If you’re a Flickster on one of our OG pricing plans, Wholesale (formerly Freestyle) or FIXIE, you might have noticed that we keep track of your savings info in your bills or on your dashboard to help you keep tabs on how much you’re saving (or not…) with Flick. But exactly where do we get all our numbers from?
How do you calculate my savings info?
Most of the time, Flicksters will switch over to us from another retailer, so calculating their savings is pretty straightforward. We produce a savings estimate based on information provided by Consumer NZ’s Powerswitch, and we can compare against Mercury Energy, Genesis Energy, Contact Energy, Trustpower, Meridian Energy, Nova Energy Limited, Energy Online, Hunet Energy and Pulse Energy Limited. If you were with any other retailer, or you’re moving into a new property, we’ll compare your total spend with Flick against the biggest power company in your area.
We compare your Flick bill with the standard, comparable published plan from your previous retailer (or the biggest power company in your area) using a rate that’s updated from Powerswitch at least every 6 months. From this we generate your estimated savings figure each week.
The comparison also takes into account whether you’re a standard or low user, your metering set up (for example, whether your have an uncontrolled or controlled meter), and any prompt payment discounts available to you. It doesn’t include any special or one-off plans that aren’t publicly available, additional discounts such as dual fuel, e-bills or extra direct debit discounts, or early termination fees for breaking fixed term contracts.
What if you can’t compare against my previous retailer?
If you’ve moved into a new property, if you were on a non-traditional plan from Powershop, Electric Kiwi or Globug, or if your previous retailer is no longer in business, we can’t make an estimate using your previous retailer.
Instead, we compare your Flick bill with the standard comparable published plan of the biggest electricity retailer in your area, based on information provided by Powerswitch. In the absence of specifics, we reckon this is the fairest way to provide you with guidance on how you’re doing with Flick.
OK - so how do you work that out?
To estimate what you would have paid with your previous retailer, each week we take the number of units your household used that week and multiply this by the relevant rate from your comparable retailer based on the above approach. In doing this, we include all costs and GST. We then deduct your Flick bill for the same period from our calculation of what you would have paid, to calculate your estimated savings.
If you’re personally tracking your savings from season to season, it’s worth noting that usage plays a big part in your total big cost. You might use a whole lot less power in a mild winter for example, compared with a very cold and long winter. Lifestyle factors, such as holidays, employment and family changes can also have a major impact on your usage patterns, so it’s important to factor kWh used into your calculations to truly compare one season’s bills with another, regardless of which power company you were with.
What happens to my savings figure if I move properties?
If you’ve been a Flick customer for a while but you’ve recently moved properties, it’s important to note that the savings figure displayed on your bill and dashboard relates only to your current property. To calculate your total savings since joining Flick, simply add the savings figure of your previous property’s final bill to that of your new property’s most recent bill. Voilà!
And when I don’t save?
If there are weeks that you pay more with Flick than you would have paid with a previous supplier, we’ll minus that amount from your all-time savings figure (that’s the total amount you’ve saved since you joined Flick), so you’ll always be able to see if your total savings are in the red or black.
Still got questions?
Head over to our Facebook page or leave a comment below. We love hearing from our #CleverFlickers!