Bord Gais Level pay - thoughts

from_atozinc

Just signed up to bord gais where I get price of a unit for 12.96 cent.

I then only noticed afterwards that it is level pay ((I know , flippant of me). I think they supposedly check your previous years usage and give you the same bill every month for 1st year etc.

I am not totally committed yet as I have 14 days to cancel.

There were a few older threads on it talking about a 20% upfront payment, but this may be null and void now.

What are peoples thoughts on this level pay in the year 2017, is it a bit of a cod?

daheff

i dont think its the worst idea in the world. I'm doing it. We have a monthly DD, so it makes it a little more managable.

Just make sure you check every so often that you are using roughly the number of units you thought you would. If you are going way over then let them know...they can adjust your monthly charge during the 12 months.

from_atozinc

daheff wrote: »

i dont think its the worst idea in the world. I'm doing it. We have a monthly DD, so it makes it a little more managable.

Just make sure you check every so often that you are using roughly the number of units you thought you would. If you are going way over then let them know...they can adjust your monthly charge during the 12 months.

oh ok.
so just on this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93684453

someone says:

"As I recall, Bord Gais add a 20% premium to level pay (in the first year anyway).
I know you get it back at the end of the year but that extra 20% is still sitting in their bank account rather than yours."


But the above does not seem to be happening now with Bord Gais I think?

OU812

I use if for simplicity (& extra discount. But about three times a year I have to move money from the electricity account to the gas account because their metrics seem to be way off. It's no big deal, electricity over pays, gas under pays & they balance out., but I hate owing money so I call them & get them to move it.

In all honesty, I'll probably go back to my old system next year which was to pay €25 a week to each (get paid weekly so it works out better) and build up credit with them on both accounts then don't pay anything from November and divert what I would have been paying into the Santa fund while the credit runs out.

Xterminator

ive signed up with BG about 8 months ago.

my experience has been the bills were higher than i expected at 1st because the applied an average payment at 1st but they didn't wait a year to correct. once they had a few readings, they adjusted to a sensible level.

if you are with them a year or 2, they would probably have your usage pattern down pretty accurately, but its probably not worth sticking with any provider in the current market.

tbh , it does average out and unless your living hand to mouth each month, then why worry?

stronglikebull

I'm on it since switching to them in March. Their website is crap though, as nothing works on it for me. I can't view any billing information (though it could be I haven't had a bill yet as it's only been a little over a month), any account information, direct debit instructions, nothing. All I see is my balance is -€60 since April 24th, and no other information. I don't know if that's the level pay amount or what. I don't really see why they force level pay on you either. It should surely be optional, unless there's something in it for them.

Cianmcliam

stronglikebull wrote: »

I'm on it since switching to them in March. Their website is crap though, as nothing works on it for me. I can't view any billing information (though it could be I haven't had a bill yet as it's only been a little over a month), any account information, direct debit instructions, nothing. All I see is my balance is -€60 since April 24th, and no other information. I don't know if that's the level pay amount or what. I don't really see why they force level pay on you either. It should surely be optional, unless there's something in it for them.

I found out when we tried to switch, we got a huge bill for the remainder of the level pay term and then a counter offer to get us to stay.

Xterminator

read the T&C's before you sign.... no really.

from_atozinc

mmm, thanks, I may reconsider this level pay thing.

Diziet

If you can afford the seasonal variation in the bimonthly bill, then just pay normally. BG essentially borrow 20% off you, interest free for the year. Great for their cash flow, less great for you. I have declined level pay on several occasions. BG are very keen on it, understandably, as it works in their favour.

OU812

They do offer an additional discount for it which is what made me go for it.

from_atozinc

Diziet wrote: »

If you can afford the seasonal variation in the bimonthly bill, then just pay normally. BG essentially borrow 20% off you, interest free for the year. Great for their cash flow, less great for you. I have declined level pay on several occasions. BG are very keen on it, understandably, as it works in their favour.

Thanks. Where do you get the 20% figure from?

TheChizler

I signed up to via a guy at the door (I know) specifically said I didn't want level pay, nowhere in the terms and conditions he showed me did it mention it (they were out of date which I didn't cop at the time), they signed me up anyway and my bills have been entirely unpredictable since. The amount changes every other month and they take the direct debit before the bill is issued. I didn't cancel it straight away to make sure I kept the €100 credit, which they haven't used yet it's just sitting in my account and the bills haven't reduced because of it. I'll cancel soon.

Diziet

from_atozinc wrote: »

Thanks. Where do you get the 20% figure from?

From a discussion on the phone with the BG rep. They said that even if my consumption went up by 20% the level pay would stay the same. When I asked how that worked, it emerged that the 20% extra is built into the calculations, in other words they borrow the 20% off the customer. The rep was very guarded about it but he agreed that my description of it was accurate.

Re the discount, I am no longer with BG, but I recall they gave a discount for direct debit without level pay, which is what I went for at the time.

from_atozinc

Diziet wrote: »

From a discussion on the phone with the BG rep. They said that even if my consumption went up by 20% the level pay would stay the same. When I asked how that worked, it emerged that the 20% extra is built into the calculations, in other words they borrow the 20% off the customer. The rep was very guarded about it but he agreed that my description of it was accurate.

Re the discount, I am no longer with BG, but I recall they gave a discount for direct debit without level pay, which is what I went for at the time.

hmmm, thank you. So the 20% thing seems to be still valid and not just something from a few years ago.

The more I hear about this level pay, the more its putting me off.

stronglikebull

That's interesting regarding the 20% loading they apply. I wasn't told anything about that when I signed up, nor is it mentioned in their FAQs or T&Cs here, here or here. It is mentioned on switcher.ie though, but perhaps they've removed this policy?

I've contacted them about why I haven't received my first bill yet, as it's been two and a half months since I signed up. Will have to look over it when it arrives.

NIMAN

I've been on LEvel Pay with BG for couple of years now.

1st year they set it at ?74 per month.

In Year 2 it went down to something mid-?60s.

Not sure at present what its at, now that I'm into Year 3.

Vahevala

I signed up for levelpay for both gas & electricity with them, I find it a much more manageable way of keeping an eye on my finances as the electricity bills used to be so big & a struggle.

No issues on my side.

rpurfield

I signed up to this about two years ago and it's a strange one at the minute. I seem to be constantly carrying over ?200 from bill to bill on the gas, well more to the point what carries over is growing and I effectively owe them an extra bill on it. But on the other side of the coin by the time the next electric bill comes in I'm going to be ?150 in credit on that. As mentioned above I'm outside the discounts now and normally swap over but if I do I'll be hit with a sizeable amount to pay off the gas.

mel123

In the beginning i found it brilliant. Naturally, as you expect, you agree a set amount, and over the year, it more or less levels itself out. However, then they started changing my bill, as i was using say less as the seasons changed. This is very annoying, because then im not leveling myself out. They dont like you to build up credit it seems, and they dont want you to owe too much money, so its the same as effectively just paying your bill yourself when and as you please!!!

I contacted them so many times, asking please stop changing my level pay amount, and apparently technology doesnt allow them to manually do that.
Technology isnt so smart.

NRR

I've used Bord Gais level pay for both gas and electricity for about 20 months now. My recommendation to anyone using it is to regularly submit your own readings, as their own "estimates" can be quite far off the mark and thus end up impacting what they decide to charge you at the level pa amount.

I didn't submit my own readings for the first 8 months or so and it ended up way lopsided, now I try to do it monthly or at least every few weeks and it's helped out considerably. Ended up bringing my payments back down a bit as well.

You used to be able to call them up and have them change the LP amount to an amount you requested, but they took this out of their policy and now only change the amounts based on their internal reviews.

mel123

I dont get this - its the first i heard of it.
Can someone explain it to me? Where is this 20% extra charge? Im coming to near the end of my first year so if im owed anything id like to be on top of it!!!

Ive checked my bill and dont see it anywhere, is it hidden somewhere?

"Therefore, in the first year, a 20% tolerance will be added to your bill"