This page give you the best answers for the following questions;
- What kind of the power companies in NZ are ?
- Which power companies is the best for you ?
This page is the best for you to understand about these types of questions.
I’m going to explain about the power companies in NZ one by one as below.
- “2 groups” of the power companies in NZ
- Which power company is the cheapest for you ?
- Which power company has the highest reviews by customers ?
If you read this page, you can easily understand what Ecosmart is and whether Ecosmart is the best company for you or not.
1. “2 groups” of the power companies in NZ
Power companies in NZ can be divided into 2 groups.
- Top 5 power companies in NZ (“Big 5”)
- Smaller power companies in NZ
| Top 5 power companies (“Big 5”) |
Smaller power companies | |
| Popularity | ◎ Very good |
▲ Not yet |
| Price | ▲ Higher |
◎ Cheaper |
| Service | ○ Good |
◎ Better |
| Reviews | ▲ Not good |
◎ Better |
What is “Big 5” in NZ ?
“Big 5” power companies in NZ have long their histories, and their own power generating facilities.
And, the “Big 5” are the following companies.
(*) If you click the following company name, you can check their official website directly.
| Company name | Number of Customer (ICP count*) |
Market share (ICP share) |
Genesis Energy |
490,000 | 22% |
Contact Energy |
420,000 | 19% |
Meridian Energy |
340,000 | 15% |
Mercury NZ |
330,000 | 15% |
Trustpower |
270,000 | 12% |
(*) ICP (Installation Control Point) : Each property has a unique ICP number identifying it on the New Zealand electricity network.
(*) ICP count : the total number of ICP
(source: Electricity Authority, as of March 2021)
What is the smaller power companies in NZ ?
The newer and smaller power companies are call “Retailer”, and they don’t have their own power generating facilities.
(*) Retailer is a power companies, and they buy electricity from electrical wholesale market and sell it to their customers.
And, the major power companies in NZ are as below.
| Company name | Number of Customer (ICP count*) |
Market share (ICP share) |
Nova Energy |
120,000 | 5% |
Pulse Energy |
84,000 | 4% |
Electric Kiwi |
76,000 | 3% |
Vocus |
38,000 | 2% |
Flick Electric |
26,000 | 1% |
2. Which power company is the cheapest for you ?
Electric price mainly depends on the area you live in.
So, you need to know the cheapest power plan in your area.
Q. How to get to know the cheapest power plan in your area?
“Powerswitch” is the best tool to get to know your cheapest plan.
And Powerswitch is an independent and non-profit organisation to find and compare your power plans, so you can trust the information by Powerswitch.
source: Powerswitch
Powerswitch is the best website in New Zealand to find which power company and pricing plan is the cheapest for you.
What you have to do is just to input the following information, then you can get to know the cheapest plan.
- your address
- number of your family
- type of heating products/systems you use
- and etc
For example, the result will come up as a list such as the following image.
source: Powerswitch
So, it’s very easy to understand that which company and plan you should choose.
(*) If you want to know more details about Powerswith, please check another page “What is POWERSWITCH? The best way to find the cheapest electricity plan“.
3. Which power company has the highest reviews by customers ?
I believe that one of the most trustable survey about customer satisfaction is “Consumer NZ”
Consumer NZ is an independent and non-profit organisation to offer New Zealanders (“Kiwis”) a fairer deal, and established in 1959.
Q. Which company’s reviews are highest in 2021 ?
Based on the survey “Customer Satisfaction with power companies” by Consumer NZ in 2021, “Powershop” is No.1 among major power companies in NZ.
source: Consumer NZ
Powershop is one of the smaller power companies (“retailer”), and the score (77%) of customer satisfaction is much higher than others.
On the other hand, the Big 5’s sores are around [average – low] mainly due to high electric price and customer service.
source: Consumer NZ
So I’ll explain about Powershop here.
“Powershop”・・・Best customer satisfaction in 2021
source: Powershop
Powershop is a smaller power company, and No.1 customer satisfaction among major power companies in NZ in 2021 based on the survey by Consumer NZ.
I believe that you can enjoy price and service by Powershop, because Based on the survey, the score of “value for money” is 63% (this score is much higher than average of the electric industry).
Also, Meridian Energy (one of the 5 biggest power company in NZ) owned 100% share of Powershop, so you don’t need to worry about Powershop.
| Head Office | Wellington |
| Operate from | 2009 |
| Main Shareholders | 100%: Meridian Energy |
| Service | Electricity only |
| Service area | All of NZ |
| Customer | around 95,000 customers |
| Number of employee | Over 200 employees |
If you are interested in Powershop, it’s good for you to check the following Powershop’s official website.
[For your help] Table of the power companies in NZ
It’s good for you to compare each power companies in NZ based on the following table.
(*) You can scroll the following chart left to right.
| Company name | Ownership | Number of customer (Market share) |
Capacity of power generation | Services | Review (customer’s satisfaction) |
| Genesis Energy |
Partial State |
490,000 (22%) |
generator and retailer |
Electricity Gas |
◯ |
Contact Energy |
Partial State | 420,000 (19%) |
generator and retailer | Electricity Gas Broadband |
▲ |
| Meridian Energy |
Partial State |
340,000 (15%) |
generator and retailer |
Electricity only | ◯ |
| Mercury NZ |
Partial State |
330,000 (15%) |
generator and retailer |
Electricity only | ◯ |
| Trustpower |
Private company | 270,000 (12%) |
generator and retailer | Electricity Gas Broadband Landline Mobile |
▲ |
| Nova Energy |
Private company | 120,000 (5%) |
Retailer Only |
Electricity Gas Broadband |
◎ |
| Pulse Energy |
Private company | 84,000 (4%) |
Retailer Only |
Electricity Gas Broadband |
◯ |
| Electric Kiwi |
Private company | 76,000 (3%) |
Retailer Only |
Electricity only | ◎ |
| Vocus |
Private company | 38,000 (2%) |
Retailer Only | Electricity Broadband |
◯ |
| Flick Electric |
Private company | 26,000 (1%) |
Retailer Only |
Electricity only | ◎ |
source: Electricity Authority (as of March 2021)
4. Summary
Until here, I explained about power companies in NZ – is it useful for you?
As a summary, I write down about the main points of this page as below.
- Power companies in NZ can be divided into 2 groups.
- If you get to know your cheapest power plan, “Powerswitch” is the best to compare power companies’ plans.
- If you want to choose based on the reviews of customer satisfaction, “Powershop” is the best for you.
Many thanks to read this page.
Please let your family and friends about this page, if you like.
