Airtricity now supplying gas

patrickc

it seems airtricity from today are supplying the gas market also, they offer a 10% discount for dual fuel customers.

http://www.airtricity.com/roi-domestic-natural-gas/

You are already getting cheaper, greener† electricity from us, now we are giving a further 10% off your gas rates.
Why Airtricity is the Better Switch

• We already bring you electricity that’s cheaper and greener†, now we can give you gas that’s up to 10%
  cheaper
• It’s easy to switch
• It’s convenient – one supplier one bill
• There’s no disruption to your supply and no need for a new meter or pipes.

What happens when I switch?

• Don’t worry about contacting your current gas supplier – we will do that for you.
• We will send you a letter to let you know when your gas account has transferred to us. Around the same time you will also receive your closing bill from your current gas supplier
• We will continue to bill you for your electricity as normal. In about a month when your gas supply transfers to us, we will include gas on your bill. You will receive one bill which
  contains both gas and electricity.

and

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0518/airtricity.html

Our policy of competition in the domestic energy market is reaping dividends for the consumer and wider economy.'

Airtricity Managing Director Kevin Greenhorn said the company's investment will provide 'real and sustainable competition' in the energy market and that will benefit customers.

Airtricity says it will be offering customers a 10% discount on Bord Gáis's rates.

The company entered the electricity market last year and says it now has 200,000 customers.

Skud

now the 200 new jobs in sales and the likes make sense

EDIT: only heard the news didnt read the rte article

Grumpypants

My Airtricty electricity discount year is up now & board gais have offered me a year of 10% discount maybe i should swap my Gas to Artricity and my electricty to Board gais !!

Fingleberries

Grumpypants wrote: »

My Airtricty electricity discount year is up now & board gais have offered me a year of 10% discount maybe i should swap my Gas to Artricity and my electricty to Board gais !!

Not sure, but their 10% discount only appears to be if you are a dual fuel customer (Gas and Electricity). Swapping over mightn't do that much.

Worth looking into, though. Let us know how you get on.

patrickc

Grumpypants wrote: »

My Airtricty electricity discount year is up now & board gais have offered me a year of 10% discount maybe i should swap my Gas to Artricity and my electricty to Board gais !!

yeh that sounds like the way to go, my bordgais electricity dicount was up last week, i switched to airtricty and am getting a 15% discount with them.

just switched to flogas also for 9% discount on gas. don't like the idea of just one bill at the same time for gas and electricity

Ogham

patrickc wrote: »

yeh that sounds like the way to go, my bordgais electricity dicount was up last week, i switched to airtricty and am getting a 15% discount with them.

15% discount on ESBb prices - I doubt if it is that much . Do you know the exact price per kwH? Don't believe everything the sales people tell you.

nephster

Grumpypants wrote: »

My Airtricty electricity discount year is up now & board gais have offered me a year of 10% discount maybe i should swap my Gas to Artricity and my electricty to Board gais !!

Discount "year"? Unlike Bord Gais, the Airtricity discount doesn't have an expiration date.

I'm certainly with them more than a year now.

Ogham

Airtricity rates are guaranteed for new customers till MArch 2011

www.moneyguideireland.com

patrickc

Ogham wrote: »

15% discount on ESBb prices - I doubt if it is that much . Do you know the exact price per kwH? Don't believe everything the sales people tell you.

there standard discount is 13% if you opt for the budget plan, if you are an axa customer, you get a further 2% discount

link

http://axaplus.ie/airtricity_index.htm

AXA customers who switch to Airtricity today can save up to 15% off the cost of the electricity they use when they opt for the Airtricity Budget Plan and e-Billing.
The Airtricity Budget Plan is the hassle free way to pay your electricity bills as you no longer have to worry about the months when you have used a lot of electricity and face a large bill.
The budget plan spreads your costs evenly over 12 months. You'll still pay for the amount of energy you use, but do so in a way that's more manageable. For example, if your annual bill is likely to be €1,200, then your monthly payment would be €100. You're simply spreading the cost in 12 equal instalments.

Switching is simple: Call Airtricity today on 1850 40 40 80 quoting 'AXAF10' to receive your discount

Make the better switch (starting date: April 1st, 2010)
To receive the maximum discount of up to 15%* you must opt for:

• Airtricity Budget Plan
• Pay by direct debit
• Choose ebilling
• Quote the promotional code 'AXAF10' to receive your discount

What you will need to switch

• MPRN code which is an 11 digit number ( this can be found on the top right hand corner of your old electricity bill)
• Bank Details so that your monthly Direct Debit can be set up
• Meter Reading (This is optional but will speed up your application)
• Promotional code: Don't forget to quote your promotional code "AXAF10" when signing up

nephster

nephster wrote: »

Discount "year"? Unlike Bord Gais, the Airtricity discount doesn't have an expiration date.

I'm certainly with them more than a year now.

I stand corrected; I guess I'm now on a 6% saving rather than a 13% one with Airtricity. A general decrease in price masked it rather effectively.

Ogham

Patrickc - could anyone use that Axa code or do they look for something else too as proof of being an Axa customer?

patrickc

Ogham wrote: »

Patrickc - could anyone use that Axa code or do they look for something else too as proof of being an Axa customer?

well they never asked for my policy number etc, just mentioned the code and that was it.

patrickc

nephster wrote: »

I stand corrected; I guess I'm now on a 6% saving rather than a 13% one with Airtricity. A general decrease in price masked it rather effectively.

yeh they're all doing that year thing, swap each year and by then esb prices should be lower as they will be allowed compete by then

Nollog

This is good news, I don't know about anyone else but our gas bill is fecking ridiculous.

Stheno

I think ESB are allowed compete now, the regulator freed up the prices they can set a few weeks ago. I might be wrong though

patrickc

i believe esb need to shed another x amount of customers and they can compete then.

dead air

patrickc wrote: »

just switched to flogas also for 9% discount on gas. don't like the idea of just one bill at the same time for gas and electricity

BG don't (and Airtricity probably won't) combine gas and elec bills, they are seperate accounts and each bill is issued based on the scheduled date of your gas or electricity meter being read. If your gas and elec bills are issued close together, it's just coincidental.

Anyhow, its great to see a bit of competition in the gas market now, I can't understand why people havn't bothered to switch their gas/elec over. Flogas have had a similar deal for a few months now.

Grumpypants

nephster wrote: »

Discount "year"? Unlike Bord Gais, the Airtricity discount doesn't have an expiration date.

I'm certainly with them more than a year now.

I was on a discount till march 2010 deal when i signed over. Got a letter saying im going from 44 to 48 euro a month a few months back. Either that or they are rebalancing my bill because i pay a set amount every month.

Either way ill be looking into this. Just swapped my Eircom to Vodaphone went from 55 to 40 a month and im swapping my wheelybins from 400 to 220 ! This swapping lark can save you a nice bit.

patrickc

dead air wrote: »

BG don't (and Airtricity probably won't) combine gas and elec bills, they are seperate accounts and each bill is issued based on the scheduled date of your gas or electricity meter being read. If your gas and elec bills are issued close together, it's just coincidental.

Anyhow, its great to see a bit of competition in the gas market now, I can't understand why people havn't bothered to switch their gas/elec over. Flogas have had a similar deal for a few months now.

Airtricty will be giving just one bill for both

What happens when I switch?

• Don’t worry about contacting your current gas supplier – we will do that for you.
• We will send you a letter to let you know when your gas account has transferred to us. Around the same time you will also receive your closing bill from your current gas supplier
• We will continue to bill you for your electricity as normal. In about a month when your gas supply transfers to us, we will include gas on your bill. You will receive one bill which
  contains both gas and electricity.

dead air

patrickc wrote: »

Airtricty will be giving just one bill for both

What happens when I switch?

• Don’t worry about contacting your current gas supplier – we will do that for you.
• We will send you a letter to let you know when your gas account has transferred to us. Around the same time you will also receive your closing bill from your current gas supplier
• We will continue to bill you for your electricity as normal. In about a month when your gas supply transfers to us, we will include gas on your bill. You will receive one bill which
  contains both gas and electricity.

I stand corrected on Airtricity! One issue that could result from a combined bill would involve cutting both supplies off for non-payment. Also the fact that billing periods for gas and elec could be off by weeks.

patrickc

dead air wrote: »

I stand corrected on Airtricity! One issue that could result from a combined bill would involve cutting both supplies off for non-payment. Also the fact that billing periods for gas and elec could be off by weeks.

thats why i didnt want both bills the same, had BG gas and electricity for last year, and no hassles bills never came together.

yeh never thought of both being cut off

aubhall

Does anyone know do they accept gascard a/c i.e. topup card into meter?

Capt'n Midnight

Father Purcell: "We run the electricity off the gas and the gas off the electricity and we save two hundred pounds a year, but then a few weeks later ah god, I'll never forget it now, we got a new boiler..."

Fart

Anyone here got any advice as to whether or not to switch to Airtricity?
I'm with ESB and Bord Gas, and obviously the savings with Airtricity seem great but is there some sort of catch to it?

The door to door sales woman will be coming back later and would like to make up my mind.

Anyone have experiences with them or know a little more about this Electricity/Gas offer?

pirelli

Fart wrote: »

Anyone here got any advice as to whether or not to switch to Airtricity?
I'm with ESB and Bord Gas, and obviously the savings with Airtricity seem great but is there some sort of catch to it?

The door to door sales woman will be coming back later and would like to make up my mind.

Anyone have experiences with them or know a little more about this Electricity/Gas offer?

Board Gais Are a 100 times a safer decision.

They offer payment through the post office etc,
They allow you to pay in installments
You can stave off any payments due this way allowing you complete control
of your energy budget.


Airtircity are a poor replacement because:

They dont have payments through post office etc.
This is a huge disadvantage, mainly because the other alternatives are ridiculous
requiring a 300 euro deposit if you pay by credit card.

You MUST pay within 28 days the full amount or they issue a notice to ESB to immediately cut you off. This i think costs 103 euros off and 150 euros on and ramps up 253 euros on your bill.They do not send you a notice first, it is only after ESB are contacted they inform so you must pay 103 costs initally, well they put it on the bill.

They will not accept payment by credit card and if you do set up direct debit they charge a hidden 300 euro deposit which you will most likely lose to ESB notices.

They collate information on customers and share it with other companies without your consent.

You will lose you complete control over your energy budget and will be faced with financial penalties if you do not pay the full amount in 28 days which might contain the 300 euro deposit.

ESB and Board Gais can be paid off in installments at any post office building society etc taking away all the hassle and heartache of these threats of disconnection. Peace of mind and an excellent service is worth whatever airtircity sales pitch are trying to lure customers in with.

Remember this your buying ESB (supply 80% +) from airtricity. They have to charge more than ESB and they do this by forcing fast effective payments. You might awell skip ESB and boaird GAS and sign up with their debt collectors - Airtricity.

Avoid airtiricty they are just a poor service in place a much better an existing service.

milltown

Sounds like somebody had a bad experience with Airtricity.


Will have a proper read later but is it fair to assume that these 'headline' discounts are off the unit charges and not any of the standing charges?
My 14% discount off ESB rates when I switched the leccy to Bord Gais made feck all difference to the bottom line on the bill. I'll continue to swap and change to promote a bit of competition though.

Max Power1

pirelli wrote: »

Board Gais Are a 100 times a safer decision.

They offer payment through the post office etc,
They allow you to pay in installments
You can stave off any payments due this way allowing you complete control
of your energy budget.


Airtircity are a poor replacement because:

They dont have payments through post office etc.
This is a huge disadvantage, mainly because the other alternatives are ridiculous
requiring a 300 euro deposit if you pay by credit card.

You MUST pay within 28 days the full amount or they issue a notice to ESB to immediately cut you off. This i think costs 103 euros off and 150 euros on and ramps up 253 euros on your bill.They do not send you a notice first, it is only after ESB are contacted they inform so you must pay 103 costs initally, well they put it on the bill.

They will not accept payment by credit card and if you do set up direct debit they charge a hidden 300 euro deposit which you will most likely lose to ESB notices.

They collate information on customers and share it with other companies without your consent.

You will lose you complete control over your energy budget and will be faced with financial penalties if you do not pay the full amount in 28 days which might contain the 300 euro deposit.

ESB and Board Gais can be paid off in installments at any post office building society etc taking away all the hassle and heartache of these threats of disconnection. Peace of mind and an excellent service is worth whatever airtircity sales pitch are trying to lure customers in with.

Remember this your buying ESB (supply 80% +) from airtricity. They have to charge more than ESB and they do this by forcing fast effective payments. You might awell skip ESB and boaird GAS and sign up with their debt collectors - Airtricity.

Avoid airtiricty they are just a poor service in place a much better an existing service.

Any proof of this or is it more unsubstantiated hearsay?

pirelli

milltown wrote: »

Sounds like somebody had a bad experience with Airtricity.


Will have a proper read later but is it fair to assume that these 'headline' discounts are off the unit charges and not any of the standing charges?
My 14% discount off ESB rates when I switched the leccy to Bord Gais made feck all difference to the bottom line on the bill. I'll continue to swap and change to promote a bit of competition though.

These are just facts. You can check each fact. They are all true. Airtircity produce a tiny proportion of electricity and i am not sure how much of that is fed into ireland. They are a scottish company.

The competition is great but it's rather pathetic that after a 10 months airtricity no longer guarantee the 6% percentage gain.(check teh bottom of post) Also ESB must have been quite fair and competitive if these chancers can only cough up these discounts when it is really a drive to get customers to poor and sloppy service then they have set a deadline to remove the discounts.

BY the way it is only a 6% savings unless you go by direct debit.

Max Power1 wrote: »

Any proof of this or is it more unsubstantiated hearsay?

Airtircty do not have a payment system in place involving post offices or even a credit card payement, telephone, credit union or online credit card or even by telephone. They claim on their website they are working on it but its been years now and thats how they screw you. Then they will charge rates higher than ESB for a service you coudl have goten in the first place. How is that competition.Check the small print at the bottom of this post.


Check their website



They cannot afford to carry your costs as they simply are selling on ESB electricity.The do not take payment by online credit card, credit union or phone payments. They will not accept any payment at a 12% discount other than direct debit no matter how they spin their lies .Also you have to pay a 300 euro and other costs so how is that a discount.


I have got this from their website, you should check your facts before you imply I was exaggerating.

Copied from their WEBSITE http://www.airtricity.com/kb-payment?section=ROIDOM


Can I pay in the Post Office?

Not yet, but we're working on it. We have a number of other payment options to choose from: Airtricity Budget Plan, direct debit, cheque and banking online,
What are my payment options?

We offer a number of payment options: Airtricity Budget Plan, direct debit, cheque and banking online. Soon the list will include post office, credit union, online credit card, phone and text payments.

Do I have to pay a deposit?

If you aren't paying by direct debit you'll have to put down a deposit of €300. This will be held by us for a year. You can avoid this deposit (and benefit from cheaper rates) by choosing the Airtricity Budget Plan or by opting to pay your bills by direct debit.


You can cancel your direct debit at any time by writing to us and to your Bank.

If you cancel your direct debit, you will no longer be able to avail of the Airtricity Budget Plan. You will be billed bi-monthly and your payment will be due 14 days from your bill date. Unfortunately you will lose both your Airtricity Budget Plan and DD discounts and you will have to pay a security deposit of €300.

There may be a charge if you do not let us know you have cancelled your direct debit and a payment bounces.

What happens if I don't pay my bills?

If you don't pay or contact us to organise a payment plan there are various steps we may take. These range from getting a security deposit from you to disconnecting your supply or even a court appearance. This can result in further costs being added to your account.




How do I get a refund?

Airtricity Budget Plan Customers:

There's a good chance your account will be in credit at certain times of the year. It happens because we spread the cost of the energy you use over the year, so it all evens out into more manageable payments. The credit will be reduced over the course of the Budget Plan period. It means that a refund isn't actually due on your account.

NO! is the answer and thats how they make their money by screwing you out of yours for a year and if you dont like it then you have to pay extra and only get a 6% discount.


Also read the small print suckers you get nothing for nothing.

Prices inclusive of VAT. Discounts apply to ESB regulated rates until 31/03/11, thereafter Airtricity SmartSaver Standard Rates apply

Gus99

So basically if you just pay by DD, no problems?

JHMEG

pirelli wrote: »

Board Gais Are a 100 times a safer decision.

They offer payment through the post office etc,

That's a prehistoric way of paying bills. Most people who have a bank account and pay online or by DD.

pirelli

Gus99 wrote: »

So basically if you just pay by DD, no problems?

No. Read the small print, it says they will spread the credit over the year which means your billed to pay amounts above what you owe. If you dont pay in 14 days you will have an additional 14 days left before they disconnect and throw charges at you.

The small print also says they will cease the discount in 10 months and revert to their savings discount.

There hidden costs involevd in this set up. You save nothing but it might suit some people but all in all this is not competition and just a direct debit system run by airtricity. Debt collectors and its all fine until you miss a payment.

banchang

pirelli wrote: »

No. Read the small print, it says they will spread the credit over the year which means your billed to pay amounts above what you owe. If you dont pay in 14 days you will have an additional 14 days left before they disconnect and throw charges at you.

The small print also says they will cease the discount in 10 months and revert to their savings discount.

There hidden costs involevd in this set up. You save nothing but it might suit some people but all in all this is not competition and just a direct debit system run by airtricity. Debt collectors and its all fine until you miss a payment.

Pirelli - I appreciate you know a lot about this. 2 questions :

1. If I

- move both gas & electricity to Airtricity
- am happy to get an e-bill
- pay by DD
- am ok with spreading my bill evenly throughout the year (as I currently do with BG)

The Airtricity Budget Plan is a free service we offer our customers. We spread the cost of your year’s electricity into 12 easier to manage payments. You pay a fixed amount each month by direct debit.

The Airtricity Budget Plan can help with your budgeting as you know exactly how much you will be paying each month. It also makes it easier to pay the more expensive winter bills.

Not only is this service free, but you will also get an additional discount if you combine it with paperless billing. Sounds good to me - happy to do this for more discount.

- don't plan to bounce my DD

what kind of discount will I get ?

2. Is it true that if I am unhappy at any time (eg after 1 year when discounts appear to expire) I can switch at no cost (provided notice given) to another supplier ?

pirelli

banchang wrote: »

Pirelli - I appreciate you know a lot about this. 2 questions :

1. If I

- move both gas & electricity to Airtricity
- am happy to get an e-bill
- pay by DD
- am ok with spreading my bill evenly throughout the year (as I currently do with BG)

The Airtricity Budget Plan is a free service we offer our customers. We spread the cost of your year’s electricity into 12 easier to manage payments. You pay a fixed amount each month by direct debit.

The Airtricity Budget Plan can help with your budgeting as you know exactly how much you will be paying each month. It also makes it easier to pay the more expensive winter bills.

Not only is this service free, but you will also get an additional discount if you combine it with paperless billing. Sounds good to me - happy to do this for more discount.

- don't plan to bounce my DD

what kind of discount will I get ?

2. Is it true that if I am unhappy at any time (eg after 1 year when discounts appear to expire) I can switch at no cost (provided notice given) to another supplier ?

If your confident your account can handle every bill you think of mobile phone , telephone , wireless, broadband and your confident that at some point these will not clash and cause a few direct debit charges then thats fine.

Although traditionally Electricity and GAS were commodities and a budget that you were better off controlling in order to safe guard your family and home and keep everyone healthy and safe. So you can go on holidays and your electricity is still there or your sick parent air mecial device doesnt switch off etc..

Mobile phone,broadband,cable,telephone, wall street journal, national geographic, online services, online credit cards, credit card payments etc are all stuff you juggle around and can cancel anytime. You dont really ever cancel your electricity or gas.

You get a surprise debit from airtircity or another of the dozens of debits and it hits your account freezing it and then wiping out your debit card for 3 days when your on holidays.

They act like assholes, wont let you pay by credit card and instead want to set the direct debit back up again ( which you cancelled in fury) . They wont accept they made a mistake on the direct debits.

Direct debits when they don't go through cost a fortune. Aitricity keep debiting every 5 days. They clock up an additonal 45 -60 euro in one month trying to get a debit. This is easily much higher than the discount you would have gotten. Let alone all teh otehr debits you could be broke very quickly.

Direct debits can be the worst form of payment but if you have a ton of cash then i suppose it could work for you and instead you could focus on managing reducing usage of all these devices and energy instead.

JJ

I've been with Airtricty for electricity for over a year and it's worked out fine. I have no problem paying by DD each month. The wif and I set up a seperate account for our DDs and Airtricity's payment plan has been reasonable. I prefer to stay away from post offices (and banks too) as much as possible. Pirelli here sounds like he works for ESB or BG.

When I moved in to my current place, I experienced the absolute worst customer service ever from BG that dragged out for about 4 months and I will be moving over to Airtricity's gas service like a lightening bolt.

littleoulme

Has anyone switched to Flo gas from Bord Gais? 9% discount and a budget plan.

Audrey Campbell

a quick input guys before i head back to work siggggggggh.
i think its wonderful to see more competition coming into the utilities sector
there has been too many monopolies in ireland for way too long

Max Power1

littleoulme wrote: »

Has anyone switched to Flo gas from Bord Gais? 9% discount and a budget plan.

Yes, I have. Im with airtricity for electricity and flogas for gas. I wouldnt like the idea of one DD for both gas and electricity with airtricity duel fuel though, so ill keep it seperate!

banchang

pirelli wrote: »

If your confident your account can handle every bill you think of mobile phone , telephone , wireless, broadband and your confident that at some point these will not clash and cause a few direct debit charges then thats fine.

Although traditionally Electricity and GAS were commodities and a budget that you were better off controlling in order to safe guard your family and home and keep everyone healthy and safe. So you can go on holidays and your electricity is still there or your sick parent air mecial device doesnt switch off etc..

Mobile phone,broadband,cable,telephone, wall street journal, national geographic, online services, online credit cards, credit card payments etc are all stuff you juggle around and can cancel anytime. You dont really ever cancel your electricity or gas.

You get a surprise debit from airtircity or another of the dozens of debits and it hits your account freezing it and then wiping out your debit card for 3 days when your on holidays.

They act like assholes, wont let you pay by credit card and instead want to set the direct debit back up again ( which you cancelled in fury) . They wont accept they made a mistake on the direct debits.

Direct debits when they don't go through cost a fortune. Aitricity keep debiting every 5 days. They clock up an additonal 45 -60 euro in one month trying to get a debit. This is easily much higher than the discount you would have gotten. Let alone all teh otehr debits you could be broke very quickly.

Direct debits can be the worst form of payment but if you have a ton of cash then i suppose it could work for you and instead you could focus on managing reducing usage of all these devices and energy instead.

There you have it guys, gals, & OPs.

You can save a significant amount of money by moving both gas & electricity to Airtricity, if you are prepared to

- pay by DD
- plan your budgeting ! & don't bounce a DD
- get your bill by email rather than paper post
- spread charges evenly over the year, as opposed to the peaks & troughs of the Winter & Summer (suits me)

Free to move to Airtricity, & if you don't like it for any reason, you can move back to wherever you want, whenever you want, at no penalty.

TomCo

AFAIK dual fuel customers can't avail of the payment plan.
Its electricity only.

kingtut

Airtricity's customer service is appalling! I wouldn't recommend anyone switches to them :mad:

banchang

kingtut wrote: »

Airtricity's customer service is appalling! I wouldn't recommend anyone switches to them :mad:

Interested. Examples ? Worth forsaking the savings ?

Scottie99

pirelli wrote: »

You get a surprise debit from airtircity or another of the dozens of debits and it hits your account freezing it and then wiping out your debit card for 3 days when your on holidays.

I think maybe you should be organised a little better. Having one account for your general cash and bills is asking for trouble;)

BostonB

Scottie99 wrote: »

I think maybe you should be organised a little better. Having one account for your general cash and bills is asking for trouble;)

The problem with DD is that can vary in amount and in date, and it can leave an account low for other DD's Assuming you have just DD bills coming out of one accounts. An overdraft obviously gets you past that hump. But DD aren't perfect either, and often getting them corrected its very difficult.

fergm

As per title, Bord gais announced that they will give all their electricity customers a 10% discount in their second year. This includes customers who have been moved down to 5%. These customers will be back paid.

http://www.fxcentre.com/news.asp?2610122

BostonB

Is the Bord Gais deal Gas & Electricity the best deal then, support and other things considered. They are pushing it hard on the phone sales anyway. We must have had 6 calls from them in the past two weeks.

patrickc

littleoulme wrote: »

Has anyone switched to Flo gas from Bord Gais? 9% discount and a budget plan.

I have takes longer to go through than the electricity though

pirelli

kingtut wrote: »

Airtricity's customer service is appalling! I wouldn't recommend anyone switches to them :mad:

I agree, as a service they are well below the standard of ESB. They also do not respond nor reply to any issues you might have.

pirelli

As suggested by another poster earlier you should set up another account. One of the advantages of ireland is having more than one bank account.

Although the problem i had with them wasn't that my account was choc a block with debits rather airtircity and I had agreed a budget plan of 130 euro and they debited 296 euro and wrecked my holiday.

Also ESB supply most of the electricity. Airtricity only have a trickle and probably help out at peak times.

If you taking on a huge amount of customers from ESB as airtiricty is trying to do, it is rather amateurish if not sub standard to excpect all and by all i mean each and every one of them to use direct debit. If every compnay was to do that you would soon find youself overwhelmed trying to stay ahead of bank penalties.


To penalise you with deposits etc if you go to the trouble of paying into their bank account which isnt really a convient way of paying does examplify the fact that they do expect everyone to use direct debit.

My main issue however is with the regulators for allowing this crowd to issue notices through ESB. Rather than protect and serve our citizens the powers that be have handed over a statutory power to a foreign company. Obviously free enterprise and business should be encouraged and promoted but interfereing in citizens rights should be considered more carefully. Airtricity was ill prepared to handle such a service.

If ESB has underestimated a meter then airtiricty should have agreed with ESb to pay the outstanding over several months. Then when a customer switches they can go straight onto the budget plan and pay off that amount ovver the few months.


Airticity should have had the forthought and done contigent planning to make their heavily advertised SWITCH as smooth as possible. They should have provided a proper payment system.

banchang wrote: »

There you have it guys, gals, & OPs.

You can save a significant amount of money by moving both gas & electricity to Airtricity, if you are prepared to

- pay by DD
- plan your budgeting ! & don't bounce a DD
- get your bill by email rather than paper post
- spread charges evenly over the year, as opposed to the peaks & troughs of the Winter & Summer (suits me)

Free to move to Airtricity, & if you don't like it for any reason, you can move back to wherever you want, whenever you want, at no penalty.

As suggested by another poster earlier you should set up another account. One of the advantages of ireland is having more than one bank account. However if you don't cover a direct debit then there goes you 12% discount and the bank penalties will quickly reduce any discount to an excessive charge.

- You have cited spreading charges evenly. Well that is the problem with these amateurs they haven't thought this through. You switch over and they issue you with a budget plan and ESB are found to have underestimated your reading and airtricity hit your bank account for that amount which in my case messed my account up and undermined the budget plan.

-Airtircity should have had a contigent and the forethought to prepare and plan for this and incorporate it into the budget plan.

-If ESB have overestimated your bill these fraudsters will spread that credit over the year. Ireland shouldn't hand statutory powers to ill thought out and ignorant companies like airtircity that also expect you to pay it by their terms. You might think i am being overly harsh on them but if ESB underestimate they ( airtircity ) have agreed to take that on board with the SWITCH. Where was the warning about the risk of an understimated meter reading.

Then you raise the issue with airtircity and they provide no response to the issue. Ireland sells its citizens out time and time again.

Tesco are now being highly selective with irish suppliers. How it works is the supplier pays them 100 million, yes 100 million no exaggeration for the privelege of selling their produce through them.

Where was that in the small print. Also mobile phone companies come here and charge us a the highest fees in the world. Ireland is going down the drain because it just gives all of our hard work, sweat and money over to these imposters for want of a better word.

Airtricity are just another tesco, read the small print. They clearly state will discontinue the discount after 10 months. Airtiricty with screw you just like tesco has.

This posters on here that praise airtiricty is the same crowd that welcomed tesco into ireland for lower prices and competition. I find tesco is much more expensive but its everywhere now but the reality is the our industry get's screwed also and now has to pay tesco to sell you its food produce. How can that be competitive

Has one your fellow irish citizens ever told you to fukc off. Yes! Well tell rip off merchants to fukc off ( even if it is in a humours manner)

dubrov

Pirelli, I understand that Airtricity messed up their first Direct Debit with you and it messed up your holiday.

It doesn't make everything wrong with them all of a sudden.

Your meter readings are done by the ESB (MRSO), no matter which electricity provider you are with. Even if you had stayed with the ESB, they would have taken a real reading at some point and you would've been charged the extra in one go anyway.

Also people who pay by direct debits are far more likely to pay on time and even pay at all. Airtricity are just charging these customers more so as to cover the credit risk and interest lost.

THere are so many other things I could pick out that were wrong in your post.

You need to let the direct debit incident you had go and move on instead of just venting misdirected rage

pirelli

dubrov wrote: »

Pirelli, I understand that Airtricity messed up their first Direct Debit with you and it messed up your holiday.

It doesn't make everything wrong with them all of a sudden.

........... Yes it does.

hitbit

I switched my electricity account to Airtricity many months ago for the following reasons 1 They offered a 13% discount over the ESB, 2 They offered a budget plan allowing me to spread the cost over a 12 month period, paying them by direct debit every month, a much better option than being billed only 6 times a year by the ESB and facing huge winter time bills.
Today I phoned Airtricity intending to switch my gas account from Bord Gais.
I had checked their website this morning and noted that they offered a 10% discount over Bord Gais and a budget plan. During our phone conversation I was advised that the budget plan option was being phased out, would remain in place for current customers but would not be offered to new customers. I was also advised that if I were to switch my gas account to them they would combine my gas and electricity accounts, cancell my budget plan and bill me every two months. As the budget plan suits me fine I have elected to leave my gas account with Bord Gais.
Thats the first promise broken.
Very disappointed.

hitbit

Update @ 16.38hrs Today.
As a result of the above I contacted and switched to FloGas who offered me an 11% discount over Bord Gais prices 7% + 4% for paying by direct debit. They also offered me a budget plan.

hitbit