Pinergy Feedback

Ha Long Bay

My Bord Gais contract is expiring in a few weeks and just looking for feedback on Pinergy.

Is this the plan that people are using? I have 10kWh batteries so should be able to cover most usage during the day.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I believe they require large payments for the first few months due to level pay.

SD_DRACULA

Yeah something like 3 x 300ish bills until the calculation is done based on your actual usage and you can then just ask for the ridiculous sum back

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783308#Comment_123783308

Thanks I had read someone mention it before. What is their customer service like?

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783313#Comment_123783313

Like with everyone, can be hit and miss depeneding on who you get but you can look past it since they have the best FIT rates 😁

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783320#Comment_123783320

They seem to only offer a 24 month contract and the standing charge is a bit higher than my current provider I think it should be a runner.

During summer do you still charge at the night rate and dump to the grid before morning? I'm running HA so that will all be fairly easy to automate.

Soarer

Yup, charge a night, dump during the day. I'm still doing that while the weather is decent, but I've a 24kWh battery so always have a bit extra for the time being.

Also, don't forget that Pinergy are still the only supplier that allows you to withdraw your credits in cold hard cash.

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123785901#Comment_123785901

Thanks for the reply. The 3 hour 5.5c rate is plenty of time to charge my batteries and the 25c fit is the icing on the cake as I have a fairly large 7.2kWh of panels.

oaklands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783308#Comment_123783308

When you are signing up….say you are only 1 person in the house with low import of about 1,000kWh per year. I was caught when signing up with a hefty enough calculation. So I assumed they just went off what I said my annual usage / bill / occupancy was.

To be fair I have found their support very responsive and they will refund most credit (small amount left) if you email them when it builds up.

I have my annual bill for the last year down to just over €30/year…plus I have almost no solar to speak of (circa 500kWh generated per year). I have a 15kWh battery with charging during 3 hour EV window.

They credit exports every month in the Bill…but the balance pay is what you are charged every month….so can be a good idea to send off regular refund requests. I think my balance pay is just under 50euros /month now & I usually request a refund when it creeps over 200 balance on my account.

With the overall savings available…the 30 50euro early termination fee should not be a material barrier.

For me Pinergy is hard to beat!

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123785956#Comment_123785956

Thanks for the tip regarding signing up.

AntonP

is close to 300€ for 2 months…(600€ total) then it will go down to under 30€ (it did for me).

you then ring and money will be back in a few days to your IBAN

always 200€ required in the account for “buffer”

is a bit odd compared to other suppliers, but all settles down after 3 months

when you setup the account, ask then there to add a second person right away to clear out the tax man up to 800€ export.

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786068#Comment_123786068

Is billing monthly with Pinergy?

AntonP

Like clockwork

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786173#Comment_123786173

Ah ok all previous providers were always a 2 month billing cycle. Thanks for the info.

AntonP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786195#Comment_123786195

Pinergy is different. The prepay is different and weird.

Go with it !

We all hope it lasts a few more years to get the money back from the panels and batteries investment

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786200#Comment_123786200

Not hearing much negatives so far so that's positive. It's fairly niche and will only suit certain customers but they must be making money fleecing people with payg meters.

kennypowers

Found them to be a disaster to deal with. Had over 500 euro in credits and took me months and hours of phone ,email and every form of social media to eventually get it back. Moved to energia regardless of smaller feed in tariff and no such problems since.

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786238#Comment_123786238

Can I ask how long ago was that?

Soarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786238#Comment_123786238

Well you can't take your credits out from Energia anyway.

kennypowers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786250#Comment_123786250

Moved to energia at start of this year.

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786304#Comment_123786304

Why not, definitely seen posts in other threads of energia customers getting credit back when it builds up due to FIT.

Soarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123787262#Comment_123787262

Maybe you misread? Ring them and ask if you want. That’s what I did before moving to Pinergy.
Can only withdraw from Energia when you close your account.

Ha Long Bay

Just one other question how long does the switch usually take to a new provider? It's a few years since I moved.

Soarer

Think it was about 2 weeks for me, but I'm not sure. It was quicker than I'd hoped though, as I was hoping to have the solar in before the change so I'd not be paying 37c/kWh, but I got caught for a small while.

KingCong

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786304#Comment_123786304

You lose built up credit if you switch? Surely that can't be legal

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123810108#Comment_123810108

You can take it out. I haven't had to do it yet but I know someone who has.

I have got a refund when I left

Soarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123810108#Comment_123810108

That's not what I said. We were talking about taking out credits as you want.

You get all your credits owing to you if you close your account and switch provider. If you are a dual fuel customer, you can't even use credits to pay off the other bill. That's what both Energia and Bord Gais told me over the phone before I joined Pinergy.

Soarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123810193#Comment_123810193

I'm only going by what I've been told by the suppliers themselves. If other people have other information, it needs to be shared.

eclipsechaser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783339#Comment_123783339

They way I see it, they're locked in with me, not me locked in with them.

My bills were minus €500 for the year. I've always been able to get money out of the account and I've found them very easy to deal with on the phone.

Unfortunately they've just announced that they're putting up their rates by 10%. But they're still the best for my situation by a mile.

Illusory

In the US. One month my electricity bill skyrocketed. I called the energy supplier to see what happened. They said they went completely renewable. I said you should of informed me of your decision first and the resulting rate increase. I cancelled them on the spot and went to a mostly carbon based electric supplier who didn't put a majority emphasis on renewables, although they did have some hydroelectric generation in their mix.

jasgrif11

I took credits out of Energia 2 weeks ago, paid straight into my account and yep I’m still with them.

Soarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123810473#Comment_123810473

Fair play. You're the first person that I heard of that did that. Maybe they're changing their business model?