Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

unkel

Sigh - signed up with Airtricity last night. Goodbye to the 4.78c / kWh incl. VAT night rate that I enjoyed for a year. Welcome 18.98c day and 9.39c night 😥

The good thing is that I have not used any gas this winter to heat my house, only electricity. Both my cars are fully electric, charged up at night with mostly wind and sometimes during the day from the sun. **** Putin and the Arabs.

Fantana2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776347#Comment_118776347

I assume you will start using has now though? Must be better than your new electric rates.

unkel

No, money is not everything. Plan is to stay off the gas / use as little as possible into the foreseeable. I do have a large solar thermal setup though and a very large solar PV setup, both help a lot.

Ireland could reduce its gas use by 30-40% within a year if everyone did their best and made some financial sacrifice. Further reduce to zero within a decade.

Coddle4dinner

You'd save a small fortune if you stayed off boards.ie.

Moring ,noon and night you're posting shite

Fantana2

Would you not be better off get rid of the gas completely then? Might as well put the gas standing charge into an induction hob/ electric oven. If you don’t use the gas as a principle then why keep it? As a safety net/ back up just in case? Actually this winter was fairly mild so maybe not the best one to make a decision on. What are you using to heat rooms, electric rads?

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776611#Comment_118776611

Good points, thanks. Food for thought. I will have all summer to mull it over. For my electric heating I use machines I built myself that actually make more money than they cost in electricity 😁

But even on an extremely cold winter's day, you could deploy 3 or 4 2kW electric heaters now and then that cost not much more than €20 each to buy (but of course cost a lot to run)

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776347#Comment_118776347

Was that a fixed or variable rate? I couldn't find anything in the T&C's to suggest it was fixed so I'm guessing it's just a static discount on whatever the standard rate is at the time

Mine is up in May, I think I'll move off the EV plan as I'm not able to use enough night electricity to justify the higher day rate

I really wish VW would hurry up with their v2g charger, I could use the car then to move around 90% of my day usage to night

unkel

It was the only plan in Ireland with a fixed rate! I literally still paid just 4.78c / kWh until a few days ago

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118777923#Comment_118777923

They're still giving the EV offer, it's up to 6.95c/kWh now but still much cheaper than 9c from Airtricity

Why did you switch over in the end? Were they doing the usual "new customers only" BS?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778381#Comment_118778381

But the day rate is like 24c. need to be on something like 60% night for it to be cheaper.

Also Energia has a limit of 2000 night and 3000 day per billing cycle, any use above that is at a much higher rate.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118777192#Comment_118777192

I really wish VW would hurry up with their v2g charger, I could use the car then to move around 90% of my day usage to night

You can bet that that charge point will be thousands to buy.

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778621#Comment_118778621

That's where solar panels and batteries come in!

Appreciate not everyone has that setup. But if you do, the Energia plan is a no brainer.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778655#Comment_118778655

True, but depending on how it compares to battery costs it could work out quite well

Say it cost €5k and you decided to dedicate 30kWh to powering your house. You've still got plenty for most of your driving and it's a lot cheaper per kWh than most solar batteries around. Pylontech batteries would probably set you back 3 times that amount

That kind of capacity means you could potentially shift all your usage to the night rate, I reckon for me that would save around €800 per year, giving a payback period of just over 6 years. Not the worst payback period there is

Of course it all depends on how much it costs, I based the €5k on some of the Chademo V2G units that were being sold a while ago

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778621#Comment_118778621

Yeah that's why I won't go for it again. I'm just not able to bring my night usage up to the levels needed, not without solar and batteries or v2g or something

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778683#Comment_118778683

I have those ;-)

Still makes no sense for me as I go over the 2MWh night rate per billing cycle, meaning a punitive rate with the Energia EV tariff. Remember I was the first on boards to switch over to it? Been there, done that.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118780089#Comment_118780089

You running a server farm or something? 😂

I wouldn't even go over that limit with 2 EVs, heat pump, electric cooking and no solar or batteries

unkel

Electric heating of a not very well insulated house 😂

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118784636#Comment_118784636

Bitcoin ASICs in every room. 😂

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118784636#Comment_118784636

I'd have spent all that money on insulation ☺️

barryduffy

Rang electric ireland to get a day/night meter installed. Probably said here before but ESB will do it for free if you call your provider.

I'd tried ring Electric Ireland around 4pm one evening last week and there was a 38 minute wait. I got cut off anyway.

Rang at 9am this morning and got straight through.

Gael23

I’m unconvinced about day/ night meters. If it’s a case where there’s nobody in the house all day then absolutely but that’s not often the spaces these days. You are paying more for electricity during the day and a higher standing charge

mrm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778683#Comment_118778683

I'm confused by this thread, with the whole 'smart tariffs should be avoided at all costs as their rates are more expensive' (true....ish).

@6, With the setup you mention why wouldn't the Bord Gais smart EV tariff be the no brainer (even over Energia EV day/night)? e.g. BG vs Energia: Night rate - 0.463c vs 0.695c (obtaining full charge over the BG 3 hr window); Standing charge + PSO - 285euro vs 367euro.

Surely with the battery setup (and bigger the battery the better) the BG plan would be much cheaper? Is there some thing obvious I am missing with the BG smart tariff vs Energia EV D/N tariff? I understand other smart plans have brutal tariffs but BG seems to be the no brainer in this instance (incl 3hr window charge of the EV).

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787020#Comment_118787020

It does depend on your usage pattern, but in general of you have an EV then your night usage will be much higher.

I think they also make sense if you have a heat pump since you tend to need heating during the night in winter so it's nice when it doesn't break the bank

barryduffy

I'm going to get Solar in too (no battery) so I can use that for my day rate and cheap electricity for night rate. I think that'll all work out.

I really should do research though

barryduffy

Btw - I'm in a 2018 build with heat pump, under floor, large water tank.

JimmyVik

So whats the consensus on the best plan at the moment if you have an EV.

We have one that we charge with a granny pack so it will take all night to charge. Small window not much good to us.

And some eejit in our house let them install a smart meter last month when I was away. After me saying not to let them near it :)

deisedevil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787099#Comment_118787099

Is it possible to move to smart meter and go back to day/night meter the following year if that offer doesn't continue?

ongarite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787342#Comment_118787342

Are you on Dual Fuel plan with gas heating/cooking?

If you are, Bord Gais Smart EV plan is the best as their gas unit rate is 25% less than Electric Ireland EV plan.

Bord Gais cheap night rate window is 3hrs versus 2 for Electric Ireland.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787571#Comment_118787571

No just electricity. Currently with electric Ireland. 18c day, 8c night, but i assume we will lose that when the current contract is up in the next couple of months and only smart plans will be open to us.

We are thinking about getting connected to gas in the summer. Current oil boiler is on its last legs anyway.

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787020#Comment_118787020

So we are a family of 4 at home all day every day. I wfh, wife is off work with 10 month old, and toddler in ECCE for the morning only. Before EV, by just pushing our washing machine and dishwasher to early morning timer we managed to shift about 20% of our usage to night meter in the month of January. This is around the breakeven point for a Day/Night meter apparently.

But since we got the EV, our proportion of night meter is about 40% last time I checked (and will only increase as we move into summer), so I reckon we are well ahead for having the Day/Night even though the house is occupied all the time.