Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) data showed recently Balclutha had the highest charge per kilowatt hour of electricity, at 50.31c.
Dunedin was at 39.64c, Invercargill 37.32c, Cromwell 46.84c and Queenstown was at 40.25c.
Retired taxi driver Bev McLaren, of Balclutha, said the differences did not seem fair and the escalating cost of living was forcing her, and others on lower incomes, to consider drastic measures.
The 73-year-old, who lived in a small three-bedroom house, said she did not understand why an essential utility like power would vary in cost, as it was delivered by a single national network.
‘‘I get my power through a Grey Power deal with Pulse Electricity, which I know is as good as it comes locally.
‘‘My power bills are about $160 to $200 a month, just for me, which I still can’t afford.
‘‘But of course, you can’t go without either, so you’re left with the option of going without other essentials like food, or leaving your home and downsizing, just to reduce your bills.
‘‘It’s not right.’’
She said the cost of living was causing her and fellow pensioners extreme stress.
‘‘You just find yourself thinking about it all the time.’’
She hoped the government would pay attention to what she believed was a worsening issue.
An Electricity Authority spokeswoman said although national transmission was conducted through a single network, getting power to homes was overseen on a localised basis.
This meant costs for distribution had considerable variance, costing more in areas with fewer and more widely-dispersed users.
MBIE data for the past five years showed line costs made up about 36% of the total power bill on average, but 44% in Balclutha.
‘‘The differences are largely driven by the customer density of each network,’’ the spokeswoman said.
‘‘For example, larger lines companies in major cities have higher customer density.
‘‘This allows them to spread their costs across a larger number of consumers, which lowers their average costs.’’
Rural lines companies recovered their costs from a smaller base of consumers, which could lead to higher prices, she said.
‘‘This could be one of main reasons why costs in Balclutha are higher compared to the rest of the country — it has few consumers to spread its costs across.’’
Consumer watchdog Powerswitch said prices across the country had increased by 20% over the past two years, adjusting for inflation.
Higher prices had led to an increase in people switching power companies to find better deals, up by about 30% last month.
