Board Gais increases their prices ! A bad Joke !

Guillaume · 11-07-2011 5:44pm #1

By a minimum of 12 % for electricity consumers ! What a joke ! The same provider who encouraged us to make the big switch in order to save 10 % from ESB ! Since I switched, the prices from Board Gais for my electricity bill never been so high ! And now after they seduced potential ESB consumers and so conquered several thousand of them, we are trapped, and facing a 12 % increase !

Time to go back to ESB ! :mad:

dudara · 11-07-2011 6:24pm

In fairness, wholesale energy costs are shooting up everywhere. English firms have recently announced price increases also. I don't think it's a deliberate ploy on the part of Bord Gais - just shop around.

Cabaal · 11-07-2011 6:51pm

dudara wrote: »

In fairness, wholesale energy costs are shooting up everywhere. English firms have recently announced price increases also. I don't think it's a deliberate ploy on the part of Bord Gais - just shop around.

Agreed,
Its crap for everyone but its hardly just Ireland see - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14080757

If people can change providers to get a better deal then they should.

Guillaume · 11-07-2011 6:58pm

ok to both of you, BUT you missed the point that Board Gais encouraged - via a strong campaign - to switch, to change their provider to them in the hope, what I am saying, with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising... A little bit like the government.... :rolleyes:

CptSternn · 11-07-2011 7:34pm

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/household-energy-bills-to-rise-by-over-euro300-per-year-2818002.html

HUNDREDS of thousands of householders are facing a €300 hike in their annual energy bills, the Irish Independent has learned.

Bord Gais will this week announce it is pushing up the cost of its electricity by between 10pc and 14pc.

And in further pain for its residential customers, the energy supplier is also seeking permission to increase its gas prices by up to 28pc. This will mean an increase of €120 on the average family annual electricity bill and €200 on the annual gas bill.

Consumer watchdogs last night condemned the move to raise electricity prices, accusing the semi-state company of "hoodwinking" customers into switching from rival suppliers.

Hundreds of thousands of consumers changed over to Bord Gais for their electricity supply over the past two years after a high-profile advertising campaign urged householders to "make the big switch" on the promise of paying lower prices.

The hike in electricity prices will add around €120 to the average annual bill of €1,000 for a family. The higher price is to take effect in October.

Bord Gais has also asked the energy regulator for permission to push up its gas prices by up to 28pc.

An increase of this size would result in the annual average bill of €737 for a family going up by around €200 to close to €1,000. The company has more than half a million gas customers.

Anyone who bought into the 'Big Switch' campaign is now going to get screwed. I'm glad I went with Airtricity!

maddragon · 11-07-2011 7:36pm

The big stitch.

xoxyx · 11-07-2011 7:42pm

CptSternn wrote: »

Anyone who bought into the 'Big Switch' campaign is now going to get screwed. I'm glad I went with Airtricity!

Saying that, I've heard some serious nightmare stories about Airtricity. I switched to Bord Gais during their big campaign and, aside from the first few months, my bills seem higher than ever.

I may well head back to ESB - although I don't doubt that they'll be increasing their prices too in the not too distant!

dobsdave · 11-07-2011 7:43pm

So whats stopping anyone from switching to a cheaper supplier?

maringo · 11-07-2011 7:54pm

vote with your feet - switch - switch - switch

bungler · 11-07-2011 8:23pm

Guillaume wrote: »

ok to both of you, BUT you missed the point that Board Gais encouraged - via a strong campaign - to switch, to change their provider to them in the hope, what I am saying, with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising... A little bit like the government.... :rolleyes:

When you signed with BG how long did they guarantee that they would be cheaper than ESB? I am with BG but i was never under the illusion that they would be cheaper forever. I spot checked their rate with ESB's a number of times over the last few years and they were still much cheaper so i stayed with them.

Obviously now with them requesting a price increase it will be intresting to see what ESB will do at the end of the month

jor el · 11-07-2011 10:29pm

Guillaume wrote: »

with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising...

But they did reduce the price, so where is the false advertisement?

Energy prices are going up, which means all the other providers will follow suit soon enough. BG is just the first one to announce it.

bungler · 11-07-2011 11:12pm

Guillaume wrote: »

ok to both of you, BUT you missed the point that Board Gais encouraged - via a strong campaign - to switch, to change their provider to them in the hope, what I am saying, with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising... A little bit like the government.... :rolleyes:

On another note BG haven't increased their rates in two years and when anyone signed with them they do state that savings are for the first year, they never said rates would never increase.

sendit · 11-07-2011 11:29pm

Hear are linkes to two jobs saying you can still save money with them

http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1065731

http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1076464

bungler · 11-07-2011 11:32pm

sendit wrote: »

Hear are linkes to two jobs saying you can still save money with them

http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1065731

http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1076464

The two jobs are not saying save with BG,there saying save 15% OFF BG rates.airtricity use that company I think

rameire · 12-07-2011 8:33am

ffs, just switch again.
op you say you are trapped. How?
you are free to switch

BG were cheaper, they give you a cheaper rate for a year.
I recently moved back to ESB for leccy as they are cheaper again

flogas are cheaper for gas still

move around.

but expect all energy providers to increase their prices as the wholesale price of gas and oil has increased dramatically over the last few months.

dudara · 12-07-2011 8:34am

Guillaume wrote: »

ok to both of you, BUT you missed the point that Board Gais encouraged - via a strong campaign - to switch, to change their provider to them in the hope, what I am saying, with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising... A little bit like the government.... :rolleyes:

What has the government got to do with this argument?

Seriously - wholesale energy costs are not within the remit of Bord Gais and they can only absorb the increased costs for so long before they have to pass them on. It's outside of their control. I don't think they intentionally set out on this path.

sendit · 12-07-2011 2:27pm

bungler wrote: »

The two jobs are not saying save with BG,there saying save 15% OFF BG rates.airtricity use that company I think

Oh sory i misread that it says off BG rates

CptSternn · 13-07-2011 9:33am

rameire wrote: »

ffs, just switch again.
op you say you are trapped. How?
you are free to switch

I'm not trapped - I'm with Airtricity anyway sure. I was just repeating was has been posted in other threads.

To maximise the savings, and this is the same with Airtricity and the ESB I would assume as well, you can setup a payment scheme which gives you a nice savings. You have to sign up to 12 or 24 months to do this though. People who went with 'the big switch' soon found they could only realise the large savings if they got locked in to one of those plans. Those people are screwed.

Catalpa1 · 13-07-2011 10:56am

For Residential no contract with ESB, so sign now and if/when prices go up and someone offers a better deal up sticks and go again just make sure you read all the t&cs with ALL suppliers and your happy with the level of service you will receive

sendit · 13-07-2011 12:51pm

On an unrealated matter kind of, who actually are the cheapest now? Did anyone see any real saving with Airtricity, BG etc? From what i seen from my time with Airtricity it almost seemed like it wouldn't be worth wile even changing

youtube! · 13-07-2011 1:06pm

I dont get all this "wholesale gas prices" guff,it makes me sick to see that bord gais made oer 1 billion euro in profits last year,and while i realise all companies are in business to make a profit,in such a bad recession as we have now,its obscene that they hide behind this mantra whilst making massive profits every year,there is profit and then there is just sheer greed,bord gais (and most others fall in to the second category and is one of the major reasons we are so deep in the slime,greedy greedy energy companies.

rameire · 13-07-2011 1:12pm

youtube! wrote: »

I dont get all this "wholesale gas prices" guff,it makes me sick to see that bord gais made oer 1 billion euro in profits last year,and while i realise all companies are in business to make a profit,in such a bad recession as we have now,its obscene that they hide behind this mantra whilst making massive profits every year,there is profit and then there is just sheer greed,bord gais (and most others fall in to the second category and is one of the major reasons we are so deep in the slime,greedy greedy energy companies.

you mean €120 million

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-07-2011 1:45pm

youtube! wrote: »

I dont get all this "wholesale gas prices" guff,it makes me sick to see that bord gais made oer 1 billion euro in profits last year,.

You certainly don't get it. €120MILLION profit on a turnover of €1.51BILLION is less than 8%. Hardly excessive and a poor return on their asset base. Neither does Profit indicate the investment needed to sustain or grow their networkr. (Don't know where you got €1BILLIOn profit from)

As for the "wholesale gas prices", maybe you should study it a bit more until you do get it. It's very real and will impact on more than Bord Gais customers.

casinoshop.ie · 13-07-2011 6:09pm

Guillaume wrote: »

ok to both of you, BUT you missed the point that Board Gais encouraged - via a strong campaign - to switch, to change their provider to them in the hope, what I am saying, with the PROMISE to decrease their electricity bill ! In an other word Board Gais seems guilty of FALSE Advertising... A little bit like the government.... :rolleyes:

Bord Gais promised to decrease by 10-13% (depending on what you signed up for) STANDARD esb rates for a period of 12 months from sign up and by 5% for the following 12 months.
Those who signed up at the begining had the bonus of the second 12 months being the same discount as the first 12 months. Howveer once this discount period ended (for me it was March 4th) it reverted back to ESB STANDARD rates. It was very very very clear in all of their marketing.

dobsdave wrote: »

So whats stopping anyone from switching to a cheaper supplier?

Too many people are too lazy to spend approx. 3 minutes (that's how long it took me to switch back to ESB online) to switch back or to another supplier such as airtricity. (I'm saving 14% with ESB compared to the STANDARD rates.

bungler wrote: »

On another note BG haven't increased their rates in two years and when anyone signed with them they do state that savings are for the first year, they never said rates would never increase.

- true - but too many people don't read the entire script and then want to blame someone else for their laziness.

So basically - check you last BG / Airtricity Electricity bill, if you no longer have a discount (if you signed up to either over a year ago), then go back to ESB and get 12% - 14% discount. If you have your bill with you and are in front of the computer and have a current reading, it will take 3-4 minutes and no phone calls, visits or anything else is needed.

Real simple and you'll save about €100 (how often do you earn €100 for 4 minutes work!!!)

casinoshop.ie · 13-07-2011 6:16pm

Here's the current ESB discount offer
https://www.esbelectricireland.ie/switchchange/allPricePlans.htm#five

Direct debit + online billing = 14% saving off standard rates.

Piece of piss to sign back with them.

booboo88 · 14-07-2011 6:15pm

Guillaume wrote: »

Time to go back to ESB ! :mad:

you dont have to you know that right? :rolleyes:

number_1 · 15-07-2011 2:41pm

I notice from http://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/help-and-questions/home/electricity/price-change/?flash=1 that Bord Gáis are not just raising their unit rates by 12%, they are also taking a leaf out of Airtricity's book and raising their standing charge by 12% too!

MOH · 16-07-2011 2:10am

Trying to wade through this is a nightmare. BG don't even publish their prices online as far as I can see, a FAQ advises you to ring them. I eventually found them on the big switch website. Airtricity make you wade through about 6 different pages instead of just showing a table.

All prices below are before Bord Gais's coming increase, all prices including VAT, and electricity standing charges are for urban 24hr.
I assume if BG are pushing up their prices now, the others may do so soon enough. Hope this helps anyone else trying to make a comparison.

After wading through them all, as far as I can make out, everyone's standard unit charge is currently the same (Gas 4.46c/kWh, Electricity 16c/kWh).

PSO and carbon tax will always be the same for everyone.

Standing charges/day for all 3 (gas/electricity) are similar, though Airtricity are a bit higher, BG will be similar after the increase:
BG 18.61c / 28.60c
ESB 18.66c / 28.60c
Air 22.39c / 32.5c

So after that you're down to whatever discount percentage each supplier is offering off their standard unit price.

BG are offering up to 14% off the unit charge for Electricity only (if you're also a gas customer, and pay by direct debit). Discount applies for 12 months.

ESB offer up to 17% off electricity, and 6% off gas, if you take both services, pay by DD and choose online billing only. Discounts apply until March 31, 2012. On the face of it, this looks like the best deal going.

Airtricity offer either 15% off electricity and 5% off gas, or the other way around, or 10% off both, if you take both services, pay by DD and choose online billing only. Discounts apply for 12 months, but it's a fixed term contract - with a €70 exit fee. Yet like the other two suppliers, the unit rates can be increased during this period, which seems like a raw deal.

And all that is before you start get into different standing charges for urban/rural, nightsaver/24 hour.

So good luck to anyone trying to work out which deal is best for them. Just make sure you're comparing like with like, and read the T+Cs of the deal carefully.

CptSternn · 16-07-2011 8:21am

I have found different numbers at two websites and also on my bill.

According to my Airtricity bill I pay 13.25c with a 28.50 standing charge.

I checked the prices @ Bonkers (http://www.bonkers.ie/) and they have it listed as 13.77 with a 32.00 standing charge.

UChoose (www.uchoose.ie) have it listed as 13.93 with 28.5 standing charge, which is closer to what I pay but still listed as more.

The numbers ye just posted are almost double what those sites list and I actually pay, so I must ask where you found them?

CptSternn · 16-07-2011 9:12am

I thought this was interesting...

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bord-gais-loses-129000-accounts-in-last-18-months-2823237.html

CUSTOMERS are making the big switch away from Bord Gais, as the company has lost 129,000 gas customers in the last 18 months.

New figures from the energy regulator show that even before a price hike this autumn, Bord Gais has been losing around 7,000 gas customers a month this year.

But its new rival in gas supply, ESB, has been signing up over 3,000 customers a month since it entered the gas market in April.

This is some revenge for the 300,000 electricity customers Bord Gais poached from it in the first year of its Big Switch campaign.

MOH · 16-07-2011 11:58am

CptSternn wrote: »

I have found different numbers at two websites and also on my bill.

According to my Airtricity bill I pay 13.25c with a 28.50 standing charge.

I checked the prices @ Bonkers (http://www.bonkers.ie/) and they have it listed as 13.77 with a 32.00 standing charge.

UChoose (www.uchoose.ie) have it listed as 13.93 with 28.5 standing charge, which is closer to what I pay but still listed as more.

The numbers ye just posted are almost double what those sites list and I actually pay, so I must ask where you found them?

I got them off each suppliers website, and I've linked to the prices on each one

Also the prices I listed are including VAT, yours are excluding it. Besides which, the prices match - 13.25 ex.VAT is 15.04 inc VAT, which is the standard rate of 16 with a 6% discount.

28.5 standing charge is 32.35 inc VAT, which is what I listed. Not sure where you're getting double from?

[edit] I'm not seeing the current ESB rates on bonkers, and uChoose doesn't offer gas+elec comparison

Board Gais increases their prices ! A bad Joke !

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