questions in the questionnaire?

The answers you give help us to build a profile of your household and to more accurately compare your existing pricing plan with possible alternatives.

For example, hot water normally accounts for about 30 percent of the electricity a household uses. If you have a gas hot-water cylinder, your household would use about 30 percent less electricity than one with an electric hot-water cylinder.

If you use electric heaters, we also ask whether these are plug-in, night-store heaters or heat pumps. That's because night-store heaters use controlled power, which is often cheaper.

Your company and plan

You'll first need to identify which company you are with, then which of its plans you are on.

As some companies have a large number of plans, we use the answers to the questions about your household to identify the range of plans that you are most likely to be on. If the plan you are on is not on the list, click on the text below the box to get a list of all the plans offered by that company.

How much energy have you used?

All the information we need to know is on your bill:

• The start and finish dates for the time your bill covers.
• The amount of power you have used.

If you're on a plan with more than one meter you'll need to enter the amount for each meter separately. In some cases we will ask you about a meter that doesn't seem to appear on your power bill. You should put "0" in the box (this is because with some companies, if you haven't used any power they don't print the details on your bill).

If you wish you can add together the amounts from successive power bills and enter that information. Just ensure that you get the start date from the first bill, the finish date from the last bill, and that you don't have any bills missing in between.

If you can't work out how to read your bill you can click the help button to see a sample bill.

Your questionnaire results

If you have provided information from a recent power bill we'll show you the plan you are on, all other comparable plans available in your area (that is, plans of the same type as the one you're already on), and any savings you might make by switching.

Remember: the comparisons are based on estimates so you should always check with a power company before making any decision to switch.

If you've asked us to estimate your usage, you will see plans of the type that you're most likely to be on, based on your questionnaire answers.

If you wish, you can look at what a different type of plan would cost by choosing the options in the "Refine results" section.

Please note: there may be significant costs associated with changing from one type of plan to another. Check with your company first.

If you click on the name of a plan, you can view full details about that plan and information on how to contact the company.

All tariffs used in our calculations include GST and have been rounded to the nearest 100th of a cent.

When calculating the annual costs we exclude any rebates from community-owned trusts, line companies, or any dividends paid by Contact Energy to its shareholders.

Using Powerswitch to change providers

If you choose, we can collate your questionnaire responses and send them, along with your contact details, to your chosen provider.  The provider will then contact you directly to arrange the switching of your power supply. (Note that not all providers have chosen to make this option available.)

Alternatively you can follow a link from Powerswitch to the website of the provider, and you can arrange the switch yourself.