David Naulls

As the year comes to an end, it’s always interesting to survey what we’ve achieved during the year.

We published a touch under 60 tests in Consumer magazine and even more than that online. As well, we carried out our regular surveys of appliances and insurance products. Part of our mission is “making decisions easy” and this is one of the main ways we do that.

Our testing often reveals more than what’s the best buy. Our test of smoke alarms showed once again that photoelectric alarms give much greater protection against smouldering fires than the older and more common ionisation models. Now that photoelectric alarms are coming down in price we think the ionisation models should be phased out.

One of our fridge tests pinpointed an LG fridge that had an illegal circumvention device that sent the fridge into energy-saving mode when it detected energy-efficiency testing conditions. LG eventually withdrew the fridge and offered to compensate consumers for their extra energy use.

Following on from our major submission on the performance of the electricity market last year, we took another look at electricity prices. We think the latest set of reforms has to deliver some relief from the endless ratcheting up of residential power prices or the current market-based system needs to be radically reassessed.

Our GST Wall of Shame touched a nerve with Kiwis and reminded businesses that someone was looking at their price increases. We also investigated a number of wider public issues this year, including mining on the conservation estate and the ETS.

We were busy on the submissions front: 10 were made this year, mainly on the proposed changes to consumer law and the regulation of financial advisers. We were also part of the “Drop the rate mate” campaign, which saw the Commerce Commission recommend regulating mobile termination rates.

In the coming year we will expand our Powerswitch site and launch our new free telecommunications comparison site. This work benefits not just members but consumers generally.

I wish you all the best for the holiday season and look forward to your continuing support next year.

David Naulls
Editor
Consumer magazine

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