Diversity illustrated by Energy Retailer of the Year finalists
A broad range of Aotearoa New Zealand’s energy retailers – electricity, natural gas, LPG and petroleum – submitted information on their innovative products and services, customer growth and satisfaction over the past year, for the New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards.
Following evaluation by the judges, which proved to be both complex and challenging given the diversity of energy retailing in the motu, the finalists for the 2023 Energy Retailer of the Year have been chosen.
All three finalists demonstrated commitment to putting customers first and improving outcomes for Aotearoa.
Contact Energy
Last year’s Energy Retailer of the Year winner is back in the running for 2023. “The win in 2022 set a benchmark to further evolve, innovate and always look to improve customer service further,” says Contact.
In 2022/23 the company focused on balancing customer empathy and value against profit to set it apart from the competition and “deliver products that New Zealanders really want/need.”
Building on the success of the “Good Nights plan”, which encourages energy use at times of the day when energy production is more likely to be renewable, Contact has introduced an option for EV owners. Dream Charge is a time-of-use plan encouraging EV recharging at night, off peak, helping customers save money and reduce fossil fuel generation.
Offered again in February, “Fourth Trimester” gives 1000 households with new-born babies 12 weeks of free electricity and gas. Over the past two years Contact has given away four million hours of free energy to families.
Contact has also added a new wireless broadband product, offering a low-cost option for customers in addition to its value bundled fibre broadband options. This bundling approach has enabled Contact to lead the broadband market as the fastest growing broadband provider at the end of FY22 – with continued growth into FY23.
Contact has continued digitisation work to enable easier service for customers with a range of new functions added in the past year, including improved broadband and energy usage tracking, email alerts, outreach campaigns and user experience enhancements.
Since April 2021 the business has experienced year-on-year improvement in its growing customer Net Promoter Score.
Ecotricity
“Ecotricity’s mission is to provide solutions for commercial and residential customers to reduce emissions from carbon emitting energy sources.”
Since operations started nine years ago, Ecotricity has been Toitū Carbon Zero certified. In March the retailer took the bold step to push beyond neutrality, becoming the country’s first and currently only Toitū climate positive-certified electricity retailer.
Customers are taking note. Over the past 12 months Ecotricity has been NZ’s fastest growing electricity retailer.
For residential customers, the ”ecoSAVER” energy plan provides off-peak pricing overnight and all weekend, reducing energy costs for those with EVs. Ecotricity is the leading provider of electricity to solar customers, with around 20 per cent of New Zealand’s solar market. Some 47 per cent of all new monthly solar customers choose the retailer for grid supply.
A vast range of reports provided by corporate customers via a dedicated reporting portal provide rich information on consumption by location and ICP, network and metering charges, and carbon emissions avoided.
Since January 2022, Ecotricity has also been on a mission to be the leading voice on EVs to educate and showcase their many benefits, and as part of this maintains an EV buyers guide and the EcoTec YouTube channel.
Ecotricity has recently reinstated its monthly NPS reporting, which has improved by 15 points since May 2019 and is now well above the 2023 Consumer NZ power company satisfaction survey results industry average.
Z Energy
As the country’s largest fuel retailer, Z Energy “sets itself apart from competitors through its approach to supporting Aotearoa New Zealand’s transition to a low carbon future.
“We know that our customers expect us to acknowledge our environmental emissions responsibility and do something about it,” it says.
Z has expanded its products and services over the past year to ensure it maintains both its core offer and also delivers new digital and product solutions.
In the last 12 months Z has continued to install charging points across its network, offering 37 charging bays across 14 locations (41 bays and 15 sites by end of June) to meet the needs of motorists switching to EV technology. Z is targeting 39 locations (100+ charging bays), representing 20 per cent coverage, by the end of 2023. Z has also partnered with Evnex, looking to offer home charging solutions for EV drivers.
Z recently increased its stake to 100 per cent of Flick Electric, a New Zealand electricity retailer whose focus is on providing customers with multiple electricity solutions to meet their individual needs. “This diversification enables Z to expand its future consumer offer, be that in combination with fuel, EV charging, or direct electricity.”
On the digital front, the Z app continues to be updated to deliver customer benefits. Sharetank enables app users to purchase between 2 and 1000 litres of any grade of fuel at the lowest price within 30 kilometres of their position. This is then stored on their virtual fuel tank and can be redeemed at any Z service station across the country and shared with up to five friends/whānau.
Since August 2022, the organisation has seen an upward trend in customer satisfaction with the overall Z experience, with NPS showing a steady lift.
New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards
The Energy Retailer of the Year award is sponsored by EDMI. It will be presented at the 13th New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards, which are being held on Wednesday 30 August at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre.