Power Shift

• What is the Power Shift plan?

  The Power Shift plan offers different electricity rates throughout the day (peak and off-peak, night, and half-price weekends).

  You can maximise your savings by shifting your power usage to off-peak hours by running appliances at night or during off-peak hours, charging your car (or anything with a battery) overnight, shifting any energy-intensive tasks (using your washing machine or clothes dryer) to Saturday and Sunday. You can find out more about off-peak hours here.

  Shifting your power usage away from peak times, not only can help you save money on your power bill, but also contributes to a more sustainable energy future for New Zealand.

  This plan is ideal for users who work from home, people who work odd hours, EV owners, night owls and early birds.

• Can I go on the Power Shift plan?

  To be eligible for the Power Shift plan you must:

  • have an eligible, and actively communicating, electricity smart meter. When you sign up, we'll double-check this and confirm your eligibility.
  • be a new residential customer of Pulse Energy.
  • be supplied electricity by Pulse Energy at your primary residence.
  • satisfy our credit checking criteria.
  • be on a standard, single-phase residential connection and not on a private network.

  Not sure if your property is eligible? Please get in touch with us here.

• What are the rates on this plan?

  On this plan, you will benefit from variable electricity usage rates during weekdays, as well as lower variable electricity rates from Saturday - Sunday.

   

  Here’s an explanation of Power Shift’s hours:  

  • Peak Hours: 7am - 11am and 5pm - 9pm.
    • During these hours, electricity rates are higher due to increased demand. It's best to minimise the usage of high-energy appliances during these times.
  • Off-Peak Hours: 11am - 5pm and 9pm - 11pm.
    • During these hours, electricity rates are lower than peak hours. This is a good time to run appliances like washing machines, dishwashers and vacuum cleaners.
  • Night Hours: 11pm - 7am.
    • This is the most affordable time to use electricity. A good time to charge EV’s or anything with a battery.
  • Half Price Weekends: Saturday 12am - Sunday 11:59pm.
    • All electricity used between Saturday 12am and Sunday 11:59pm is half price. The more electricity usage that you shift into the weekends, the more money you can save.

  To find the energy rates for your property on the Power Shift plan, click here and type in your address.

• How much will I save?

  Any savings associated with the Power Shift plan will vary depending on your meter setup, how you use electricity overall, and particularly how much usage you shift to the off-peak hours and weekends.

  Everyone’s usage is different. However, the more usage you shift off-peak, the more you can save!

  You can track your savings online through My Account – our online portal available to Pulse Energy customers to manage your energy account.

• What are Half Price Weekends?

  On the Power Shift Plan we offer half price weekends. All electricity used between 12am Saturday and 11:59pm Sunday will be half price.

• What kind of savings can I get from Half Price Weekends?

  The more electricity usage that you shift into the weekends, the more money you can save.

  Here are some tips:

  • Delaying starting the dishwasher until off-peak times/weekends.
  • Scheduling all your clothes washing for the weekend or after 9pm when off-peak rates apply.
  • Keeping your heat pump turned off during peak times and switching it on during off-peak hours.
• Why does electricity cost more during peak hours?

  The price of electricity changes every 30 minutes. It’s most expensive in a “peak” time during the day - in the morning when people are getting ready for work, and in the evening when people arrive home from work.

  During “peak overload” times, such as during a cold snap in winter the ‘peak load’ gets too much for the day-to-day national infrastructure. Everyone wants to use power at the same time as it might be really cold, but not enough electricity can be generated to support us all. So a standby electricity generation plant has to start to prevent the national grid from shutting down. It costs lots of money to start and keep these standby generation plants maintained - only to be started a handful of times a year.

• I'm already a Pulse Energy customer, can I switch to this plan?

  The Power Shift plan is not currently available for existing Pulse Energy customers. However, if you are interested, please contact us to discuss plan options.

• Why doesn't the Power Shift plan display when I try to sign up online?

  The Power Shift plan is only available to residential customers who have an eligible and actively communicating smart meter.

  When signing up online, once you enter your address we can identify if you have the right type of meter or not. If you don’t have the right type of meter, the Power Shift plan will not display.

  Please get in touch with us here and our team can check to see if your property is eligible.

• I have a smart meter, but it says I'm not eligible for this plan, why?

  To go on the Power Shift plan, you need to have a communicating smart meter that records and sends us your electricity usage at every half-hourly interval. This way, we can identify the right amount of electricity used in the different chargeable periods and bill you accordingly.

  Unfortunately, some meter types aren’t as reliable in providing this half-hourly usage data as others, meaning we might not get all the data in time to bill you accurately. So, we’ve had to exclude some smart meters from being eligible for the plan.

  If we find your meter isn’t sending the required usage data to bill you accurately on the Power Shift plan, we may need to remove you from the plan. But don’t worry, we’ll discuss all of this with you first and make sure we find a plan that works best for you.