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Toast Electric 

Having been impressed by their socially responsible business model, I’ve invited Toast Electric to give a presentation on their work at St Ronan’s on Wednesday evening 11 February from 7:30-8:30pm. If you want to know more about Toast Electric or ask questions, do come along. There will be tea and bikkies afterwards. A very worthwhile effort. I think you’ll be impressed too…!

This is a small, not-for-profit electricity retailer powered by Sustainability Trust. 

The coverage: Toast Electric services homes and small businesses in Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley (their coverage also extends to Kāpiti, Horowhenua, Wairarapa, Christchurch and mid-Canterbury. And is expanding). Their mission is to reduce energy hardship in New Zealand. 

The Pricing: Toast Electric’s pricing is comparable with that of the big power retailers. If you send them your recent power bill, they will give you an estimate of how much you would save each year by changing to Toast Electric. 

The Profits: Rather than going to shareholders, Toast Electric’s company profits are re-invested in providing support to low-income households. These sometimes have to make the hard choice between heating and eating. 

The Model: Toast Electric has one low-income customer for every four regular customers. This allows the 4% profit they make from each regular customer to be applied as a 16% discount for the low-income customer. In this way, Toast Electric helps their low-income customers out of energy hardship. 

The Alsos: Toast’s side benefits for their low-income customers include free home energy checks and advice. And interventions such as free curtains, lightbulbs and heaters. And Toast works closely with financial mentors to provide wraparound support. 

The Maths: To ease the arithmetic for you, let’s assume your average annual power spend is $2000, then the 4% profit is worth $80. When combined with that of three other regular customers it grows to 16% and so funds a $320 discount to the low-income customer who pays only $1680 for $2000 worth of power. 

The Admin: Toast Electric will do all the admin for your provider change - you just have to ask them to do it for you. So, for you, the cost and bother of changing your power provider is nil (you might even gain a bit in cheaper power) but the benefit to some low-income family is significant. So, what are you waiting for...?!

You can read more about the company and their goals here  
Sandy Lang

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