Bord Gais vs. Electric Ireland vs. Flogas

CamillaRhodes

Hi guys, I know there are several threads about this but they're all a year or more old so if you don't mind I'll start a new one.

We need to move away from Airtricity (who do both our gas & electric) stat. Reasons for this are multiple - they may be a little cheaper, but I'm damned if I'm giving another red cent to them.

Would appreciate your advice on the alternatives based both on price and ease of billing / customer service etc. i.e. I don't mind paying a little bit more for a better level of service. A post a while ago said that with Flogas, who seem the cheapest for gas supply, "you have to keep an eye on your bills". This is what I DON'T want, I have too much going on to be dealing with utilities drama every 2 months. My calls made yesterday to E.I. and B.G. did not exactly fill me with confidence about either.

I guess I'd prefer to deal only with one company, but willing to deal with two if it's really worthwhile for significant cost savings. Main thing is *not* to find myself in another situation where we could suddenly be sprung with a bill for 3 times the average during the 'quietest' usage period of the year (as just happened with Airtricity... for the 2nd time... grrr)

We have a 24 hour metre (no day/night rates); we live in a 2 bed quite-well-insulated house in Dublin City; gas is for heating and hot water (when the heating's on), in the summer we use electric shower, so no gas usage May - Sept at least, though we'll have the gas on a lot more than usual this winter for heating as I'll be at home during the day on maternity leave.

Priori

You've left out BGE for elec and Flogas for gas, which is what I have at the moment. I moved away from Electric Ireland when the discounts expired and am very tempted to return as a new customer for both gas and elec, as they have a very good offer for dual-fuel online sign-ups at the moment - you get a free carbon monoxide alarm. Plus they have the guys on boards who are very helpful.

cookie1977

Flo gas for gas and bord gais for electricity but I'll be moving to Electric Ireland for electricity at the end of this month when my discount expires. I'll be staying with flogas for gas

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

cookie1977

I lost my 15% last year but I rang up and said i was leaving so they gave me a 7% discount instead. It's cheaper then most of the others as I dont want to enter a contract with them for both products

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

cookie1977

I dunno about that. I'm paying 4.45cent (excl VAT) per unit and 22.74 (Excl VAT) per day standing charge. It's cheaper then most out there. I dont use enough to benefit from airtricity's cheaper rate as their standing charge is ludicrously high. I worked out by monthly I save about 3 euro being with flo gas over the others

CamillaRhodes

Thx all for the replies, sorry didn't realise you could do BG for elec and not gas (can't see how you can edit a poll after it's been posted?! possible?!)

There's clearly a lot of different perspectives on what's cheaper, for whom, when. The mucking about of back and forth on different rates etc. is what i really can't be dealing with.

Are any of these particularly better / worse for customer service?

And does anyone have experience of the flat rate billing with Bord Gais? It sounds like the "easier" option (even if it costs a little more...)

Sparky85

Be careful of signing up to a contract of any length of time. I'm not sure about the other companies mentioned but I know Airtricity have 24month contract which would be difficult or costly to get out of if you had issues with their service.

cookie1977

I'm a bit nutty and like nothing better than chopping and changing providers. I've been with them all and I had no serious problems with any of them although I didn't like airtricity as they stopped billing me for 4 months despite me contacting them constantly about it. Thankfully I keep good record of my costs so I could work out what I needed to keep:


This is my comparison of electricity providers (remember I'm a new and existing customer for some so it depends on what plan and what relationship you have with your supplier as to what plan you'll get):


I'd never use the flat rate. I'm always looking for the best combination of price & service

CamillaRhodes

cookie1977 wrote: »

I'm a bit nutty and like nothing better than chopping and changing providers.

Any chance you'd like to manage my utilities for me, cookie1977? Thanks so much for the detailed replies.

BTW, based on current gut instinct, I think I'm gonna go with Electric Ireland for both. Have the fear that Flogas, while cheaper, may end up being the same sort of experience I had with Airtricity (having to keep a close eye on bills, sudden unexpected increases, etc.)

If anyone thinks I'm mad to go with E.I. for both (recognising that it may be slightly more expensive than E.I. + Flogas), would appreciate your warnings now

cookie1977

I've been with flogas for about 3 years now and I find them excellent. No hassle. Although you get paper bills and there's no online service as of yet. There's no contract with them so if you dont like them you can leave.

L1011

Flogas for 18 months and haven't had any discount pulled yet - did the numbers on bonkers and got told that the nearest plan available was the one I was already on for a saving of a few cent a year - rounding error I suspect!

Check the bills anyway so will continue to do so to make sure there's no price bump.

PlanBee

I got a phone call from Board Gas with the offer to switch to them from Electric Ireland, does this worth to do this ? Thanks in advance

The_Morrigan

PlanBee wrote: »

I got a phone call from Board Gas with the offer to switch to them from Electric Ireland, does this worth to do this ? Thanks in advance

Go to www.bonkers.ie and input your details to see if it is worth the switch.

You will need your billing details (type of plan, any discounts) and your typical usage.

PlanBee

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Go to www.bonkers.ie and input your details to see if it is worth the switch.

You will need your billing details (type of plan, any discounts) and your typical usage.

I've just checked out payments Board Gas vs Electric Ireland, there is significant saving if I do switch to the Board Gas !
Thank you The_Morrigan !

ted1

PlanBee wrote: »

I've just checked out payments Board Gas vs Electric Ireland, there is significant saving if I do switch to the Board Gas !
Thank you The_Morrigan !

You should switch every 12 months. As soon as your discount runs out

kennyb3

If you switch - what's the best way to go about informing your current company? By that I mean trying to avoid overlaps/double charging?

Is it similar to bank accounts in that the new company manages the changeover?

The_Morrigan

kennyb3 wrote: »

If you switch - what's the best way to go about informing your current company? By that I mean trying to avoid overlaps/double charging?

Is it similar to bank accounts in that the new company manages the changeover?

I used bonkers.ie to switch my utilities during 2013 and I did my part through their website, the new company then did all the donkey work.

Patrickof

kennyb3 wrote: »

If you switch - what's the best way to go about informing your current company? By that I mean trying to avoid overlaps/double charging?

Is it similar to bank accounts in that the new company manages the changeover?

Yes, the old supplier will see a COS (Change of Shipper (Supplier)) request and will issue a closing bill when the account switches to the new supplier. The closing reads from the old supplier will match the opening reads with the new, so no overlap.

Eldarion

CamillaRhodes wrote: »

Any chance you'd like to manage my utilities for me, cookie1977? Thanks so much for the detailed replies.

BTW, based on current gut instinct, I think I'm gonna go with Electric Ireland for both. Have the fear that Flogas, while cheaper, may end up being the same sort of experience I had with Airtricity (having to keep a close eye on bills, sudden unexpected increases, etc.)

If anyone thinks I'm mad to go with E.I. for both (recognising that it may be slightly more expensive than E.I. + Flogas), would appreciate your warnings now

I had electricity with E.I. and gas with B.G when an E.I. door salesman called around and offered me a 10% discount on both if I brought my gas account to E.I. I nearly bit his hand off. 6 months in and I've no complaints!