By Pattrick Smellie
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Wednesday 4th March 2009 |
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That means Contact lost 22,471 electricity customers - a little over 4 per cent of its customer base - in the four months since Sept. 30, when total electricity customers peaked at 529,106. That was just before Contact announced 11% tariff increases in the South Island and Wellington, and a doubling of the directors' fee pool just as the world economy crashed, and within weeks of the general election.
Mercury, Meridian and TrustPower have been major beneficiaries of customer switching in the South Island, while Genesis has benefited in the North.
Both Nova Gas and Mercury have remained active in door-to-door sales in Wellington, where customers are particularly attractive when they switch not only electricity but also reticulated gas accounts.
Contact's first-half profit report shows the company had 70,000 gas customers at December 31 last year, a loss of 5000 customers - around 7% of its gas customer base - in the last half of last year, compared with an increase of 1000 gas customers in the first half.
Shares of Contact rose 1.5% to $5.57 and are down 22% this year.
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