Business electricity,
compared on your actual connection
Electricity is usually the largest utility line on a Kiwi business’s P&L, and it is the one most often left on whatever plan the site was signed up on years ago. We compare commercial rates against the connection you actually have — not a national average — and manage the switch from end to end.
What a commercial power rate is actually made of
Businesses tend to talk about "the rate" as if it were one number. It is not. A commercial electricity price is assembled from several charges that behave differently, and which of them dominate your bill depends on how your site draws power.
There is a variable charge for every kWh you use — and on many price categories that splits into separate anytime, controlled and night rates, so when you use power changes what it costs. There is a fixed daily charge that runs 365 days a year whether the doors are open or not. Sitting inside both is a delivery charge set by the lines company for your area, which is why an identical business in a different region does not pay an identical rate. And on larger connections there is a whole second family of charges — capacity, demand, power factor — that are billed on kVA or kW rather than on kWh, and that a headline "cents per unit" comparison never touches.
This is the part a comparison website cannot do for you, because it needs your connection, not your postcode.
How we work a comparison
We start from your ICP. That gives us the network your site sits on and the price category your connection is actually rated at, which together determine which commercial rates are genuinely available to you. Then we take your real usage and your real current spend and put the two side by side.
Where the numbers say a switch is worth it, we go and negotiate it, and we manage the change with the retailer so you are not chasing it. Where they say your current rate is already sharp, we tell you that — our own savings tool has a specific outcome for it, precisely so that nobody on our side is tempted to round a nil result into a win.
Where multi-site operators lose the most
If you run more than one site, your connections were almost certainly signed up at different times, on different price categories, possibly in different lines areas — and they arrive as separate bills that nobody reads side by side. The money is rarely in one dramatic bad rate. It is in the spread: three sites on a good arrangement and two quietly paying more than they need to, with no single view that would ever show you which is which.
Consolidating those ICPs and getting one picture of what the group actually spends is core work for us, not a special project.
What’s included
What a electricity review covers
- Rates compared against your ICP’s own network and price category
- Time-of-use review — anytime, controlled and night charge structures
- Demand and capacity charge analysis for larger connections
- ICP consolidation for multi-site chains and franchise groups
- Contract term options weighed against how long you expect to hold the site
- Green and lower-carbon supply options where sustainability reporting matters
- The switch managed end to end, with your rates confirmed in writing first
15 letters and numbers, printed on your power bill. It identifies the connection, not the retailer.
Monthly kWh. The figure off a recent bill is close enough to start.
Your average monthly power bill, GST inclusive — the total you actually get charged.
No obligation · Fees agreed in writing before any switch
In context
Where this matters most
The sectors where electricity tends to be the line worth reviewing hardest.
Questions
About business electricity
ICP stands for Installation Control Point. It is the unique 15-character code — letters and numbers — for the physical electricity connection at your site. You will find it printed on your power bill, usually near the top, under a heading like "ICP" or "Installation number". It identifies the connection rather than the retailer, so it stays the same when you switch. That is exactly why we ask for it: it lets us look up the network and price category that genuinely apply to your site instead of guessing from your postcode.
No. Nothing physical happens at your site. A retailer switch changes who bills you for the energy delivered to your connection — the connection itself, the meter, and your local lines company all stay exactly as they are. Your ICP does not change either.
Because part of every commercial power rate is a delivery charge set by the lines company for your area, and lines areas price differently from one another. Two identical cafes on identical usage, one in one region and one in another, do not pay the same rate — and a national average hides that entirely. Our rate lookup is keyed to your ICP’s own network and price category, so what you see is the rate that applies to your connection.
It compares two real numbers, not two guesses. The current side is what you actually pay — the monthly figure you give us, annualised. The new side is built from the real rates that apply to your ICP’s network and price category: your monthly kWh at the variable rate, plus the fixed daily charge for 365 days, plus our service fee, then grossed up for GST so it lines up with the total you read off your bill. We deliberately do not assume you are currently on a discount, which makes the estimate conservative rather than flattering.
Then we say so. Our savings tool has a specific outcome for exactly this case: when your current rate already beats what we can put in front of you, it tells you that instead of manufacturing a saving out of rounding. A broker who can never find a reason to leave you alone is not giving you advice.
Yes, and it is one of the places we are most useful. Multi-site operators usually have connections that were signed up at different times, on different price categories, in different lines areas, all landing as separate bills. Consolidating those ICPs onto a single arrangement — and getting one view of what the whole group actually spends — is core work for us, not an edge case.
Bill Health Check
Three questions, no bill, no contact details. You get a straight read on where businesses shaped like yours usually have room — on this page, right now.
Everything else we manage
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Ready to see what your electricity costs could be?
A short review, honest numbers, and a clear answer either way — including when the answer is that you are already on a competitive arrangement.
Speak to a specialist · Fees agreed in writing before any switch