Contact Energy Good Nights Plan - Still Worth It?

curiousb on 05/05/2023 - 18:55
Last edited 05/05/2023 - 19:09

Hi all, the Good Nights plan is tempting with not bad rates and of course the 3 hours of free power that make the rates worth it.

It looks like it is no longer a fixed-term plan. To people who are on or used to be on the plan, did the prices change much? If you've been on the plan since the beginning is it still worth it now?

I'm a bit weary of Contact as a company - used to be with them a while ago and felt like they didn't care about losing customers. I wouldn't put it past them to jack up everybody's prices as soon as they think they won't notice.

General Discussion

Comments

  • bigcheese on 05/05/2023 - 19:36
    +1

    I don't know about the pricing on this particular plan but in regards to them not worried about losing customers, I think you will find this goes for pretty much all companies in this space. Broadband providers are the same.
    The attractive offers are always for new customers with existing customers either ineligible or needing to jump through hoops to get them.
    That's why it's worthwhile to always look at what's on offer in the market any time your contract is due for renewal.

  • Elvino on 05/05/2023 - 19:56
    +1

    Ive been on that plan for a while. From memory the key change was the daily rate doubled (from like 30c to 60c), and the per Kwh went up 1-2c.
    Youve just got to make it work for you. We shifted alot of our usage into that slot (~30%) so it definitely works for us. Comparisons to other providers are within 10-15% on our usage (in our favour), so its not really worth switching given the simplicity. Ill have another look if they move the prices again.

  • Kiwi on 05/05/2023 - 20:20
    +1

    Price has gone up a lot compared to when they released it, but it's still cheap if you make the most of it.
    We do about 50:50 during the winter, so save a lot on power and have a warm house in the evening.
    They're inline with the rest of the retailers in the way of caring about losing customers, never seen any retention deals, just new customer or new service ones.
    Their referral system is decent, $100 each.

  • c3rn on 06/05/2023 - 08:19

    Been on the plan (fixed term) for a year and a half now. At the time when we had to re-sign for another year the costs jumped up a lot.
    I expect that the same will happen next time.
    I don't think it's this plan or Contact in general rather it's just the cost of power and is similar with all providers jacking up their rates

  • spam on 06/05/2023 - 15:00

    Was on 30c/kWh and 30c daily charge and now becomes 26.9c/kWh and 90c daily charge on open term!

    Had asked if they have retention team and can offer better rwtes but they said that's their best rate.
    Im currently on about 40% free usahe but based on my spreadsheet with the new rate I'll be paying around $20 more per month based on past usage.

    I'm leaning towards moving to Mercury with 23c/kWh and 60c daily charge fixed for 2 years and $250 join credit once my term with Contact finishes

    • mpc on 06/05/2023 - 15:54
      +1

      As a low user I'm the same, found Mercury was the best compared to Powershop etc. despite what Powerswitch was telling me. Sign up with a referral (randomly selected) https://www.cheapies.nz/deals/mercury.co.nz. Looks like their daily rate has gone up to ~90c but their useage rates have got a lot cheaper.

      • gooddeals on 07/05/2023 - 09:35

        What is the deal for Referee? Said special offer.

    • ace310 on 06/05/2023 - 22:25

      Have you checked flick energy?

      • spam on 07/05/2023 - 10:09

        I haven't recently. At the time Mercury seemed the best with 60c daily but now that they're going 90c daily, might need to tweak my spreadsheet again

      • spam on 08/05/2023 - 11:24

        Looks like Mercury is still the cheapest for me based on their off-peak & peak pricing.

        Interestingly Contact is still the cheapest option for me based on my past usage but Mercury wins because of the $250 join credit.

        • ace310 on 08/05/2023 - 11:34

          Agreed. Mercury is cheaper for me as well. Did some calculations yesterday and am thinking of switching to mercury. Just worried about 2 yr contract, not sure should I join or not.

          • spam on 08/05/2023 - 11:48

            @ace310: Given the annual increase of the daily charge, wouldn't that be beneficial for us to fix it for 2 years?

            I'm aware the unit price may come down but that daily charge is a guarantee saving I think.

            For comparison, I have been looking at the 2 year fix price for my property and was at 0.2251/kWh and 60c daily, now changed to 0.2215/kWh and 90c daily. So not much difference on the unit price but 30c daily increase.

            • ace310 on 08/05/2023 - 11:53

              @spam: I agree on that bit. But my circumstance is that I might move house next year or might get solar just too many variables in the mix.

  • CJ on 07/05/2023 - 08:00

    I used to have 2 properties on a similar plan Electric kiwi, free hours. Doing our washing, etc during that free hour at 9pm and retired parents utilize free hour at 5pm. But that's hell lot of pressure for a saving of $5-15 per month. Decided to moved onto a fixed 2 yr plan. Besides, I dont want to stay up 10ish to put away my laundry in winter while I should be in my bed. It approved 2 yr plan has given me great saving as pricing has hiked in the past 2 yrs.
    Since Contact has no interest of retaining customers, I have just signed up a new fixed 2 year plan elsewhere after comparing various providers, for a cheapest deal and best offer. It also down to property location.
    If anyone is interested in, feel free pm m for referral link.

  • Zyo on 07/05/2023 - 19:51
    +1

    I am on this plan and I charge my Tesla at night and created a serverless cloud function to stop the charging.
    That plus the dishwasher we used 387 kwh during the day vs 457kwh of free power.

    Pretty good use case I'd say.

  • hacatan on 03/11/2023 - 08:07
    +1

    I was on this plan almost since it started. On average my free power was almost 60% of my power bill (on approx total 15,000kWh pa) Very good value first 15 months or so, then the rates went up 23%. At the end of that year the rates went up another 12%. For my situation the uncertainty of future price rises at any time (Nights plan is not a fixed term) was offset by switching to Meridian’s EV Plan fixed for 2 years with a sign on bonus. Looking back over my last year’s bills with Contact and comparing Contact’s latest prices with Meridian’s the average Meridian bill would have been approximately 5% higher (the first Meridian bill hasn’t come in yet, but I can do an accurate comparison as I log my electricity usage each minute) . However with Meridian’s cheap rates 9pm-7am and the 2 year fixed price I’m thinking that I’ll still be better off. It was a win-win when Contact offloaded their cheap generation and I made an effort to use it between 9-12 but then they got greedy……

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join