Twenty-five thousand dollars for what looked like less than a day’s work? An Auckland couple building their dream home found the cost of connecting their electricity “outrageous”. The country’s largest lines company defended its fee but then, after the job was done (and Fair Go made some inquiries), an “early Christmas present” was on its way. Mava Moayyed reports.
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Rishi and Pritha Bhattacharyya set out to build their dream home after purchasing a century-old, asbestos-ridden bungalow in Auckland’s Mt Eden.
They anticipated challenges with demolishing the house and starting fresh, but the shock of a $25,000 electricity connection fee left them reeling.
“We’re replacing a single house with another single house on a standard freehold site. There’s road frontage and a power pole stands just outside the property,” Rishi says.
The couple had budgeted $3000 to $5000 for the connection however, when the quote arrived – after a two- to three-month wait – it was five times higher than expected.
“We wondered if it was a mistake,” says Rishi.
“The distance from the post to the edge of the property is only 3.3m, which I imagine is as close as you could get! Yet Vector provided me with a quote that seems an entire order of magnitude out from where it should be.”
Vector defends its prices
Vector, New Zealand’s largest lines company, owns most of Auckland’s power poles and infrastructure. It has faced accusations of price gouging, but the company denies overcharging.
“Auckland faces significant growth and materially higher costs than in other parts of the country… Our quotes for connections are provided as pass-through costs, and we make no money from them,” a Vector spokesperson said, citing inflation and rising interest rates as contributing factors.
Frustrated by the quote, Rishi contacted the company for a cost breakdown.
“It wasn’t very helpful,” he says. “The breakdown was basically: civil works, $15,000; $7000 for other bits, and almost $3000 GST.
The couple lodged a complaint with Utilities Disputes and their local MP. But they reluctantly paid the fee to avoid delaying construction further. “We had no choice. Either the house build stopped, or we had to pay. It felt like we were cornered.”
The connection was installed in late November. Rishi was on-site to see the work being done. “There were two workers, plus an arborist because there’s a tree nearby. But they didn’t seem to do anything with the tree,” he says.
Vector said the arborist’s presence was a council requirement to ensure tree roots weren’t damaged.
The work itself seemed minimal, Rishi says: “A little bit of sidewalk was dug up and replaced, and a port was created outside the property. I’ll still need to pay an electrician to connect the power to my home.” (The picture below shows where the sidewalk was dug up, but the stones are for a different project, a yet-to-be-built wall.)
The job was completed in under a day.
“$25,000 is just a fraction less than demolishing and removing the old house. I can’t understand how it could cost so much,” says Rishi.
Refund issued after final costs are lower
Vector maintains that it provides “cost-reflective quotes” and advises customers on alternative options where possible.
Following inquiries from Fair Go, Vector delivered some good news for the Bhattacharyyas.
In this instance, “the final costs ended up lower than quoted so we will be issuing a refund, which is our standard process,” the company said.
In particular, the civil works, initially quoted at $15,000, ended up costing $3,500. The Bhattacharyyas will receive a refund of just over $9,000.
“It comes as a very welcome early Christmas present,” says Rishi.
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