OneBigSwitch.ie Bulk Buying for Electricity

Muahahaha

Right admittedly this isn't a Bargain Alert just yet but if enough people sign up to it then it could very well become one.
Website is onebigswitch.ie and they just launched today. The idea is that when they have a few thousands sign ups they can then go to the electricity companies and negotiate a discount using the purchasing power of a large group of people. I guess you could say its Groupon for ESB.

Anyway according to the company electricity costs have risen 21% in the last year alone and also that schemes like these are up and running successfully in other European countries. So I've signed up and hope this works out cause I'm really sick of €100+ bills at this stage. Sign up is easy, there's a survey bit but you don't have to answer all the questions.

whiteshorts

What do they get out of it and what happens if they don't get 1000 people to sign up?
Doesn't sound like something I'd be getting involved in.

Bebo stunnah

If they don't get the amount they need, then nothing happens, I'm assuming...

Signed up myself, can't see the harm in it. It even says if you don't want the new negotiated price there's no need to accept it. Apparently theyrecieve commission from the energy company for getting so many people to join them.

Can't see it working as every time a money saving scheme pops up in Ireland, it's usually greeted with a big F#ck you, or you get the normal price and everyone else gets an inflated one...

Fries-With-That

AFAIK they are looking for 20,000 people to sign up, then they negotiate with the power companies on behalf of their members.

Its a similar to when companies offer specific discounts targeting employees of different companies.

They are hoping to negotiate substantial discounts over and above what the power companies offer existing customers for switching.

Kristopherus

Of course Mr Tattan could have got the ball running in a big way if he offered the first 20,000 sign-ups 10 - 20% of Glo-Health Insurance, as he is also co-founder of that;).

Muahahaha

whiteshorts wrote: »

What do they get out of it and what happens if they don't get 1000 people to sign up?
Doesn't sound like something I'd be getting involved in.

I presume they get some sort of commission out of it, they're not doing it for the craic. If they saved you 15% off your bill would you really begrudge them a 3 or 4% commission on the savings they've passed on to you ?

Dogre

1,980 people have now signed up, including me. 26 days to get to 20,000

Fr_Dougal

You can't sell gas/electricity in Ireland without a licence...and it takes up to 2 years to be granted one. Can't help but think that this is one clever marketing campaign.

keithclancy

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

You can't sell gas/electricity in Ireland without a licence...and it takes up to 2 years to be granted one. Can't help but think that this is one clever marketing campaign.

The Energy Market in Ireland has been liberalised in a similar way to the Dutch market.

The Idea isn't new, pretty much along the lines of United Consumers:
http://www.unitedconsumers.com/energie/

ted1

Fries-With-That wrote: »

AFAIK they are looking for 20,000 people to sign up, then they negotiate with the power companies on behalf of their members.

Its a similar to when companies offer specific discounts targeting employees of different companies.

They are hoping to negotiate substantial discounts over and above what the power companies offer existing customers for switching.

with 20,000 there is no negotiation needed they simply become a supplier, and purchase their own electricity on the SEM. sounds like an advertisement to me

sawdoubters

you just adding another middleman
,and most put up prices after a few months

http://www.bonkers.ie/compare-gas-electricity-prices/

mozil

Stupid idea all in aid of lining this companies pockets!

Do people not realise that ESB once had every customer on this island???
We went from having the second cheapest leci prices in Europe in that so called "monopoly" to now being second dearest last time I heard....

All we have is artificial competition, EU told us we could no longer have one company selling the power gave the state X years to open the market before this was done the regulator over a number of years insisted on price increases, with this accomplished the door was open for other suppliers to come on in and undercut.

Just my two cents, **** all the chancres out let ESB set there own price no problem

ted1

mozil wrote: »

Stupid idea all in aid of lining this companies pockets!

Do people not realise that ESB once had every customer on this island???
We went from having the second cheapest leci prices in Europe in that so called "monopoly" to now being second dearest last time I heard....

All we have is artificial competition, EU told us we could no longer have one company selling the power gave the state X years to open the market before this was done the regulator over a number of years insisted on price increases, with this accomplished the door was open for other suppliers to come on in and undercut.

Just my two cents, **** all the chancres out let ESB set there own price no problem

Mozil our biggest problem is our energy mix. its all imported and we're last in the long gas pipeline.

we had plenty of peat plants but these were to dirty.

VikingG

sawdoubters wrote: »

you just adding another middleman
,and most put up prices after a few months

http://www.bonkers.ie/compare-gas-electricity-prices/

Odd that you call them a middleman and then post a link to another middleman. Both companies have a similar business model ... get consumers to switch and take a commission from the new provider for sending them new customers.

Just one point though OneBidSwitch are not bulk buying electricity as the title says... they are just using the weight of a large number of customers to negotiate a better price. Once they negotiate a price with whoever they will step away... and your contract will be with your new energy provider.

jpb14

They were on TV3s morning am programme this morning promoting this.And as of 11am this morning over 3000 people have signed up to to it.
Not bad going imo.

dor843088

5, 500 as of a few minutes ago . If I dont get a better deal ill stay where I am . I dont see how this isnt a good thing . It worked in oz as far as I know. If 20,000 sign up theyd have a buying power of roughly €10,000,000. Cant see any company passing up that kind of revenue opportunity too easily.

Bebo stunnah

Assuming the average bill is about €150 bimonthly, it'd be €18m for 20,000 people. With what they currently have (5900), that's nearly €5.5m.

And I know a lot of people paying way more than my average figure!

dodzy

dor843088 wrote: »

5, 500 as of a few minutes ago . If I dont get a better deal ill stay where I am . I dont see how this isnt a good thing . It worked in oz as far as I know. If 20,000 sign up theyd have a buying power of roughly €10,000,000. Cant see any company passing up that kind of revenue opportunity too easily.

True, but that company might already have the bulk of these customers in their pocket. No harm going along for the ride though.

Muahahaha

<snip>

Nearly 7000 customers is pretty good going in four days. They still have another 24 days to hit their target of 20.000 customers so I'd be surprised if they don't hit the target earlier than that.

I'll be interested to see how this actually works when it's set up. If it's a case that they get people a 10-15% discount for 12 months only then it is a waste of time because you can do that yourself just by switching your energy company.

If they can negotiate a permanently lower rate than what is a available otherwise then I'd say this service will be very successful.

Cape Clear

20,000 is not such a big figure for a nationwide campaign considering it doesn't cost anything to sign up.

bogman

Muahahaha wrote: »

Nearly 7000 customers is pretty good going in four days.

7,958 at 20.40 tonight

famer279

Just checked, there's 8007 people there now. They'll get 20000 in no time Join yourself with this link : www.onebigswitch.ie

AlanS181824

Not harm in signing up I'd imagine.

AlanS181824

"Alan, you have joined 8,046 consumers in this campaign"
Eh... yay?

prettyboy81

Fook it I'm in

jpb14

Thats me signed up.:)
Also recently signed up to Energia for dual fuel online.
On a side not here for a second,I see that the EU today have lambasted Ireland and Mr Kenny for not making the electricity and gas market over here more competitive and lowering the cost of both utilities.
Ireland is in line to get hit with a big fine from the EU if we we dont lower the cost of both electricity and gas to customers.Hopefully prices come down rather soon.

jpb14

Full story here.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/ireland-facing-european-court-over-electricity-competition-failure-623176.html

south

jpb14 wrote: »

Thats me signed up.:)
Also recently signed up to Energia for dual fuel online.
On a side not here for a second,I see that the EU today have lambasted Ireland and Mr Kenny for not making the electricity and gas market over here more competitive and lowering the cost of both utilities.
Ireland is in line to get hit with a big fine from the EU if we we dont lower the cost of both electricity and gas to customers.Hopefully prices come down rather soon.

So we'll end up paying high energy costs and a fine on top of them.. Lovely!

amber2

On Monday I completed an application through bonkers to switch from Airtricity to electricity Ireland. Once switched over will be contracted for 12 months. I presume I can't sign up for the onebigswitch now.

Kalyke

Sign up anyway. No obligation involved.

casio4

just signed up