Electricity supplier

eagerv wrote: »

I am not at home at the moment but I thought our Energia prices were about 15.5/7.4 incl VAT.


We changed to them sometime in March/April

I don't think so, their rates are a good bit higher than that without haggling.

Perhaps you got lucky but check your bill and check that rates after VAT, that's what I'm getting above inc VAT.

Yep I see it and I called them up and they won't put me on that cheap rate because it's for new customers only so I told them to cancel my last update to the account which would put me on another years contract and I'll get the missus to sign up as a new customer.

I said to them this is unfair to treat existing customers like this. So I will cancel and get herself to set up new AC haha.

Will be a decent saving to us because of the face we use so much electricity and even more so now I no longer have free work charging.

eagerv wrote: »

Also bear in mind there may be a limit of useage before you go into a slightly higher rate. Bonkers will work that out for you.
Ours was worked out at I think 3000 kWh night rate which may not be sufficient when we get our second EV. I also notice a lot more stuff working in our house now at night rate.

Mine probably won't go over 3000 Kwh at night, even if I did it resets the next month so it wouldn't be that big a deal.

According to the bill from my own meter readings I used 1,127 night Kwh and 502 day from 1st May to 2nd July.

Next bill well see a full 2 months of driving on my own electricity so I expect this to be a good bit higher around 1500 maybe on night.

eagerv wrote: »

I'm talking of per year..

Sorry I’m lost, are you saying the limit is 3000 per bill or year on night rate ?

KCross wrote: »

Not that hard to hit 2000kWh in 2 months on night rate (30kWh per day) if you have an EV, a heat pump and you run appliances on night rate.

I regularly go over the 2000kWh limit.

I was forgetting that I'm only in the new job since end of May and changed energia to her name so I will monitor it more int he coming months now that I no longer have free work charging or any kind of work charging.

The smart meters will could mean higher energy bills because what they will do is charge more when there is less green energy on the grid to encourage more usage of green energy and charge less when there is more green energy on the grid, it's as simple as that, they can dress it up any way they want.

So in other words, the current Day/Night tariff we have will be gone, for those who accept a smart meter, remember there is absolutely no advantage to anyone having this and you have the right to refuse as I will be doing when they try get me to install it, so say now it doesn't matter whether there is green energy on the grid or not, at night my tariff is around 6.4 C/Kwh but what will happen is that they will charge me more at night when it's usually less windy and less green energy on the grid, and that will go the other way too during the day if there's more green energy on the grid the cost should be lower.

So I can see the current system of Day/Night being abolished but remember, you have the absolute right to refuse a smart meter.

KCross wrote: »

It could mean higher energy bills. It could also mean lower energy bills. The idea is that it can change your behaviour. If you dont adapt with it it probably will mean higher bills.

My understanding is that there will be 3 tariffs instead of todays 2. At least that was the proposal from the CRU. That might have changed since i read that.

What is unlikely to happen though is where they keep changing the price on a daily basis based on amount of wind blowing etc. I dont think the CRU will allow that as it would cause distress to the poor who could not manage their bills in that way and it would go against the idea of changing peoples behaviour since you would have to be constantly monitoring the grid to figure that out.

Ultimately what they want/need to do is, to borrow a Covid term, flatten the curve.... so that the grid doesnt have to have massive spikes once or twice a day.

No they won't change the price on a daily basis but I can definitely see a move to where it's cheaper for the consumer when there is more green energy compared to when there is much less, so that will mean it could mean that the current night rate is removed and replaced with the system where Day/Night is cheaper only when there is more green energy on the grid.

What that could encourage though is the use of electric heating during the day time, make it cheaper if the wind is blowing, I would love to get away from oil heating and big ugly rads and replace them with electric heating which is easy controllable via a simple room stat vs a big central system be it heat pump or not, I know the Heat Pump would be more efficient but the cost of installation is huge but they are getting better now and can even replace an oil boiler directly as they can heat water up to 65 Deg C now I believe which is a massive improvement and meaning floors don't have to be dug up etc.

The only real issue in your typical Irish heating system is lack of proper heating control, still the switch to HP and a system where you can run it cheaper with green energy would be good, the option to export your own solar PV or wind would also be a real welcome in Ireland where you can export all your excess in the warmer months and buy it back in the colder months when you need it.