Airtricity

Khannie

Should i just switch? Is this a no brainer? The costs are exactly the same per unit of energy. I just have a niggling thing in the back of my head where I think someone told me that they just buy chunks of energy from the ESB.

Your thoughts are welcome.

edit: link to their website

BendiBus

Khannie wrote:

Should i just switch? Is this a no brainer? The costs are exactly the same per unit of energy. I just have a niggling thing in the back of my head where I think someone told me that they just buy chunks of energy from the ESB.

Your thoughts are welcome.

edit: link to their website

Whoever you're with, you'll get the same electrons passing through your wiring. However, by signing up with Airtricity, you give them the financial incentive to generate more of their own, and also make a statement which may eventually get noticed when enough people sign up for green electricity.

maniac101

Khannie wrote:

Should i just switch?

I understand that switching is only an option for business customers. Can we assume that you're a business customer?

Glowing

Looks like a no-brainer to me, in fact, I might even change over too. I hate ESB.

Does anyone have experience using them?

BendiBus

maniac101 wrote:

I understand that switching is only an option for business customers. Can we assume that you're a business customer?

No, they accept domestic consumers again. I really must change to them myself. I got the forms, but couldn't find the meter in my apt block! Never got around to finding it!

Glowing

Do they actually call around to see the meter? Or do they just want the figures?

maniac101

BendiBus wrote:

No, they accept domestic consumers again. I really must change to them myself. I got the forms, but couldn't find the meter in my apt block! Never got around to finding it!

Good to know. I wasn't aware of this. They haven't come knocking on my door yet! Here's a few tips on changing supplier from the Commission for Energy Regulation:
http://www.cer.ie/en/consumer-information-electricity-how-to-change-supplier.aspx

Keeks

Information Here

http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/residential_enquiries/

mike65

Whats the difference? The rates appear to be the same http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/savings/

Mike

Glowing

mike65 wrote:

Whats the difference? The rates appear to be the same http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/savings/

Mike

There are no cost benefits, but I'd prefer to pay my money to a company that doesn't rely on fossil fuels, and support a cleaner, greener energy supply.

If it is free and easy to switch over, then I don't really see why not?!

Khannie

First off, thanks for all the replies. I think I'll just switch to Airtricity. Can't see any good reason not to.

BendiBus wrote:

Whoever you're with, you'll get the same electrons passing through your wiring.

Yeah, I need to remind myself of that from time to time. I suppose it means that the equivalent number of "clean" electrons are distrubuted throughout the grid as a result though.

BendiBus wrote:

However, by signing up with Airtricity, you give them the financial incentive to generate more of their own, and also make a statement which may eventually get noticed when enough people sign up for green electricity.

Here's hoping.

maniac101 wrote:

I understand that switching is only an option for business customers. Can we assume that you're a business customer?

No, household. Seems like they'll take my money. Despite our efforts, the bills seem to creep upwards after initially dropping when we invested in trying to reduce it. I'm going to be taking some decisive action this week on that front though.

I was going to invest in a windmill ourselves (we live right beside Skerries Mills, so wind isn't an issue) but initial the cost was just too high.

Dilbert75

My only objection to Airtricity is that they're part of the same group as National Toll Roads. In fairness they are only exploiting the contract given to them by our wonderful government, but boy do they exploit it.

Del2005

Don't forget that most of the wind turbines in this country are built on bogs. When they did the digging out for the turbines they released loads of methane/CO2 from the bogs, so the energy isn't that clean. And for every Watt of wind electricty they have to have a backup power station running for when the wind dies down. In affect in this country switching to wind power could be seen as being more poluting the sticking with the dirty ESB.

Do-more

The availability of Airtricity to households is important for developers availing of the likes of the "House of Tomorrow" grants from SEI. Developers can install relatively cheap air source heat pumps, combined with better insulation and claim zero carbon homes. With a grant of €8000 per unit, up to 50 units in a development, developrs can achieve very good energy labels at zero net cost.

hamiltron

Del2005 wrote:

Don't forget that most of the wind turbines in this country are built on bogs. When they did the digging out for the turbines they released loads of methane/CO2 from the bogs, so the energy isn't that clean.

But come on - when they dig peat out of the bogs for peat burning stations, the same gases are released, compounded with the burning of the peat releasing more gases. At least with the erection of wind turbines, the once-off release of gases is compensated by decades of relatively clean electricity.

Del2005 wrote:

And for every Watt of wind electricty they have to have a backup power station running for when the wind dies down.

The old "the solution is not perfect, so let's just do nothing" argument, eh? I don't think anyone expects to achieve a completely carbon emissions-free society in the foreseeable future. We can, however, try to improve things as much as possible. Besides, the fact that the wind is a native, renewable resource is going to become more and more important over the coming decade...

sarahirl

Glowing wrote:

Do they actually call around to see the meter? Or do they just want the figures?

the guy/gal who usually calls round to read the meter still comes around. this is because you still pay the same fixed fee to esb through airtricity.

Grudaire

Del2005 wrote:

And for every Watt of wind electricty they have to have a backup power station running for when the wind dies down.

Don't forget that the other peolple are using the power from the power stations, it's not like leaving a car idling while we take the bus in case it breaks down....

D'Peoples Voice

Khannie wrote:

Should i just switch? Is this a no brainer? The costs are exactly the same per unit of energy. I just have a niggling thing in the back of my head where I think someone told me that they just buy chunks of energy from the ESB.

Your thoughts are welcome.

edit: link to their website

Yes it is a no-brainer,
I'm a domestic user in Dublin city - and have had absolutely no problems switching over the past year.
People need to remember that

your meter is still read by ESB

networks

any break in your supply, you contact ESB

networks

Airtricity don't even call your house, never mind rewire your house, you will never notice the changover, if only telecom companies made it this seemless

The problem is that while I didn't mind ESB Customer Supply, I do dislike ESB Generation for the ridiculous high wage rates paid to workers relative to even nuclear power workers abroad in the UK or France. The annoying is though that even though I use Airtricity instead of ESB Generation and their billing company ESB Customer Supply, I still have to use ESB networks to get the electricity from the National Grid to my house - and guest who Brendan Ogle works for?

zod

Del2005 wrote:

Don't forget that most of the wind turbines in this country are built on bogs. When they did the digging out for the turbines they released loads of methane/CO2 from the bogs, so the energy isn't that clean. And for every Watt of wind electricty they have to have a backup power station running for when the wind dies down. In affect in this country switching to wind power could be seen as being more poluting the sticking with the dirty ESB.

Disagree.

1. The amount of methane/Co2 released for the foundations of a wind turbine is ridiculously small compared to .. well just about anything that has to burn stuff, easily less than what a coal fired power station would generate in a DAY.

2. A network of wind generators throughout Europe is planned, the wind is always blowing somewhere, power would then flow from wherever it was at that time. Also there are ways to store energy for when the wind dies .. heck we were doing this in the 70's.

3. Offshore is probably the most efficient anyway, and if we hadn't stopped at 6 turbines Ireland would have one of the biggest offshore wind farms today :mad:

Alun

Also there are ways to store energy for when the wind dies .. heck we were doing this in the 70's.

... and can you imagine the outcry if we tried to do the same thing in a similar location today?

Offshore is probably the most efficient anyway, and if we hadn't stopped at 6 turbines Ireland would have one of the biggest offshore wind farms today

Isn't it 7 turbines? ... anyway, I heard from someone who works in the field, although not this project, that one of the pylons has developed a bit of a tilt due to shifting in the sandbank, so I imagine they'd want to sort that out first before they go full steam ahead. Of course, if it all goes pear shaped and the site isn't as suitable as first hoped it might actually never happen at all.

zod

Alun wrote:

... and can you imagine the outcry if we tried to do the same thing in a similar location today?.

uh .. there are ways to store power ( I gave one way that we overcame the problem in the 70's ) there are plenty more though see here, here and here

Alun wrote:

anyway, I heard from someone who works in the field, although not this project, that one of the pylons has developed a bit of a tilt due to shifting in the sandbank, so I imagine they'd want to sort that out first before they go full steam ahead. Of course, if it all goes pear shaped and the site isn't as suitable as first hoped it might actually never happen at all.?.

People can come up with hundred of reasons for not doing something difficult. It's countries like Sweden that deal with the issues and still resolve to move forward that will be laughing when the arabs finally pull the plug.

We have very little time to get some security of supply together .. maybe if the greens stick to their promises.

piraka

zod wrote:

Disagree.

1. The amount of methane/Co2 released for the foundations of a wind turbine is ridiculously small compared to .. well just about anything that has to burn stuff, easily less than what a coal fired power station would generate in a DAY.

Not only will there be emissions due the disturbance of the bog. There will also be a reduction in the amount of CO2 that the area of bog covered by the turbine base can sequester for the lifetime of the turbine (about 25years).

Don’t forget the amount of bog removed and the covered by the ancillary buildings and roads etc required by the wind farm. These values can be substantial.

Peatland is regarded by the IPCC (not the Peatland Council) as a carbon seqester and hence a country can offset the sequestered carbon against emissions, so why should we destroy them.

2. A network of wind generators throughout Europe is planned, the wind is always blowing somewhere, power would then flow from wherever it was at that time. Also there are ways to store energy for when the wind dies .. heck we were doing this in the 70's.

Tapbury who run the Sorne Hill windfarm in Donegal have installed a 2MW x 6hr vanadium redox battery.

3. Offshore is probably the most efficient anyway, and if we hadn't stopped at 6 turbines Ireland would have one of the biggest offshore wind farms today.

………and the most expensive.

D'Peoples Voice

Khannie wrote: »

Should i just switch? Is this a no brainer? The costs are exactly the same per unit of energy. I just have a niggling thing in the back of my head where I think someone told me that they just buy chunks of energy from the ESB.

Your thoughts are welcome.

edit: link to their website

Ok, the costs per unit of energy are not the same,
or at least weren't in my last bill.
After the ESB reduced their prices in November to 13.24 euro cent per kwh,
Airtricity on my bill only reduced theirs to 14.15 euro cent from 14.35 euro cent per kwh(or thereabouts, don't have the bill in front of me).
the prices were definitely not these prices
http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/savings/residential_tariffs_2007/

D'Peoples Voice

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

Ok, the costs per unit of energy are not the same,
or at least weren't in my last bill.
After the ESB reduced their prices in November to 13.24 euro cent per kwh,
Airtricity on my bill only reduced theirs to 14.15 euro cent from 14.35 euro cent per kwh(or thereabouts, don't have the bill in front of me).
the prices were definitely not these prices
http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/savings/residential_tariffs_2007/

Actually, I was wrong about this, apparently when I switched to a night saver rate, the daytime rate is higher than it is for someone with a flat 24hour rate.
Hence both the ESB and Airtricty charge the same price for the day time rate for those on night saver schemes, that rate is 14.15 euro cent, otherwise if I remained on the flat 24 hour rate, the rate with Airtricity would have been the same as the ESB of 13.24 euro cent.

burdburd

I just switched to Airtricty residential yesterday because it is the responsible thing to do. I found them v. easy to deal with and I was sorted in less than an hour.

You can talk about them using the ESB grid ....they HAVE to as there is no other way of distributing the power to houses. This is the reason there is talk of de-coupling the GRID infrastructure from the ESB stations. That is like criticising low emission cars for using the same road a 3L gas gussler.

The point is that 89% of Airtricity pwr is generated using wind farms. This wind energy is delivered to my house over the ESB grid - the power does not loose its greenness.
The other 11% is obtained from ESB fossil fuels – which is why we need more wind farms so you can have 100% wind power. That if more people switch to alternative or green supplier such as Airtrictiy they can invest in further farms and technologies.

Airtrcity is about 10% more expensive with a unit costing 14.5p as opposed to 13.25 p (I think) from ESB - that's the cost of green energy. That is a hit you need to take on your monthly bill; !!! BUT !!! for the cost of a few pints ( literally) you can reduce the countries carbon footprint and that is what this is all about !!!

I think what we need to consider is if enough people demand green energy the fossil burners will have to speed up their green programs to match demand – this will create competition in the market for green energy and lower prices as oil & gas is removed from the equation.

Airtricty say that a households carbon footprint is reduced by about 23% by switching. All I know is that my power used to come from turf, coal and Oil and now it comes from the wind.

Meter readings – yes you do them yourself but if that is too much for you to consider to save the planet then....

Switching is easy - online and completed in days.
http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/switch_now/

Tigger

i use airtricity


its the ame or better
every one should try it

sarahirl

just been watching the news with Bord Gais saying they're upping they're prices by 19%, ESB will up their prices but are keeping tight lipped about when and how much. Where does this leave Airtricity? Wonderful piece of reporting from TV3 and RTE who fail to mention there is an alternative to ESB...

burdburd

spoke to airtricty today and they said that as oil goes up esb power costs will go up too. - thats common sense. Airtricity should- for the best part - be insulated from such hikes but not 100%, as they do buy esb power when the wind ain't blowin'.

Over the long term you would expect the esb unit charge to far exceed the airtricity one
(assuming esb are slower to adjust their sources to renewable ones )

valz_walsh

Is it really that easy to change over? Is there any change over fee or anything?

Its true alright, that the more popular Airtricity gets the more wind farms they'll have to build and Id imagin that that would make it eventually cheaper in the ESB, as they wouldn't need to buy power off the ESB when its not windy.

So more people should make the switch!!:)

djpbarry

valz_walsh wrote: »

Is it really that easy to change over?

Yep.

valz_walsh wrote: »

Is there any change over fee or anything?

Nope.

Hope this helps.

drogbaa

Yep - it's very easy. I changed over to Airtricity about two months ago and knocked a few tonnes off my carbon footprint in one go. I first tried to change over when they started up first (about five years ago?), but they were only taking business customers back then.

BendiBus

valz_walsh wrote: »

that the more popular Airtricity gets the more wind farms they'll have to build and Id imagin that that would make it eventually cheaper in the ESB, as they wouldn't need to buy power off the ESB when its not windy.

So more people should make the switch!!:)

The counter-argument is that if they can get the business while still charging more than the ESB then they will have no incentive to charge less.

So signing up with Airtricity now is possibly a bad idea as they won't be encouraged to drop prices, thereby pushing most customers towards the fossil-fuel burning alternatives.

Húrin

hamiltron wrote: »

But come on - when they dig peat out of the bogs for peat burning stations, the same gases are released, compounded with the burning of the peat releasing more gases. At least with the erection of wind turbines, the once-off release of gases is compensated by decades of relatively clean electricity.

I agree, but peat fuel is not dug out out of bogs. It is scraped off in thin layers.

AngryHippie

Húrin wrote: »

I agree, but peat fuel is not dug out out of bogs. It is scraped off in thin layers.

Your point being ?
Turf is not a renewable energy source in your lifetime, It is a habitat, a resource and is under threat, Sure, bord na mona do their thing with esb, but there are bogs all over the country where it is dug out from holes by hitachi's don't give me the thin layers craic.

valz_walsh

AngryHippie wrote: »

Your point being ?
Turf is not a renewable energy source in your lifetime, It is a habitat, a resource and is under threat, Sure, bord na mona do their thing with esb, but there are bogs all over the country where it is dug out from holes by hitachi's don't give me the thin layers craic.

All the more reason to build the wind farms in the sea.

djpbarry

valz_walsh wrote: »

All the more reason to build the wind farms in the sea.

Or in the sky. Or better again, put them in orbit! Oh no, wait...

MissMUFC

I moved to airtricity last september, was very happy with the service until now. I had been receiving messages to say my bill was online that I could view it which was fine, then BOOM 250 euro comes out of my account for what??? a bloody bill that I never got. I am a mature student with 2 children living alone and the only means of income I get is my social. Airtricity have taken every cent out of my account that I have. How they get away with this is beyond me.. I will be swiftly moving back to bord gais and esb, there is no way I can let this happen again.. My recommendations is to stay with bord gais or esb.

edwinkane

valz_walsh wrote: »

All the more reason to build the wind farms in the sea.

Actually no. the reason wind farms are built in the sea is the same reason they are built on land. It's called subsidy.

djpbarry

The thread's 2.5 years old folks.

MissMUFC, you might better served contacting Airtricity to determine the problem, rather than ranting on here.