gas .elec pay at post office

2012paddy2012

i want to stop paying my elec and gas bills by direct debit.
these pre pay power are badly reviewed and expensive.

can you pay bills like in the old way any more?


I just want to change from direct debit to ..paying at post office when bills arrive

can this be done?



thks Paddy

want both elec /gas from same provider if possible...

Xterminator

yes, you can still pay bills at post office.

2012paddy2012

Oh thats super. Im with energia for both at mo..they said no. Ill start googling !!

L1011

An Post site says Bord Gais, Airtricity, Electric Ireland, Panda Power (electricity only) and Flogas (Gas only) can be paid. You will generally pay a higher unit price for non direct debit but it'll still be cheaper than the two specialist prepay operators.

dudara

You may also be asked to pay a deposit (several hundred €) in order to switch to cash payments.

L1011

dudara wrote: »

You may also be asked to pay a deposit (several hundred €) in order to switch to cash payments.

Had forgotten that as an issue - if you aren't the owner of the house this is almost inevitable. If you are the owner it isn't always required.

How the deposit is handled varies on supplier, some hold it for a period of time and return it, some hold it for a period of time and apply it as credit and some use it for the bills immediately.

GerardKeating

2012paddy2012 wrote: »

Oh thats super. Im with energia for both at mo..they said no. Ill start googling !!

some/most suppliers offer a discount if you pay by DD, so you would lose this and pay a higher rate.

Xterminator

and a surcharge for paper billing too.

2012paddy2012

Never heard of that deposit thing. Am house owner....bord gais do. the old way I discovered ...discount also for new customers...not as much tho ..if u use D/D You get more discount tho

colm_mcm

Cant you go on direct debit and pay in the post office as well, as in keep your account clear so no direct debits go out. Might be an option?

L1011

colm_mcm wrote: »

Cant you go on direct debit and pay in the post office as well, as in keep your account clear so no direct debits go out. Might be an option?

You need to be extremely good with timing for this, as the DD batch will be sent to the bank days before the due date - you can end up paying twice as a result and having account credit the next month.

colm_mcm

Yeah, I've done it with tv/broadband before, but that's a fixed price through the year.

djdunny

OP an option that hasnt been mentioned yet is Level Pay - The power company will take 12 months worth of energy use and get a monthly average - they will then work out how much this will be - the result will mean that you pay the same price each month (paying excess in the spring/summer months to build up the deficit in the autumn/winter months). As a result it is very easy to budget for and you get to keep your discount for having a DD.

2012paddy2012

Thanks all.

Quackster

Xterminator wrote: »

and a surcharge for paper billing too.

You don't have to go back to paper billing if you stop paying by direct debit.

2012paddy2012

Great. Can you expand ?

Quackster

2012paddy2012 wrote: »

Great. Can you expand ?

It's simply a choice you have, whatever way you're paying. Electric Ireland, for instance, gives a small discount (0.5% I think) if you opt for paperless billing. As others have pointed out though, you get a more substantial discount if you opt for direct debit (with paperless billing).