Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

fafy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122175372#Comment_122175372

IN addition to BG high standing charges, for PV households, as important to factor everything into the equation.

Bord Gais export rate is one of the lowest on the market 18.50 cent, Energia is 24 cent, pinergy 25 cent, thats more than €300 less, in export credits, i would get from Bord Gais, than what i expect to export this year, with Energia.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122175636#Comment_122175636

Units per year :-)

I have solar, 19 of them :-) I would like another 19 once I win some money

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122174384#Comment_122174384

6.24c for 3 hours sounds pretty good. Do about 500km a week here so could probably get the charge needed in during that 3 hour window. Pretty cheap driving - even allowing 20kw per 100km, that would imply 100kw for a weeks driving and would only cost €6.24.

TheSunIsShining

By the way. What's the maximum draw you can pull in your standard 12KV home single phase wiring does anyone know? Would EV, washing machine, dishwasher and immersion be too much?

prawnsambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122180933#Comment_122180933

Normally your main circuit breaker in your consumer unit is 63A. ESB breaker in the meter cabinet is 80A.

So add them all together and if you're less than (say) 55-60A (55A is about 13kW), you should be ok, but each circuit shouldn't be going over 13A (~3kW).

You'll have some circuits (like cooker, shower and EV charger) which will have a higher amperage and capable of pulling up to 6 or 7kW of course.

the_amazing_raisin

It's worth adding that the voltage in your area makes a difference, ESBN guarantee 230V within 10%

207V at 63A gives 13.041kW

257V at 63A gives 16.191kW

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122181167#Comment_122181167

Based on the dimming we see here, I'd suspect we are below the 230v. In a large estate so I wonder if there is a big draw locally. Will do some sums and see what I come up with.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122181512#Comment_122181512

Grab a cheap plug in energy monitor, most of them can read voltage. Check it a few times per day

In any case, it won't actually make much difference. Appliances generally don't draw additional current to compensate for lower voltage

So your EV charger will draw a max of 32A, if the voltage drops then it'll just deliver fewer kilowatts to the car, it can't go beyond the max current

If you're in doubt it's worth getting an EV charger that'll adjust the current based on the loads in the house.

Mine has throttled a few times, mostly seems to happen in winter when the solar batteries are charging and the heat pump is going full throttle

Dishwasher and washing machine don't seem to draw enough to make much difference, unless they're all on at the same time

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122181594#Comment_122181594

Have Tapo plugs but they don't report voltage or current. Just power. I have a multimeter actually so will use that now that I think of it

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122181671#Comment_122181671

Worth measuring under load as you'll get very different results.

Padre_Pio

Any sign of home EV charger installs getting cheaper since the grant was done away with?

pah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189142#Comment_122189142

Grant was reduced from 600 to 300

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189142#Comment_122189142

Doubt it, the gounging on EV installers has been going on for years

Clo-Clo

The joys of trying to sign up for a plan, so contacted Bord Gais as the website doesn't read I have a smart meter. First person couldn't understand what was going on so sent me to ESB Networks.

Called them and they said the smart meter was listed no problem and all suppliers should be able to see

Called back Bord Gais who said I can't sign up for a smart plan, I can sign up for a standard day/night plan to move over. Then transfer to the smart plan

BUT

As I would be an existing customer at that stage I wouldn't get the 33% discount 🤔 even if I only moved over to get the 33% discount and smart plan.

So option now is to upgrade to Electric Ireland smart plan, which is a total rip off, then wait for that to update on system, then try and transfer to Bord Gais, which guy on phone said the discounts might be lower by the time all that happens.

F**k me but they seem to make things difficult

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189961#Comment_122189961

Don't go that route you'll get caught in limbo and be made stay with EI for I think, 90 days. BG are a dreadful company to deal with regarding meter changes.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189961#Comment_122189961

Did you recently get a smart meter? I did and had same issue. But got sorted and I'm on a smart meter tariff now. Got sorted in about 3 weeks.

Energia website thought I was still on 24hr meter. There is a dealy which ESB never told me when I contacted them, they just say all energy provider would now see I was on a smart meter. Energia told me about the delay which seems to be ESB enforced, not the energy providers.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122191034#Comment_122191034

Got it in Nov but never changed to a smart plan, they want me to change to a smart plan with Electric Ireland first before I can transfer to Bord Gais smart plan

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189961#Comment_122189961

My experience of BG from several years ago was that while the call centre staff are friendly, they have absolutely no clue what they're doing

After one particularly unhelpful call about getting a night meter installed I was left astounded that electricity actually reaches our houses considering the incompetence of everyone involved

Best to just keep trying and you might eventually get someone who knows what they're doing. You might be able to get BG to contact ESBN while you're on the call and see if that helps

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122193096#Comment_122193096

Remember the call center staff have nothing to do with the supply of electricity. It's not even BG that supply electricity to you, they simply buy in bulk from the supplier (ESBn) and resell to end users.

Ivor_Guddon

anybody know of a good electrician to come and see if fitting a charger will be straight forward or will i need to knock down the house and rebuild it for a new fuse board 😁

North Dublin

fafy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122194669#Comment_122194669

The companies that do charger installs, will usually give you an idea, but they need detailed information to determine that. For my one, i had to take pictures and do a video internally showing the route, as fuseboard is at the back of the house, and i wanted the charger out in the centre of front of the house and in a very specific locatiom, so charger could charge either EV, without moving them. This was a longish route, but they found a way, ending up coming from fuseboard into converted garage, then into a downstairs bathroom and out to the front, cable hidden behind conduit.

It can be a bit of a dose, but its a one off job, no issues 3 years later, and charger is in a perfect location, so thinking ahead, to a possible 2 ev household, is worth considering so the EV charger is in a good & central location.

I used : https://evpowerireland.ie

Liam2021

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122195464#Comment_122195464

I can recommend the company mentioned above. I used them to install a charger not streight forward route but made a very tidy job of it and extremely easy deal with.

rocky

I've a smart meter installed a month ago, but when I try to switch to another provider while keeping to non-smart plans, they are asking for the day/night meter readings, which I obviously don't have. Any way around it?

Board Gais seems to have a decent non smart plan.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122198462#Comment_122198462

Are you on a day night (MCC02) tariff now? If so the smart meter will be an RM108 profile and you'll be able to read the meter from it. There's a day register and a night register on the meter.

rocky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122198528#Comment_122198528

Great, just switched now 😊

rocky

On a non activated smart meter, is night tariff between 11pm - 8am, no matter the time of year?

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122199270#Comment_122199270

No. Night rate follows UTC time 11pm to 8am UTC. So that's 12am to 9am in summer. Regardless of smart meter active, inactive, or ye olde day/night meter

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122198462#Comment_122198462

Which Bord Gais Plan do you mean?

lukas8888

As far as I know that is not correct.An activated smart meter is 11PM to 8 AM all year.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122253491#Comment_122253491

That is incorrect.

If you have an MCC02 RM108 smart meter (IE a smart meter installed to replace a day night meter) then the time shifts from summer to winter like the old analog meter did.

If you have an RM106/107 smart meter running MCC01 this is 24hr.

If you have an RM106/107 smart meter running MCC12 or MCC16, these are smart ToS tariffs and the supplier can charge whatever time and whatever rate they want. Typically these offer lower rates between 2-4AM. These are not "Day Night" rates though, as "Day Night" is only MCC02.