Compare bottled gas suppliers in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Rockgas, Elgas, Mercury and Genesis Energy were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Bill and Cost Clarity, Customer Service, Tools & Advice and Value for Money.
See our Ratings Methodology.
Rockgas delivers gas and customer satisfaction, rated the No.1 supplier of bottled gas by Kiwi consumers.
Our review compares bottled gas suppliers on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our bottled gas retailers before you make your own choice. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest friends which bottled gas suppliers they think deliver the best value and service!
Canstar Blue surveyed 383 Kiwis who have bottled gas delivered to their homes for their feedback on the supplier they use.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their bottled gas suppliers from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning bottled gas supplier is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
This is the fourth time in six years that Rockgas has taken out out top award. And this year, again, it heads our awards table with a very impressive set of ratings from its many happy customers. Not only is it the only bottled gas supplier to earn a top 5-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, it’s also the only one to earn more than one top rating. It earns its other 5-Star rating for Bill & Cost Clarity, plus excellent 4-Star ratings in the all-important categories of Customer Service and Value for Money.
Rockgas is New Zealand’s largest LPG retail supplier, providing fast and reliable service to over 140,000 customers, through a national network of branches and franchises.
Rockgas delivers 45kg bottles to homes, to provide gas for cooking, heating and hot water. Ordering refills is quick and easy via the Rockgas app. Rockgas also operates a network of over 120 refill locations to service 9kg BBQ bottles.
Rockgas’ prices for bottled gas vary across the country, depending on your location. For more details, check out the Rockgas website.
Second on our awards table, Elgas earns great 4-Star ratings for Overall Satisfaction and Customer Service. It earns its top ratings, 5 Stars, for Bill Cost & Clarity and its lowest rating for Tools & Advice.
Elgas is part of BOC, which in turn is part of the Linde company, a leading global industrial gases and engineering firm. Elgas offers:
Mercury earns a great 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, placing it third on our awards table. It earns a further 4 Stars for Bill Cost & Clarity, and its highest rating, 5 Stars, for Tools & Advice. For Customer Service and Value for Money it earns 3-Star ratings.
Mercury is one of the highest profile energy companies in New Zealand, and is best known for its electricity plans. However it also offers utilities, including broadband and mobile, as well as piped natural gas and bottled LPG. Mercury offers dual-fuel discounts for customers who combine bottled gas and electricity at their address. Mercury’s bottled gas service is supplied by Vector Ongas, see below.
Placing fourth on our awards table, Genesis earns a 3-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction. While this is not a top rating, it’s by no means a measure of dissatisfaction. Rather it shows Genesis’ customers are content with the general levels of satisfaction delivered by the bottle gas provider. Indeed, across other categories, our former award winner earns high praise: 5 Stars for Customer Service, and 4-Star ratings for Value for Money and Tools & Advice.
Genesis is a publicly listed company that is 51% owned by the NZ government. Genesis provides electricity, natural gas and bottled gas (LPG) to New Zealand households and businesses, and also generates electricity.
It’s quick and easy to order bottled gas from Genesis through its Energy IQ app. Delivery is speedy and you can track the delivery. Plus, Genesis offers a 5% discount if you bundle your gas and electricity supply.
Not all bottled gas suppliers in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are more bottled gas providers to check out before choosing a supplier:
Frank EnergyOriginally established in 1999 as Energy Online, the company was purchased by Genesis Energy in 2002 and rebranded as Frank Energy in 2021.
Frank Energy offers electricity and gas plans across New Zealand, along with LPG bottled gas. The power company focuses on providing not only smart apps and online services, but great customer service, too.
One of the country’s largest gas retailers, Vector Ongas supplies LPG gas bottles to Kiwi homes.
If you rely on bottled gas to heat and power your home, it’s essential that your supplier is reliable – delivering on time, every time.
Therefore it’s no surprise to discover that when it comes to the most important aspect of their bottled-gas supply, over a third (36%) of those in our survey cite great Customer Service as their No.1 concern.
Understandably, Value for Money is also an important driver of satisfaction for almost a third (32%) of respondents.
Here’s the full rundown of what the consumers in our survey say are the main things they consider when rating their bottled gas suppliers:
Bottled gas is either butane or propane gas that has been compressed into a liquid form and bottled. When release from its pressurised bottle, the liquid reverts to a gas, which can then be burned to fuel heating or cooking in the home.
While bottled and natural gas perform the same tasks: either used for heating or cooking in the home, there are differences between the two:
While there are over 2500kms of high-pressure supply pipelines in New Zealand, supplying gas to more than 60,000 customers, there is no mains supply in the South Island. And if your home isn’t already connected to mains gas, a new connection can be prohibitively expensive.
However because bottled gas is portable, it’s an easily accessible option if your home is off the mains gas grid.
Natural gas is often referred to as mains gas or piped gas, and is only available to homes on the mains network in certain parts of the North Island.
Unlike bottled gas, which is usually butane or propane, mains gas is primarily methane.
For more information on our natural gas award, click here.
Homes using bottled gas usually have two 45kg bottles. When one empties, supply switches to the other and a replacement is ordered for the empty bottle.
How long a gas bottle lasts depends on your power usage, whether you’re using the gas for cooking, heating, hot water, or a combination of all three. Obviously, the more gas you use the more bottles you will have to purchase.
However, here’s a rough guide to gas bottle consumption for an average home:
This report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.
Understand how to check safety of gas appliances: 40%
Use gas because it’s cheaper: 35%
Have compared gas suppliers online: 28%
Canstar Blue surveyed 5127 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who have a bottled gas account. In this case, 377 New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
The past winners from Canstar Blue’s Bottled Gas ratings:
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