We are gas and electricity residential consumers. We switched from Meridian to Contact to Genesis last year while moving house.
Each time this was done through call centres and there were significant problems. I wonder if Gerry brownlee has ever personally dealt with these systems. The emotional clap trap of the discarded supplier when you do change despite figures to the contrary reminds me of what happens when you stop Sky, must have the same PR merchant. Anyway this experience makes me hesitant to change because you get multiple bills that never seem to correspond to dates and you end up confused. We even got charged the penalty for not paing promptly because the delay when it went internally from the gas to the electrity department meant it arrived "late" even though it left our bank account before the ue date!!!.
If the Powerswitch route avoids dealing with a call centre as well as having it in writing, then it may stop all the shenanigans

Mike

Interestingly I got a phone call yesterday offering me 50 flybuys to switch to Contact, and ongoing Flybuys points. I got out my Genesis bill and the woman asked for a number off it. She was about to give me comparisons then I was abruptly cut off. Maybe Contacts prices were higher. I"m pleased I didn't waste any more time.

I am with Mercury Energy and if they go up I will be changing to Genesis - are Contact and Mercury the same company ? - sounds stupid of me not to already know the answer !

A few weeks before the Contact price rise was announced, I had a Contact 'door-knocker' come round. He was offering discounted prices to switch to Contact (of about 10% lower than those listed on the Contact website). I filled it in as it would have saved me almost $20 off one bill from Meridian. When Meridian got wind of me wanting to move the account to Contact, they (- Meridian) offered me an extra 10% 'prompt payment discount' (- so now 20% discount). So discounts are easily available. My advice if a door-knocker comes around: check the prices out, and even if they are slighty cheaper, go with the new one - you will probably find your existing supplier will offer you further discounts to stay with them.... :-)

I switched from Contact to Mercury, using info based on Powerswitch calculations, when the business of doubled fees for directors came up. I couldn't believe they were doing that, and I can't believe how much lower the bills are with Mercury. I think the principal reason for the lower amounts is that Mercury actually reads the meter for every bill. Contact sent bills for "estimated" use that bore no resemblance to the amounts I was actually using. Then, once or twice a year I would get a bill that was all credit. This meant that I was effectively paying them to hold onto my money in advance of the power use - like pre-pay phone cards, but without the control of how you spend them. And of course, there were penalties for not paying the bills on time even though I hadn't used the power. Personally, I think if Contact lost all of its customers and went out of business yesterday, it wouldn't be soon enough.