Genesis: Best Bundled Utilities Provider

Bills bills bills. They pile up and they don’t stop coming. So it’s easy to see the appeal of rolling your bills into one. And thankfully, you can. Well… for some of your bills anyway…

Bundled utilities allow you to combine power with broadband and/or gas, to help make life a whole lot easier. By bundling your utilities, you can reduce the number of payments you need to keep track of each month. And, with special discounts and deals, you could even end up saving some money!

But if you’re going to sign up with just one provider, you want it to be a good one. So as part of our mission to help consumers find the best value, we asked customers with a bundled utilities account to evaluate their providers.

Genesis: New Zealand’s favourite bundled utilities provider

To find out which provider is the nation’s favourite, we surveyed 847 people who have a bundled utilities account. We asked them to evaluate their provider across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Bill & Cost Clarity
• Customer Service
• Focus on Environmental Sustainability
• Tools and Advice
• Value for Money

And according to Kiwis, Genesis is the way to go, as this year’s Most Satisfied Customers | Bundled Utilities Award winner.

Genesis has been part of NZ’s power landscape since 1999, when it was founded as part of the deregulation of the state-owned electricity market. Majority owned by the government (51%), Genesis is one of our biggest electricity generators, as well as a major player in the retail market.

Thanks to an array of excellent results, Genesis is a deserved winner of Canstar Blue’s award. The gentailer and bundled utilities provider earns 5 Stars for Overall Satisfaction, Customer Service and Tools and Advice. It earns excellent 4-Star results for Bill and Cost Clarity, as well as Focus on Environmental Sustainability.

Genesis scores a single 3-Star result for Value for Money.

→Related article: Electricity Bundles: Why Combine Your Power and Utilities?

New Zealand’s favourite bundled utilities providers

Here are New Zealand’s favourite bundled utilities providers, based on our survey results:

1. Genesis
2. Nova
3. Contact
4. Mercury
5. Slingshot
6. Trustpower

While Genesis is our award winner, there is plenty to love elsewhere, too. Nova, Contact, and Mercury all earn 4 Stars for Overall Satisfaction, including a host of 5-Star results. While Slingshot and Trustpower earn 3 Stars for Overall Satisfaction.

Top-rated providers: bundled utilities

Below is an overview of all the bundled utilities providers in our award rankings.

Genesis: Most Satisfied Customers | Bundled Utilities Award Winner

Genesis is the nation’s largest electricity retailer and one of our four big gentailers. It generates electricity from a diverse portfolio of thermal and renewable generation assets, and sells electricity, reticulated natural gas and LPG through its retail brands.

Bundle and Save With Genesis

With Genesis Dual fuel you can bundle your electricity with either LPG or natural gas on the Energy Basic or Energy Plus plans.

Energy Basic:

• Genesis’ lowest rates
• 5% duel fuel discount
• 12-month fixed-term (early exit fee applies)

Energy Plus:

• Up to 11% discount
• Flexible or fixed-term options (early exit fee applies)
• Choose how you pay
• Free Power Shout hours
• $100 fixed-term joining credit

And thanks to Genesis’s Energy IQ app, you’ll always be in full control of your energy usage. The app allows you to easily forecast, monitor and compare your energy use.

Nova

New Zealand owned Nova Energy earns an impressive 5-Star result for the three categories that customers value most: Value for Money, Customer Service, and Bill Cost & Clarity. It earns further impressive 4-Star results for Overall Satisfaction and Tools and Advice. It earns 3 Stars for Focus on Environmental Sustainability.

Contact

One of NZ’s four main gentailers, Contact has been a household name for over 20 years. In this year’s survey results, it earns a single 5-Star result for Value for Money. So customers are clearly happy with the deals and discounts on offer.

Elsewhere, Contact earns 4 Stars in all categories bar one, a single 3-Star result for Focus on Environmental Sustainability. While Contact produces 80-85% of its electricity from renewable sources, it does still rely, at times, on fossil fuel electricity production.

Mercury

Mercury earns an excellent 4 Stars for Overall Satisfaction and is the only provider alongside our winner, Genesis, to earn 4 Stars for Focus on Environmental Sustainability. An unsurprising result considering it produces 100% renewable energy. Mercury earns 3 Stars in all other categories.

Slingshot

Slingshot entered the market in 2001 and is well known for its broadband services. With Slingshot, you can bundle power, broadband, and mobile in order to save. In this year’s Bundled Utilities Award, Slingshot earns 3 Stars for Overall Satisfaction. It does, however, earn an excellent 5-Star result for Bill & Cost Clarity, and a 4-Star result for Value for Money.

Trustpower

Trustpower’s history dates back to Tauranga’s first power station in 1915. Since then, it’s grown into one of New Zealand’s largest energy and telecommunications companies. In this year’s survey, it earns a single 4-Star result for Customer Service, and 3 Stars in all other categories.

Compare bundled utilities with Canstar Blue

Bundled utilities can be a great way to simplify your bills and save money. To learn more about our Most Satisfied Customers | Bundled Utilities Award, or to compare bundled utilities providers, simply hit the button below:

Compare bundled utilities

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Andrew Broadley. Andrew is an experienced writer with a wide range of industry experience. Starting out, he cut his teeth working as a writer for print and online magazines, and he has worked in both journalism and editorial roles. His content has covered lifestyle and culture, marketing and, more recently, finance for Canstar.