Have you thought about switching power companies? If you have, you’re not alone.

A total of 378,000 of us switched electricity providers last year, says comparison site NZCompare.com.

The three top providers Kiwi choose to switch to were:

• Electric Kiwi, which increased by 21,859 customers.
• Powershop, which increased by 12,046 customers.
• Nova Energy, which increased by 10,105 customers.

This move to relatively new players and smaller companies shows we’re looking hard at the big guys and finding them wanting.

The three biggest losers were:

• Genesis Energy, which lost 20,499 customers.
• Mercury Energy, which lost 18,919 customers.
• Contact Energy, which lost 13,605 customers.

NZCompare suggests that innovative deals and opportunities are working for the smaller companies.

Among the companies’ offerings are a free hour of power, savings guarantees, $150 of credit, regular discounts, no fixed contract offers, and bundling together broadband and power to make savings.

However, the site points out that the big guys still hold most of the market share.

“Genesis Energy, Mercury NZ and Contact Energy are still incredibly popular with customers,” it says.

“Genesis Energy has just under 500,000 customers, Contact Energy around 400,000 and Mercury NZ around 340,000. So, if you’re with one of the big providers, you’re not alone.”

Try www.powercompare.co.nz to see the deals being offered by the top three.

JUNO’s content comes from sources that JUNO magazine considers accurate, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. Charts in JUNO are visually indicative, not exact. The content of JUNO is intended as general information only, and you use it at your own risk.