Oily Rag column - week beginning 18 July 2011

Power switching and your tips

By Frank and Muriel Newman

A few weeks back we raised a question put by oily ragger John from Warkworth. John asked, "I recently received an offer from Mercury Energy to 'lock in' my power price for the next three years but at a price that is about 9 percent more than I pay now. Should I do that?"

Well we posted the question up on the oily rag website and received quite a response. As it happens last week we also received a cold-call from a Mercury Energy staffer asking if we wanted to switch to Mercury and take up their fixed price offer. It gave us an opportunity to ask why Mercury is taking such an aggressive approach to gain new customers and lock them into a three year contract.

Well it seems there is quite a battle going on in the electricity retail sector at present. Much of it has been driven by the Electricity Authority’s campaign to encourage consumers shop around for the best power deal. (You may have seen their campaign in the media – it’s the one with the post-it notes that are stuck to the foreheads of power consumers showing how much they can save by switching.)

According to news reports, in the first month of the campaign 226,419 consumers visited www.whatsmynumber.org.nz to find out how much they could save on their electricity bill, and in June, 45,974 consumers switched suppliers - up 60 percent on the same time last year.

It seems Contact and Mercury Energy were the main losers when the net gains or losses were calculated. And that’s the key point. It would appear that Mercury is trying to turn around the outflow of customers by locking them into a three-year contract.

As one oily rag reader pointed out, those who lock themselves into Mercury’s three year fixed-rate deal, are in effect shutting themselves out of the ability to save money by switching to a lower cost provider.

Now from this week’s mailbag - Brian from Tauranga is flush with ideas about cleaning the loo: “Dishwasher powder makes an excellent toilet cleaner. Place a tablespoon in a small bowl, add hot water to dissolve. Throw in toilet bowl and brush around. Leave 10 mins and flush!”

And J.D. from Havelock North has some tips about cosmetics:
• “Store your roll-on deodorant upside down. It will last for weeks longer.
• If you drop your powder eye shadow or blusher and it breaks into pieces, don't throw it away. Close carefully and you can use it all.
• Always cut ‘empty’ tubes of face cream etc in half. Re-close by inserting one half into the other. You will be surprised how much there is left. My record is 4 weeks of daily use from an ‘empty’ tube. ”

Sally dropped us a lovely note: “Love what you are doing, and your website is fantastic. It is people such as yourself that keep families together when times are tough and money is short. Thank you.” Thank you, Sally. Oily raggers are such a great crowd of people. Sally is of course right about families needing to work together when times are tough.

If you have a question or favourite tip, share it with others by visiting the oily rag website or write to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei. The book Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag by Frank & Muriel Newman is available from all good bookstores or online at www.oilyrag.co.nz

Frank and Muriel Newman are the authors of Living Off the Smell of an Oily Rag in NZ. Readers can submit their oily rag tips on-line at www.oilyrag.co.nz. The book is available from bookstores and online at www.oilyrag.co.nz.

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