My father moved to Energis as a result of a visit by a door to door salesman and wamt

dingding

Hi,

I just found out that my dad moved to Energia as a result of a cold call.  He would like to move back to electric ireland.

How would I organise this for him.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi dingding,

Thanks for getting in touch.

If it is still within the cooling-off period, your father just needs to contact the other provider to cancel the switch to them, and all will be as it was.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

dingding

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi dingding,

Thanks for getting in touch.

If it is still within the cooling-off period, your father just needs to contact the other provider to cancel the switch to them, and all will be as it was.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

Hi Una,

How long is the cooling-off period generally?  He got a bill so it is probably too late.

Dingding

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Dingding,

It would be necessary for him to put this query to the other provider.

Kind regards,
Una

Gooser14

Why does he want to move back. Energia are way cheaper than Electric Ireland if he chooses direct debit & fixed monthly payments. What % discount was he offered by the cold caller.

dingding

Gooser14 wrote: »

Why does he want to move back. Energia are way cheaper than Electric Ireland if he chooses direct debit & fixed monthly payments. What % discount was he offered by the cold caller.

He would have had a reduction in his ESB bill because he had the household package.  He lost this allowance and how has to apply for it separately from DSP to be paid into his current account.  Don't think there was a discount and he is paying more per unit than the Electric Ireland standard price on their website.  He also set up a direct debit so he must have given his bank details to a cold caller at the door.  The issue is that there are vulnerable people who are been approached by cold callers and it is not good enough.

In his mind he is paying a lot more for his electricity as his bill is gone up by the amount of the household allowance. All the sorting our of the household allowance etc.. is not worth the saving he is getting and I think in this case he could even be paying slightly more.

Gooser14

dingding wrote:

He would have had a reduction in his ESB bill because he had the household package. He lost this allowance and how has to apply for it separately from DSP to be paid into his current account. Don't think there was a discount and he is paying more per unit than the Electric Ireland standard price on their website. He also set up a direct debit so he must have given his bank details to a cold caller at the door. The issue is that there are vulnerable people who are been approached by cold callers and it is not good enough.

I understand your point re payment of household package allowance. I am currently with Energia on a 36% discount. My basic unit costs (ex VAT & discount) are 21.9c per day unit & 10.5c per night unit. After discount these costs are 14.02c & 6.72c respectively. If I was with Electric Ireland the best discount I would get is 5.5% plus a sign up payment of EUR 150. My last bill from Energia was EUR 256 but it would have been EUR 283 with Electric Ireland. These amounts are before applying the Household Allowance which is paid on the first Tuesday each month. I change supplier yearly unless my current supplier can offer a good discount. I pay a fixed monthly amount by direct debit so in the summer months my account will build up a credit which covers the higher winter bills.

juanry

Gooser14 wrote: »

Originally posted by dingding
He would have had a reduction in his ESB bill because he had the household package. He lost this allowance and how has to apply for it separately from DSP to be paid into his current account. Don't think there was a discount and he is paying more per unit than the Electric Ireland standard price on their website. He also set up a direct debit so he must have given his bank details to a cold caller at the door. The issue is that there are vulnerable people who are been approached by cold callers and it is not good enough.

I understand your point re payment of household package allowance. I am currently with Energia on a 36% discount. My basic unit costs (ex VAT & discount) are 21.9c per day unit & 10.5c per night unit. After discount these costs are 14.02c & 6.72c respectively. If I was with Electric Ireland the best discount I would get is 5.5% plus a sign up payment of EUR 150.  My last bill from Energia was EUR 256 but it would have been EUR 283 with Electric Ireland. These amounts are before applying the Household Allowance which is paid on the first Tuesday each month. I change supplier yearly unless my current supplier can offer a good discount. I pay a fixed monthly amount by direct debit so in the summer months my account will build up a credit which covers the higher winter bills.

I have to say Energia ara not a nice company to deal with if you decide to leave them ☹️

Gooser14

juanry wrote:

I have to say Energia ara not a nice company to deal with if you decide to leave them ☹ï¸

I had no problem leaving them last time I moved from them. My account was in credit & that was refunded to my bank account within days of requesting it.

dingding

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi dingding,

Thanks for getting in touch.

If it is still within the cooling-off period, your father just needs to contact the other provider to cancel the switch to them, and all will be as it was.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

Thanks Una, If I want to reconnect him with Electric Ireland, Can I just go to your website and switch.  

Gooser14

dingding wrote:

Thanks Una, If I want to reconnect him with Electric Ireland, Can I just go to your website and switch.

You should note that if he is outside the cooling off period and on a fixed term contract he will be subjected to a Eur 50 penalty for leaving early.

dingding

Yes, I will raise this with energia separately as they should not be going door to door to vulnerable people getting them to change their electricity supplier, particularly when there are issues around the house hold package.

These door to door callers should be outlawed.  Had a lad call to me last week with an up to 1GB siro broadband which he told me was unlimited and also was faster than my current 500MV with VIrgin.  Also offered a lifetime price of €40 per month.  When vodafone contacted me it was a 125 Mb package which was totally unsuitabel and also had a 1 TB limit despite it been unlimited.

Anyway I cancelled during my cooling off period.

The downright lies they tell at the door is unbelievable.

Electric Ireland: Aoife

dingding wrote: »

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi dingding,

Thanks for getting in touch.

If it is still within the cooling-off period, your father just needs to contact the other provider to cancel the switch to them, and all will be as it was.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

Thanks Una, If I want to reconnect him with Electric Ireland, Can I just go to your website and switch.  

Hi dingding, 

You mentioned that he is still in the cooling off period with the other supplier. If so, asking for cancellation with the other provider will automatically reopen his account with Electric Ireland. He won't need to do anything in that case. 

However, if the account is simply closed with the other provider, he will need to register as a customer here.

In either case, he may be subject to an exit fee by the other provider.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Kind regards, 
Aoife

tuxy

Is it not cheaper to switch company every 12 months?
Most seem to offer a cheaper introductory price that lasts 12 months. 

dingding

Electric Ireland: Aoife wrote: »

dingding wrote: »

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi dingding,

Thanks for getting in touch.

If it is still within the cooling-off period, your father just needs to contact the other provider to cancel the switch to them, and all will be as it was.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

Thanks Una, If I want to reconnect him with Electric Ireland, Can I just go to your website and switch.  

Hi dingding, 

You mentioned that he is still in the cooling off period with the other supplier. If so, asking for cancellation with the other provider will automatically reopen his account with Electric Ireland. He won't need to do anything in that case. 

However, if the account is simply closed with the other provider, he will need to register as a customer here.

In either case, he may be subject to an exit fee by the other provider.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Kind regards, 
Aoife

Hi Aoife,

He was past the cooling-off period so I have applied to transfer to Electric Ireland.

When Electric Ireland confirm the account number, I will then go to dept. of social protection to get the allowance reinstated,

He will probably lose a couple of months of his electricity allowance and he will also probably have to pay an exit fee to Energia.

I have raised his treatment as a complaint with Energia and if not resolved I will take to the regulator.

Many thanks.

dingding

tuxy wrote: »

Is it not cheaper to switch company every 12 months?
Most seem to offer a cheaper introductory price that lasts 12 months. 

Tuxy,

This is probably a good strategy for most people, however, as he has the household package it appears that his bill has gone up 60 euro every 2 months.

Sadly he is not in a position to understand if I got the household allowance paid into his current account.

dingding

IT might be a good marketing ploy for electric Ireland to remind elderly customers who are on the household packages who move to another provider also have to make allowances  for the transfer of their household package. 

Electric Ireland: Aoife

dingding wrote: »

Hi Aoife,

He was past the cooling-off period so I have applied to transfer to Electric Ireland.

When Electric Ireland confirm the account number, I will then go to dept. of social protection to get the allowance reinstated,

He will probably lose a couple of months of his electricity allowance and he will also probably have to pay an exit fee to Energia.

I have raised his treatment as a complaint with Energia and if not resolved I will take to the regulator.

Many thanks.

Hi dingding,

Thank you for getting back to us.

If there is anything else we can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask. 

Kind regards, 
Aoife

dingding

Hi Aoife / Una,

I applied on the Electric Ireland page to switch to electric ireland.  I have got the docummentation and account number.  

Because he has the same MRPN number will he automatically get the electric allowance added to the account, or will I have to apply to DSP.

If I have to apply to DSP do you know how I go about it.

Kind regards,

ZeroCool17

dingding wrote: »

Hi Aoife / Una,

I applied on the Electric Ireland page to switch to electric ireland.  I have got the docummentation and account number.  

Because he has the same MRPN number will he automatically get the electric allowance added to the account, or will I have to apply to DSP.

If I have to apply to DSP do you know how I go about it.

Kind regards,

Hi Dingding,

I deal with all my mothers accounts for electricity etc. I change them every year for her to get the best deal. While you get the Household package directly off the Electricity Bill with Electric Ireland, when you move to any other company like Energia etc she gets €35 extra in her pension once a month (pretty sure it's €35) as her Household package. So same thing really. Not worth staying with Electric Ireland all the time. I never had to contact the social about it, it just automatically transfers every time i change company for her. 

Just thought it might be worth you knowing this.

All the best for your Dad.

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi dingding, 

Thank you for your post.

It should automatically be reapplied if he was previously getting the allowance with Electric Ireland. He should also still be getting the allowance directly from the Department while he was with the other supplier as long as the electricity account is in his name. It might be worth contacting the Department to check that everything is in order. You can find more information on the Department's website.

It's worth noting that a change of supplier can take up to 20 working days, so the Department would not yet have received notification that your father has switched back to Electric Ireland but they would be able to advise on the status of his Free Electricity Allowance since he left Electric Ireland. 

Please let us know if you have any further questions. 

Kind regards, 
Aoife