Electricity supplier

Redgirl82

darrenheaphy wrote: »

Yeah, totally understand it’s my own bad, just annoying. Bit of a pointless post on my part but wanted to rant 😀

Our meter is in the house in what was the old garage, 9 times out of 10 we miss the guy but I always submit. I heard horror stories of people not realising and suddenly hit with gigantic bills

On my current level pay I actually keep it above so I have a mini reserve

graememk

When switching, make the effort to pull up the last year's bills and get your useage.

It will give you a far more accurate comparison (you will also know how close to the " average" you are.

Eg engeria have the cheapest rates but also the most expensive day standing charge.

So if you need to take everything into account.

the_amazing_raisin

graememk wrote: »

When switching, make the effort to pull up the last year's bills and get your useage.

It will give you a far more accurate comparison (you will also know how close to the " average" you are.

Eg engeria have the cheapest rates but also the most expensive day standing charge.

So if you need to take everything into account.

Absolutely agree, I'm actually in a high usage house with the EV and heat pump (no gass at all) so my annual usage is around 8000 kWh whereas the national average is closer to 3500 kWh as far as I know

Redgirl82

SO Energia have offered a free Google Home if I stay with them and discounted rate. If I have the time I will call and see what the discounted rate is but whats the bets it isnt as cheap as the new offer

JohnC.

What's the current VAT? Was it affected with the recent VAT change?

KCross

JohnC. wrote: »

What's the current VAT? Was it affected with the recent VAT change?

Electricity is at 13.5%.
I believe it was only the top rate of VAT was changed from 23% to 21% so electricity is unchanged.

JohnC.

That's what I thought but wasn't sure.

NIMAN

Why is there such a big difference in standing charges between suppliers?

My cheapest option said to move to a crowd called Bright Future, never heard of them. But their SC is €118.

Energia would be the cheapest electricity rates but their SC is €288!

KCross

NIMAN wrote: »

Why is there such a big difference in standing charges between suppliers?

To confuse you!

Gael23

How do you go about getting a night rate meter?

liamog

Gael23 wrote: »

How do you go about getting a night rate meter?

Phone your current supplier and ask them to switch you over, they'll book in an ESB Networks engineer to make the switch.

Black_Knight

liamog wrote: »

Phone your current supplier and ask them to switch you over, they'll book in an ESB Networks engineer to make the switch.

And it's free (unless you're flip flopping between night rate and 24hr rate)

the_amazing_raisin

Black_Knight wrote: »

And it's free (unless you're flip flopping between night rate and 24hr rate)

Apparently the deal is you get 1 free changeover during the life of the house. I presume that gets reset when the name on the contract changes.

Basically as long as no one changed to a 24 hour meter recently then it should be free

graememk

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Apparently the deal is you get 1 free changeover during the life of the house. I presume that gets reset when the name on the contract changes.

Basically as long as no one changed to a 24 hour meter recently then it should be free

Once you have the digital meter it's a matter of a box ticking exercise on what reading to read on the meter.

If you already have a digital one it might be a painless switch

Gael23

Is there much between SSE Airtricity and Energia? Have always known their standing charge to be high

the_amazing_raisin

graememk wrote: »

Once you have the digital meter it's a matter of a box ticking exercise on what reading to read on the meter.

If you already have a digital one it might be a painless switch

I've a digital meter and it was far from painless trying to explain to ESB customer services that they didn't need to install any new hardware

You'd think since they installed the thing they'd have it marked on the system somehow

The funny part is when the engineer came around, he told me it's just a paperwork exercise and the only thing he did was write instructions on how to take night readings on the meter.

I told him about the troubles I'd been having and he rolled his eyes, said he had no idea what customer service was on

AndyBoBandy

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

graememk

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

That's the thing, they don't, they just read day night numbers for a final day night bill and then they make a note to read the 24 hr total

You have the legal right to refuse a smart meter if you don't want/need it.

the_amazing_raisin

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

The standing charge is lower on a 24 hour meter right?

A lot of people still have the old spinny dial meters, you need a second meter for the night meter in that case.

The newer ones just give you everything, they're a major improvement over the old ones

the_amazing_raisin

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You have the legal right to refuse a smart meter if you don't want/need it.

Okay...worried the ESB will be spying on you?

KCross

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

If you switch back they dont come back out to swap out the meter. Its just a change in your account to read that total figure and not break it out between day/night.

cruisey1987 wrote: »

The standing charge is lower on a 24 hour meter right?

Yes, ~€45 per year.

cruisey1987 wrote: »

A lot of people still have the old spinny dial meters, you need a second meter for the night meter in that case.

Just to clarify, you need a new meter, not a second one, in that case.

NIMAN

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

KCross

NIMAN wrote: »

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

Energia are cheaper but BE energy are next in line price wise. Standing charge is slightly higher.

NIMAN

The cheapest on Bonkers.ie is actually being listed as Bright Future. Never heard of them.
Their standing charge is €118.91 !!

the_amazing_raisin

NIMAN wrote: »

The cheapest on Bonkers.ie is actually being listed as Bright Future. Never heard of them.
Their standing charge is €118.91 !!

I think they only started up last year, pretty small company from what I can tell.


I haven't dealt with them myself, but the one thing I'll say about using bonkers is that you need a pretty accurate picture of your consumption, especially if you own an EV or PHEV.


The average house uses 3500kWh per year, but a house with a heat pump and EV with average mileage will be more like 8000kWh per year.


For me, Energia are cheapest because they've the lowest rates even though their standing charge is high

eagerv

Yes Energia worked out cheaper for us too.
Did our calculations last March when we just had the Ioniq, now with a second EV it should make even more sense. And we were done at 7.4C/unit night rate.:)


Have only charged the ID.3 once so far at home for 3 hours with 1200km driven so far, usually drop into Ionity when passing to knock the cobwebs off the nozzles! (Seriously though, have yet to meet another car at Ionity, though usually one car charging at the green yokes..)

Kramer

eagerv wrote: »

Seriously though, have yet to meet another car at Ionity, though usually one car charging at the green yokes..

Not unexpected given Ionity is 64c to 79c/kWh for everyone else :eek:.
I bet you'd think twice about filling up there if it cost you €47 a go!

jprboy

NIMAN wrote: »

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

Went with them last November as they were the cheapest at the time.

They quote a Lifford address in correspondence - you should support local

Can't see that there's any catch.

Will be shopping around for the cheapest competitor over the next few weeks.

the_amazing_raisin

jprboy wrote: »

They quote a Lifford address in correspondence - you should support local

On a totally unrelated topic, that actually brings up a good question about business addresses. Since a lot of offices are closed down and employees are working from home, does it make sense for businesses to have an address?