Electricity supplier

Redgirl82 · 12-09-2020 10:16am

darrenheaphy wrote: »

Yeah, totally understand it’s my own bad, just annoying. Bit of a pointless post on my part but wanted to rant ðŸ˜€

Our meter is in the house in what was the old garage, 9 times out of 10 we miss the guy but I always submit. I heard horror stories of people not realising and suddenly hit with gigantic bills

On my current level pay I actually keep it above so I have a mini reserve

graememk · 12-09-2020 11:50am

When switching, make the effort to pull up the last year's bills and get your useage.

It will give you a far more accurate comparison (you will also know how close to the " average" you are.

Eg engeria have the cheapest rates but also the most expensive day standing charge.

So if you need to take everything into account.

the_amazing_raisin · 14-09-2020 10:18am

graememk wrote: »

When switching, make the effort to pull up the last year's bills and get your useage.

It will give you a far more accurate comparison (you will also know how close to the " average" you are.

Eg engeria have the cheapest rates but also the most expensive day standing charge.

So if you need to take everything into account.

Absolutely agree, I'm actually in a high usage house with the EV and heat pump (no gass at all) so my annual usage is around 8000 kWh whereas the national average is closer to 3500 kWh as far as I know

Redgirl82 · 14-09-2020 10:31am

SO Energia have offered a free Google Home if I stay with them and discounted rate. If I have the time I will call and see what the discounted rate is but whats the bets it isnt as cheap as the new offer

JohnC. · 15-09-2020 6:48pm

What's the current VAT? Was it affected with the recent VAT change?

KCross · 15-09-2020 6:49pm

JohnC. wrote: »

What's the current VAT? Was it affected with the recent VAT change?

Electricity is at 13.5%.
I believe it was only the top rate of VAT was changed from 23% to 21% so electricity is unchanged.

JohnC. · 15-09-2020 7:13pm

That's what I thought but wasn't sure.

NIMAN · 17-09-2020 1:40am

Why is there such a big difference in standing charges between suppliers?

My cheapest option said to move to a crowd called Bright Future, never heard of them. But their SC is €118.

Energia would be the cheapest electricity rates but their SC is €288!

KCross · 17-09-2020 6:57am

NIMAN wrote: »

Why is there such a big difference in standing charges between suppliers?

To confuse you!

Gael23 · 03-10-2020 9:06pm

How do you go about getting a night rate meter?

liamog · 03-10-2020 9:18pm

Gael23 wrote: »

How do you go about getting a night rate meter?

Phone your current supplier and ask them to switch you over, they'll book in an ESB Networks engineer to make the switch.

Black_Knight · 03-10-2020 9:22pm

liamog wrote: »

Phone your current supplier and ask them to switch you over, they'll book in an ESB Networks engineer to make the switch.

And it's free (unless you're flip flopping between night rate and 24hr rate)

the_amazing_raisin · 03-10-2020 10:09pm

Black_Knight wrote: »

And it's free (unless you're flip flopping between night rate and 24hr rate)

Apparently the deal is you get 1 free changeover during the life of the house. I presume that gets reset when the name on the contract changes.

Basically as long as no one changed to a 24 hour meter recently then it should be free

graememk · 03-10-2020 10:23pm

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Apparently the deal is you get 1 free changeover during the life of the house. I presume that gets reset when the name on the contract changes.

Basically as long as no one changed to a 24 hour meter recently then it should be free

Once you have the digital meter it's a matter of a box ticking exercise on what reading to read on the meter.

If you already have a digital one it might be a painless switch

Gael23 · 04-10-2020 6:51am

Is there much between SSE Airtricity and Energia? Have always known their standing charge to be high

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2020 7:14am

graememk wrote: »

Once you have the digital meter it's a matter of a box ticking exercise on what reading to read on the meter.

If you already have a digital one it might be a painless switch

I've a digital meter and it was far from painless trying to explain to ESB customer services that they didn't need to install any new hardware

You'd think since they installed the thing they'd have it marked on the system somehow

The funny part is when the engineer came around, he told me it's just a paperwork exercise and the only thing he did was write instructions on how to take night readings on the meter.

I told him about the troubles I'd been having and he rolled his eyes, said he had no idea what customer service was on

AndyBoBandy · 04-10-2020 7:19am

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

graememk · 04-10-2020 7:39am

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

That's the thing, they don't, they just read day night numbers for a final day night bill and then they make a note to read the 24 hr total

04-10-2020 10:49am

You have the legal right to refuse a smart meter if you don't want/need it.

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2020 2:57pm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

The standing charge is lower on a 24 hour meter right?

A lot of people still have the old spinny dial meters, you need a second meter for the night meter in that case.

The newer ones just give you everything, they're a major improvement over the old ones

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2020 2:58pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You have the legal right to refuse a smart meter if you don't want/need it.

Okay...worried the ESB will be spying on you?

KCross · 04-10-2020 3:09pm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What I don’t get is why you’d need to revert back to a 24 hour meter if you decided you didn’t want day/night rate anymore....

I had a day/night meter installed back in February, and one of the readings it gives is ‘Total usage’, and then you see day usage then night usage...

So why would they need to swap it back to a standard meter if it already gives the same information as a standard meter (total usage).

If you switch back they dont come back out to swap out the meter. Its just a change in your account to read that total figure and not break it out between day/night.

cruisey1987 wrote: »

The standing charge is lower on a 24 hour meter right?

Yes, ~€45 per year.

cruisey1987 wrote: »

A lot of people still have the old spinny dial meters, you need a second meter for the night meter in that case.

Just to clarify, you need a new meter, not a second one, in that case.

NIMAN · 08-10-2020 7:48pm

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

KCross · 08-10-2020 8:06pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

Energia are cheaper but BE energy are next in line price wise. Standing charge is slightly higher.

NIMAN · 09-10-2020 11:16am

The cheapest on Bonkers.ie is actually being listed as Bright Future. Never heard of them.
Their standing charge is €118.91 !!

the_amazing_raisin · 09-10-2020 1:49pm

NIMAN wrote: »

The cheapest on Bonkers.ie is actually being listed as Bright Future. Never heard of them.
Their standing charge is €118.91 !!

I think they only started up last year, pretty small company from what I can tell.

I haven't dealt with them myself, but the one thing I'll say about using bonkers is that you need a pretty accurate picture of your consumption, especially if you own an EV or PHEV.

The average house uses 3500kWh per year, but a house with a heat pump and EV with average mileage will be more like 8000kWh per year.

For me, Energia are cheapest because they've the lowest rates even though their standing charge is high

eagerv · 09-10-2020 2:04pm

Yes Energia worked out cheaper for us too.
Did our calculations last March when we just had the Ioniq, now with a second EV it should make even more sense. And we were done at 7.4C/unit night rate.:)

Have only charged the ID.3 once so far at home for 3 hours with 1200km driven so far, usually drop into Ionity when passing to knock the cobwebs off the nozzles! (Seriously though, have yet to meet another car at Ionity, though usually one car charging at the green yokes..)

Kramer · 09-10-2020 8:26pm

eagerv wrote: »

Seriously though, have yet to meet another car at Ionity, though usually one car charging at the green yokes..

Not unexpected given Ionity is 64c to 79c/kWh for everyone else :eek:.
I bet you'd think twice about filling up there if it cost you €47 a go!

jprboy · 10-10-2020 12:00am

NIMAN wrote: »

Anyone any experience of BE Energy?

Had a sales rep call to the door to try the hard sell.

Their rates look very cheap but have to check to see what the catch is.

Went with them last November as they were the cheapest at the time.

They quote a Lifford address in correspondence - you should support local

Can't see that there's any catch.

Will be shopping around for the cheapest competitor over the next few weeks.

the_amazing_raisin · 11-10-2020 3:34pm

jprboy wrote: »

They quote a Lifford address in correspondence - you should support local

On a totally unrelated topic, that actually brings up a good question about business addresses. Since a lot of offices are closed down and employees are working from home, does it make sense for businesses to have an address?

daheff · 11-10-2020 3:42pm

Have to ask how energy companies can justify different standing charges ? Surely that should be set by regulator (& for their pocket)??

KCross · 11-10-2020 4:03pm

daheff wrote: »

Have to ask how energy companies can justify different standing charges ? Surely that should be set by regulator (& for their pocket)??

It’s to obfuscate the real costs to the home owner in the same way that one company can advertise a 33% discount but still be more expensive than a company offering 25% discount.

NIMAN · 11-10-2020 6:31pm

Just seen an SSE Airtricity advert and they say they are 100% green energy.

Is that actually true? Is it even possible?

graememk · 11-10-2020 7:37pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Just seen an SSE Airtricity advert and they say they are 100% green energy.

Is that actually true? Is it even possible?

So does a few other companies too

The grid is like a big bucket with holes in it and the power plants + renewable generation keep it at a ideal level,(frequency, voltage)

Customers use the electricity and the electricity companies buy it from the producers, if the company only buys electricity marked as green or renewable they can say that they are 100% renewable

JPA · 11-10-2020 8:01pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Just seen an SSE Airtricity advert and they say they are 100% green energy.

Is that actually true? Is it even possible?

They have been from the start. The clue is in their name. Energia is now as well and others.

the_amazing_raisin · 11-10-2020 8:06pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Just seen an SSE Airtricity advert and they say they are 100% green energy.

Is that actually true? Is it even possible?

Sort of... but it doesn't mean your house is getting electricity from renewable sources

The truth is how you pay for electricity is a bit of an abstraction from the true market. In reality the price is constantly fluctuating, so your supplier is basically trying to average out the prices over a year.

As far as I can tell, your supplier buys electricity from a generator at an agreed price, based on what the wholesale rate of electricity is at that time.

Your supplier can choose to only buy power from renewable sources, so they're technically only supplying renewable energy to the grid.

Where it gets tricky is that renewables are typically called non-dispatchable power, which means you can't order them to produce electricity on demand. It's often been the argument against renewables that they produce energy at times when demand is low. This argument is mostly BS, but there's a small grain of truth in it.

Typically peak demand is met by gas power plants, which are very inefficient when used in this manner. Thankfully there's more battery storage coming online.

So basically, even though you might be buying electricity from wind and solar farms, there's no way for your supplier to 'route' that electricity to your house. Once electricity is on the grid, it's all the same, it's largely just meeting electricity demand.

You are however supporting the development of renewable energy by using one of these suppliers, so that's a plus

NIMAN · 11-10-2020 8:19pm

So bottom line is you're likely NOT to be getting 100% renewable energy despite their marketing spiel?

the_amazing_raisin · 11-10-2020 8:51pm

NIMAN wrote: »

So bottom line is you're likely NOT to be getting 100% renewable energy despite their marketing spiel?

Bottom line is that electricity is electricity, once it's on the grid it's all the same.

The difference is how your money is being spent, whether it's being paid to a wind farm or to a gas power plant.

So it's not total garbage, you're supporting renewables, even if the electricity to your house isn't coming directly from them

3d4life · 11-10-2020 9:11pm

Dont overlook https://www.dugganbrothers.ie/project/energy-storage-units-lumcloon-shannonbridge/ . More of less Turlough Hill using batteries

richie123 · 17-10-2020 2:05pm

3d4life wrote: »

Dont overlook https://www.dugganbrothers.ie/project/energy-storage-units-lumcloon-shannonbridge/ . More of less Turlough Hill using batteries

How many millions is that plant in lumcloon costing? Why is another turlough hill type system not employed? It would last 50 60 plus years where as this battery type way of storing power will have 25 year max lifespan.
Can anyone explain please.

the_amazing_raisin · 17-10-2020 2:40pm

richie123 wrote: »

How many millions is that plant in lumcloon costing? Why is another turlough hill type system not employed? It would last 50 60 plus years where as this battery type way of storing power will have 25 year max lifespan.
Can anyone explain please.

Because with another pumped hydro (which I'm in favour of) you'd flood some chaps field and the public wouldn't stand for that type of thing.

Again, I'm in favour of pumped hydro, I think they should still tunnels vertically through the Wicklow mountains and pump in water from poulaphouca reservoir when there's excess wind or solar power

Batteries are probably better for short term peak power because their response time is very fast. Pumped hydro for long term peak power because it's cheapest

TitianGerm · 18-10-2020 1:45pm

I'm looking at switching providers now that the ID3 is arriving.

At the moment I'm with Electric Ireland on their Value Reward Tariff. At the moment we average around €150 per bill. We have a digital meter which I think can do two daya nd night rates but I'm not 100% sure.

Our unit rate excluding vat is 16.93c, the standing charge is 53.26 per day and we get 5.5% discount.

Is there a comparison tool that will let me compare my daily rate with a dual rate?

18-10-2020 1:49pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

I'm looking at switching providers now that the ID3 is arriving.

At the moment I'm with Electric Ireland on their Value Reward Tariff. At the moment we average around €150 per bill. We have a digital meter which I think can do two daya nd night rates but I'm not 100% sure.

Our unit rate excluding vat is 16.93c, the standing charge is 53.26 per day and we get 5.5% discount.

Is there a comparison tool that will let me compare my daily rate with a dual rate?

Energia are the cheapest.

Sheep Shagger · 18-10-2020 1:51pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Energia are the cheapest.

Bit of a sweeping statement....

Enter your current supplier/deal and usage at www.bonkers.ie

TitianGerm · 18-10-2020 1:52pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Energia are the cheapest.

I've been meaning to switch for years but kept putting it off. May have a proper look later. Do you know what the name of the energia tariff is?

TitianGerm · 18-10-2020 1:55pm

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Bit of a sweeping statement....

Enter your current supplier/deal and usage at www.bonkers.ie

I had a look but I couldn't see how to compare a daily rate to a day/night rate.

Sheep Shagger · 18-10-2020 1:58pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

I had a look but I couldn't see how to compare a daily rate to a day/night rate.

You'll need to do two quotes as one tariff probably won't be cheapest for both scenarios.

If looking at night rate consider how much you will be working from home (dearer unit price), for us it wasn't worth switching to a night rate setup.

Moved from an ultra cheap electric ireland plan that is no longer available to Flogas. About €400 (incl €250 cash back) better off for the next year compared to the roll off EI rate).

18-10-2020 2:04pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

I've been meaning to switch for years but kept putting it off. May have a proper look later. Do you know what the name of the energia tariff is?

It's in there if you know where to look but their rates are this, inc VAT

14.22c/kWh Day
6.83c/kWh Night

TitianGerm · 18-10-2020 2:06pm

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

You'll need to do two quotes as one tariff probably won't be cheapest for both scenarios.

If looking at night rate consider how much you will be working from home (dearer unit price), for us it wasn't worth switching to a night rate setup.

Moved from an ultra cheap electric ireland plan that is no longer available to Flogas. About €400 (incl €250 cash back) better off for the next year compared to the roll off EI rate).

When I looked at Bonkers the energia day rate shown was 1-2c cheaper than our current daily rate. Night rate was 6-7c.

KCross · 18-10-2020 2:09pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

I'm looking at switching providers now that the ID3 is arriving.

At the moment I'm with Electric Ireland on their Value Reward Tariff. At the moment we average around €150 per bill. We have a digital meter which I think can do two daya nd night rates but I'm not 100% sure.

Our unit rate excluding vat is 16.93c, the standing charge is 53.26 per day and we get 5.5% discount.

Is there a comparison tool that will let me compare my daily rate with a dual rate?

You need to be shooting for 14c/7c inc vat inc discounts for day/night.

Electricity supplier

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