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

There's growing calls for power companies to go easier on customers who can't pay their bills.

Each year, around 40,000 New Zealanders are disconnected from the power supply for non-payment, according to new data.

Consumer NZ's Paul Fuge says people genuinely struggling shouldn't have to ration an essential service.

"There needs to be more protections around disconnections and more time for interventions - and other mechanisms need to be in place to stop those people who genuinely can't afford it and where there could be genuine harm caused."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, and of course keen to hear your thoughts
throughout the afternoon. You can text anytime on ninety two
ninety two right. Consumer New Zealand is calling for power
companies to stop switching off the power for those who
can't pay. Each year, around forty thousand New Zealanders are
disconnected from their power supply for non payment. Despite this,
the big four power companies together made more than half

(00:20):
a billion dollars in profit last year. Paulfuge is power
switch manager at Consumer New Zealand, and he joins me, now,
thanks for your time, Paul, Hi, gooday, Hey, how many
payments do you have to have missed before the power
is switched off?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
What depends on the retailer, but usually depends on which
sort of plan you're on. If you're on a pre
pay plan, because the power can be disconnected automatically. If
you're on a post pay plan, usually get two or
three reminders before you're disconnected, So.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
That could be a month then or two months maybe
after you hadn't paid a bill.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, on post pay, it'll be a couple of months
before it got to that point.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Okay, how long are these people disconnected from their power
supply because they don't pay the bills.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, it varies, you know, on prepay it can be
a matter of hours, you know, on other options it
can be a lot longer. It can be days or
even weeks. We've heard so, was.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
That because you've all of a sudden contacted them said
I've made a payment and they switch it back on
for you. Or is that just the length of time
it can take for them to get a power back on.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
No, it's right. So with the modern meters, the power
can be rest toward fairly fairly immediately. So as soon
as you know, pay what's owed, they continue on back
on immediately.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Forty thousand New Zealanders is a lot, isn't it. Are
you surprised by that?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
No, not really. It's been that way for a few
years now. It's been pretty consistent finding we've had people
have been cut off. I guess what's of more concern
is the prepay for us, is that's the automatic disconnections
that can be we feel as a little bit dangerous.
With the other one. For postpaid, there's usually quite a
bit of time for intervention before disconnection occurs.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes, I can understand the concerns around the prepay if
we don't ever switch the power off. Aren't we just
sending the message that it's okay not to pay.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, that's right, it needs to be balanced, that's right
if people will just if we just said no, you
would need to be cut off, that would create another issue,
wouldn't it, because bigger then we'll not pay well. So
we're not saying that it needs to be balanced out,
we sue needs to be more protections around disconnections and
more time for interventions and other mechanisms need to be

(02:33):
in place to stop those people who genuinely can't afford it,
and whether it be genuine harm caused to take place
before disconnection occurs.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I've occasionally received litlepool. I'm going to admit this where
I've missed a bill and the first that I get,
generally the utilities company will say to me, hey, look,
if you're having problems paying, we can come up with
a payment plan. Does that happen with the power companies?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And yes, that's right. Genuinely they're pretty good about it.
And as long as people are making a genuine effort
to pay, you won't be cut lock. People don't realize
that the people who get cut off. We here are
the people who go to ground who just don't respond.
But if you're making it. If you do, you are
having trouble paying, you contact your retailer. They most of
them will come to the party and help you out

(03:23):
and come up with the payment plan or some other mechanism.
And as long as you're making an attempt to pay,
generally you will not be cut off.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Great, So the advice is, don't be shy about it,
get on the phone, call them, explain the situation and
find a solution as opposed to being cut off.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
That's right. The worst thing you can do is just
not respond.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Is the problem here that power companies are charging too much?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Well, that's right. If you take a step back, we
have to ask why ultricity has got so expensive. And
I guess that's the elephant in the room. You know
what's causing you know the you know what's causing this
problem is ultrac has got quite expensive. It's thirty five
percent more expensive in real terms than it was at

(04:05):
the beginning of the market, as we would offer a
bit more recently, but it has got increasing expensive and
it's a cost of living crisis. So it's not just
not just outre I see. Everything else has got more
expensive as well, so people are finding it generally a
lot harder to pay their bill. About nineteen percent of
people are struggling to pay their power bills at the moment.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Hey, Paul, thanks so much for joining us today and
talking us through that. That was Paul Fuge from power Switch.
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