Electric ireland

jogdish

I have a smart metre and its set up, etc - they told me it would be a few weeks before I get detailed usage analytics etc - where do I look for this? I log into my electric ireland account and see nothing about my smart meter.

walterking

Login to "my account" on electric Ireland.

Click on "view this account" below your account address.

The insights should be showing.

If you get to understand your usage and change a few things, the difference in cost is phenomenal. Even with higher unit rates my bills are about 35% lower than last year.

Most bulbs in the house are 2w led (latest bulbs are giving 125 lumen per watt)

Dishwasher and washing machine are timed for the 2am-4am ultra low rate (about 9c), ironing and any tumble drying is 7am-8am, immersion is 3am-3.45am.

We even have the rechargeable vacuum on a timed plug.

Daytime use (34c a unit) is miniscule. PC, bit of telly, bit of cooking, coffee maker, toaster and a few 2w lights.

Large rural house, 2 occupants, one wfh, bill for August was €76 incl standing charge.

Icsics

I second all of the above. Massive difference using the 2-4 slot for machines & even charging car

walterking

Btw Ikea have packs of 3 x 2w gu10 for €6

https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/solhetta-led-bulb-gu10-230-lumen-10498787/

even having one on 24 hours a day 7 days a week would only use one unit of electricity in THREE weeks.

jogdish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581901#Comment_119581901

I just see a graph of the total bill month by month, I guess it takes a while to be set up.

swoofer

Did you get anywhere with your new SM? I've just moved to EI wef 1st August and still nothing in the online account!!

coxy123

I'd also be interested to know how long it takes before you can 'view' smart meter usage - it would be great to have this insight. I had to contact EI twice to move me into smart meter tariff - strange that it isn't active more quickly...

swoofer

Now that is interesting. I emailed them a good while back about the same idea and got a reply last night.

" To enjoy all the benefits of the smart meter, such as accessing the breaking down of your consumption, you need to be allocated a smart plan. "

Have you gone to your meter and pressed the green button? I can access it but still getting round to figuring it out.

I am on a standard meter tariff for next 12 months and may not change,

Check your meter and then your account it should show if you are on a plan. then ring them again.

I know my smart meter has been switched on as they emailed shortly after I moved from SSE to say it was active.

phester28

I had this discussion with ei before and got it confirmed that I did not need to switch to a smart plan to be able to view the uaage, I had to stay on my current plan but sign up for the smart meter feature (something to do with gdpr)

swoofer

Are you saying you are on a standard meter plan but can view usage online as if you were on a smart meter package? can you actually view your usage online as if you were on a smart meter plan? Its impossible to read off the meter.

But I will ring them Monday and ask to be allocated a smart meter plan but stay on my fixed rate.

swoofer

This is my update for the smart meter roll out. It would sense if EI realise that you have a smart meter and switch it on. It would make more sense if EI would then allow one to look at their usage, regardlless of their plan, to see exactly where the high/low/medium usage occurs and then decide what smart plan would be best value.

Good news EI have realised this and yesterday I got an email inviting me to sign up to see my smart meter usage but stay on my existing discount plan. I signed up, its quite a few steps and at the end it said " It will take several months of your data before we will be able to provide a detailed usage chart."

I will keep an eye on it.

Trampas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769923#Comment_119769923

thats what I did and stayed on my standard plan with discount. Now I’m stuck and complaint open with them that I can’t move to non smart plan with them or any other provider even though I’m on a standard plan which they admit I’m on.

If that’s similar to me and you don’t want a smart plan you’ve been duped into the smart plan world and no turning back. How you can’t go to a standard plan is another conversation but consumer association should be looking at that

swoofer

yikes they have sent me an email now it says " We’re delighted to welcome you to Home Electric+, the smart meter price plan from Electric Ireland."

And I cant find the email where they said I would get access to data but stay on my discount rate!!

I feel like I have been conned!! Why has that invite thing disappeared??

I had a check on website and it looks as if it shows I have a smart meter but still on discount unless I choose one of those TOU plans.

bobcatboo123

I think the same happened to me last year. I never realised I signed up for a smart plan last year and never knew I wouldn't be able to get backto a standard plan until I tried to switch last week. I was told it made no difference as I was Still on a 24 hour rate but a smart plan.i actually can't figure out what plan is best as most of the switcher sites won't include smart plans in their comparison

swoofer

If you go to bonkers.ie and on the first page it gives you the option standard or smart before you get breakdown. The bit that you are on standard rate is encouraging. I will ring them today. It would not surprise me if it was only electric ireland can tell its a smart meter.

Sarn

I think the issue is that if you ‘activate’ your smart meter to get detailed usage, as mentioned above, you can no longer avail of non-smart meter plans. Even if you have not switched to a smart meter plan. This is something that should be made clear when opting in to get detailed usage.

jogdish

Got my smart metre end of August, when I log into electric ireland and click 'itemization' I just get the spinning plug icon and nothing, am I missing something will it ever work?

Frank Grimes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119831544#Comment_119831544

I've seen this in a few threads here, I have a smart meter and I get those usage stats but I'm not on a smart meter pricing plan.

Sarn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842929#Comment_119842929

Have you tried switching to a non-smart meter plan with another electricity provider? There appears to be those that can’t once they get detailed use data from their smart meter.

schmoo2k

I have a Smart Meter on a standard plan and went to avail of an offer Eletric Ireland have on bonkers.ie for existing customers:

"EnergySaver 10% (Existing Customer) - 10% electricity discount", with unit rate of: 38.95.

But it got rejected because I have a "smart meter" and its not a smart plan - can they do that? Very annoying as all their smart offerings work out more expensive?

swoofer

i just checked for you and when you select smart meter you get same discount. i just said standard for usage. have another go

https://www.bonkers.ie/compare-gas-electricity-prices/your-results/

brokenbad

The campaign to educate people on Smart Meters and the different tariffs was misleading to say the least....

I had a SMART Meter installed back in Nov 22 and logged into my EI account and unknowingly "activated" the Meter.

A few days later i'm getting an email from EI saying "We’re delighted to welcome you to Home Electric+, the smart meter price plan from Electric Ireland"

At the time of the Meter install i was 1 month away from finishing up my contract with EI and was considering shopping around for a better deal.

The Electric+ Plan basically charges the same rate 24 hrs a day, so running high energy users outside the 5pm-7pm peak window makes no difference - the only benefit we are told is that you can view your usage patterns over a 24 hr period and then make a decision to opt into a different plan like "time of use" or "weekender" plans.

I feel as i have been duped into signing up to a plan without being fully informed - i have emailed EI to say that i had changed my mind within the 14 day cooling off period and that the plan is void in my mind.......i am still waiting on a response after 3 weeks.

kabakuyu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120183967#Comment_120183967

I am waiting 6 months for a refund.I suggest getting on to the regulator.

https://www.cru.ie/

gijoees

Hi,

I have a rented property that has been vacant for 2 years now due to Covid. I changed from the previous supplier (Panda) to Electric Ireland back into my name approx. 6 months ago. Anyway, I have not received a bill or a notice since changing to Electric Ireland and I went to go into my premises this morning and Electric Ireland removed the meter out of the wall this morning without any prior notice. I am a bit baffled about how this happened considering they have not tried to get in contact with me or send a letter to the premises. I am worried now that they will try and charge me a connection fee which I believe to be in the region of €5k.

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

pat_sconce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120951809#Comment_120951809

Electric Ireland can't do that. It would be esb networks.

Did you not think it was unusual not to get a bill for 6months+?

Usually after signing up to a supplier you also get a confirmation email or letter.

gijoees

I di

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120954500#Comment_120954500

I did but considering it was vacant I naively just thought it was very low and was waiting on a bill.

pat_sconce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120955403#Comment_120955403

The good news is reconnection fees are no longer in the thousands. It changed about 3 years ago.

Most likely you will need an electrician to check all the wiring and certify it is to standard. Then it can take 4-6weeks for ESB networks to reconnect. In some areas it is 2-3 weeks.

I can't remember the exact fee when I had it done in 2020 on a property I purchased, but I know it was fairly small and less than €100. Supply had been disconnected 4 years at that point.

Details are here

https://www.esbnetworks.ie/new-connections/reconnecting-supply

whiterebel

EI provide a good outcome.....Herself was delving into the account with EI. They said we were out of contract since last November, and that they were giving us 8.5% discount. I looked back through my email, and found one from 4/11/2022 which welcomed us to EI at 26% discount dual fuel!!! They refused to accept that, despite forwarding the mail to them. Start the process with the Regulator and lo and behold I got a call yesterday from CS - Invoices recalculated to the correct amounts, using the 26% discount from 4th December 2022 for 1 year! Result! Also giving a €40 credit because they are 4 days out, and we got a €40 cheque last week, because they didn't fulfil their own charter.

The guy in CS did say that a few of these emails had been sent out, BTW.

Ompl

I purchased a house in June, I just received a bill which is mostly made up of standing charges for a 6 month period, prior to me purchasing the property!

is this correct? Or should I only pay standing charges for the period I own the property and entered contract with Electric Ireland.

Gooser14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529846#Comment_121529846

I would have thought you would be responsibe for charges from the date you signed up with EI which I assume you done post purchase of the house.

Ompl

Correct, signed up post purchase.

Spoke on the phone today with customer support, they said a notice to disconnect electricity was issued in November 2021 (7months prio to my date of purchase), but due to covid disruptions it wasn’t actually disconnected until June 2022, I purchased in June 2022 and contacted EI for a connection and paid €78 re-connection fee. i then rented out the property in August and the new tenants put the bill in their name, so EI charged an additional €50 exit fee. Then this month I received a bill for €241 which is made up of standing charges from November 21 - August 22. I feel I should only be responsible for June 22 to August 22.

EI said there was a technical glitch on their side and the invoice was only processed this month, over a year late .. a nice sting just before Xmas!! Even more so when I don’t believe I should be charged the extra months that I did not own the property or have any control of the contract!

Gooser14

I would getting on to the regulator about this. It's not your fault that they didn't complete the disconnection due to Covid. Surely if they charged a re-connection fee of €78 in June it must have been disconnected.

GIMP

The regulator is useless, contact the solicitor you used during the purchase and get them to draft a letter setting out the dates etc that you purchased the property. And bills out standing are the responsibilities of the previous owner and the utility company to sort out!

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956327#Comment_120956327

Just as a follow up to this.

They applied 26% discount to the electric, nothing to gas. Went back to them again, showing the emails from CS that agreed we were on dual fuel and that the discount applied to both. EI refused to budge. They said the case was closed despite them agreeing 26% discount on dual fuel and only applying it to the electric. They flat out lied, telling us that the discount was given, despite it being obvious that it hadn't.

Got on to the Regulator and within about 3 weeks EI offered to do what they should have done in the first place. Credit in full for 12 m months of 26% discount. On the day I get the email from EI, along comes another email welcoming us to EI again (?? Never signed up), and giving us 26% again for 12 months on dual fuel. We'll be watching every bill now as it comes in.