Who's switching to Airtricity?

Untense

Airtricity are now providing 13% savings for electricity bills over ESB, and promise to match any reductions ESB make till January 2010.

I was surprised by the apparent disinterest in Airtricity over at this thread. However, this was in the Consumer Issues forum which I imagine would put more emphasis on the minor difference in savings over the significant contrast in terms of environmental friendliness.

I thought it would be interesting to ask the same question in this forum.

Macha

Already switched to Airtricity. You can also get your monthly bills via email so less paperwork to sort out and envelopes to recycle.

hick

I went with BG, getting 14%, but foranyone that isn't a BG customer already they only get 12% so I recommend Airtricity to them

gizmo555

Untense wrote: »

Airtricity are now providing 13% savings for electricity bills over ESB, and promise to match any reductions ESB make till January 2010.

The full 13% savings are only available to customers who sign up to their "Level Payment Plan" and pay by direct debit - see here for more:

http://www.airtricity.ie/ireland/for_your_home/airtricity_level_payment_/

All the same, it is good to see both Airtricity and Bord Gais offering worthwhile discounts to all customers for using direct debit, instead of those stupid prize draws that the ESB run.

bladespin

Staying put, the ESB are the only ones offering a feed-in tarriff at the moment :mad:

Cyrus

Untense wrote: »

Airtricity are now providing 13% savings for electricity bills over ESB, and promise to match any reductions ESB make till January 2010.

I was surprised by the apparent disinterest in Airtricity over at this thread. However, this was in the Consumer Issues forum which I imagine would put more emphasis on the minor difference in savings over the significant contrast in terms of environmental friendliness.

I thought it would be interesting to ask the same question in this forum.

you are of course aware that airtricity can only supply a certain amount of wind energy, the more people that sign up and the more electricity that they have to supply, the more 'brown' energy they will have to source to meet the demands

Cookie_Monster

I'm with ESB and it doesn't make sense for me to switch at the moment. Our bill is an average €66 per bi-monthly period divided by 3 people renting so saving 13-14% of €22 just not worth the hassle of getting the one of the other to change all the documentation especially if only planning on being there till end of year's lease in 6 months.

Plus don't want to alert BG as we haven't gotten a gas bill yet for some reason;) just paid deposit when moved in and thats it.

hick

bladespin wrote: »

Staying put, the ESB are the only ones offering a feed-in tarriff at the moment :mad:

and it's probably likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future too

MikeStrutington

I'm not doing anything in any way energy related. Just thought I'd share that.

Untense

Cyrus wrote: »

you are of course aware that airtricity can only supply a certain amount of wind energy, the more people that sign up and the more electricity that they have to supply, the more 'brown' energy they will have to source to meet the demands

As it stands they do need 'brown' sources for backup, as the wind isn't always there. This is acceptable to me, since the default is brown energy anyway.

I would be interested to know where you got the information that Airtricity are not planning to meet increases in demand through expansion of their wind farms. Unless that was an assumption on your part?
On their website i see one farm in Ireland listed as under construction, and a further five in development.

Heroditas

Untense wrote: »

As it stands they do need 'brown' sources for backup, as the wind isn't always there. This is acceptable to me, since the default is brown energy anyway.

I would be interested to know where you got the information that Airtricity are not planning to meet increases in demand through expansion of their wind farms. Unless that was an assumption on your part?
On their website i see one farm in Ireland listed as under construction, and a further five in development.

They're having trouble obtaining planning permission to increase their windfarm portfolio, along with obtaining the permits from the CER to build more.
I heard they lost out last year in obtaining more certs from the regulator to another player in the market.
To say they were unhappy is an under-exaggeration.

djpbarry

MikeStrutington wrote: »

I'm not doing anything in any way energy related. Just thought I'd share that.

If you've got nothing to contribute, then don't bother posting. This is not AH.

flugh

We have gone to Airtricity for house and farm, but its a pity that we will get less for the feed in tarrif than if we had stayed with ESB, maybe this will change. I guess that there will be a fairly slow take up on micro generation. I work in wind farm development and micro wind is very inefficient by comparison but it will be important as a movitating signal for us all as to the future - and it must be a better investment that the banks! PV solar is worth a look too if only because there are no moving parts.

gizmo555

flugh wrote: »

We have gone to Airtricity for house and farm, but its a pity that we will get less for the feed in tarrif than if we had stayed with ESB, maybe this will change.

You're getting 12% off the ESB's rates from Airtricity for the power you buy from them, but you want to be able to sell them your excess at the same price as the ESB would pay?

flugh wrote: »

I guess that there will be a fairly slow take up on micro generation. I work in wind farm development and micro wind is very inefficient by comparison but it will be important as a movitating signal for us all as to the future

You concede micro wind is very inefficient but still think we should install it as a "motivator"? This is the kind of tokenism that gives micro renewables a bad name.

flugh wrote: »

- and it must be a better investment that the banks!

This is not setting the bar very high . . .

spmccann

I'm looking to switch from ESB. At the moment its Board GAS or Airtricity.
As a board GAS customer for natural gas I'd probably be financially better off changing
to board gas.

The biggest roadblock I have to moving to Airtricity is the lack of online payment. I don't like direct debits as you loose control of payments. I have had too many bad experiences with direct debits in the past. Till they give me this option then I wont be moving to Airtricity. This is a pity as the idea of getting my energy from renable sources appeals to me, even if it is more expensive than Board GAS.

D'Peoples Voice

spmccann wrote: »

I'm looking to switch from ESB. At the moment its Board GAS or Airtricity.
As a board GAS customer for natural gas I'd probably be financially better off changing
to board gas.

The biggest roadblock I have to moving to Airtricity is the lack of online payment. I don't like direct debits as you loose control of payments. I have had too many bad experiences with direct debits in the past. Till they give me this option then I wont be moving to Airtricity. This is a pity as the idea of getting my energy from renable sources appeals to me, even if it is more expensive than Board GAS.

You do realize that you get a physical bill in the post or one via email at least 1-2 weeks before they collect the direct debit?
Its not as if its a total surprise when they collect the direct debit - and as regards them taking the wrong amount from your bank account - SSE supplies electricity and gas to some 9 million customers & It is the second largest supplier of energy in the UK.. I have an inkling of a feeling that their IT systems can handle a DD colection, I've not had a problem in over 2 years with Airtricity nor since SSE took over Airtricity - touch wood;)

spmccann

Thanks for the reply D'peoples voice. I did send them an email asking when online banking payments would be available. I'm still waiting for a reply. Its still my preferred method of payment. I have these options with the ESB and Board GAS.

As for IT systems I work in the business and I'm all too aware of how fallable these systems are. Especially when it comes to estimated bills etc. I have had some rediclous estimates in the past. I prefer to pay my bills when it suits me, its a lot easier to get an estimate bill fixed before you pay .

jobrok1

Airtricicty also do a fixed monthly payment option, so you know exactly how much is being taken out each month.