Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

I'm getting a bit tired of everyone online just presuming everyone is poor.

Going off topic here...

When someone has a €400 electricity bill in the Summer, even though my own bill is only €80-100 with an EV, people online say "the country can't take much more of this". Well maybe the country should cut consumption instead of using €600 credit to carry on with their typical consumption...

I've also seen far too many people complaining about €300-400 electric bills. What, people didn't shop around? People are really cutting consumption and turning down the brightness on their TV? It's hardly everyone else's fault the average person in this country is bad with money and bills.

Now that petrol/diesel is back up to €1.89/L people are complaining they can't take much more of this. Of what? I was paying a similar amount of petrol before the Ukraine war. Remember when petrol was almost €2.10 last year and people stopped driving because they needed to save money and their coffee run wasn't essential? Nobody wants to be held accountable for their own spending.

There's a good chance those with EVs are in a good financial position.

Let's go further off topic... 😜

I certainly have an issue with anyone here who has bought a new EV, probably costing €40k or more, suddenly claiming to be "poor"

We've all been affected to some degree by inflation, but there's a difference between having less disposable income than 2 years ago and being in poverty

I do however agree with the supports that the Irish government has been providing. The population has been affected by significant external events beyond their control over the last few years, and I think the government was correct to try and shield the most at risk sections if the population

It isn't like we all suddenly tripled our electricity or fuel consumption, the prices are being driven by artificial supply constraints

I don't think the energy credits were the best way to do it, but hindsight is 20-20 and in the context that a more surgical process would have dragged on for too long and caused more people to fall into arrears, then the decision made sense

I definitely agree it's very frustrating when people refuse to shop around for different energy suppliers and then complain about their bills. It isn't like this is a new thing, suppliers have been doing the same thing for 20 or more years

It's like people insisting on shopping in Dunnes or Super Value and buying the branded products which cost 3 times as much when the supermarket own brand is just as good. Why pay more when you aren't getting a noticeable difference in quality?

What you mean put all those consulting firms out of business? Whatever would they do? 😂

To be clear, I'm not making light of the genuine challenges faced by a lot of people in this country who are effectively being shut out of society because they can't afford the price of admission

But...it really irks me when owners of expensive EVs come here moaning about electricity prices under the guise that they're defending the less fortunate in society

Just be honest about what it is, your cheap to run motor isn't as cheap to run anymore. It's okay to be annoyed at that fact, it's frustrating when you have to pay more for the same thing.

It's particularly annoying when it's because the critical inputs got more expensive and not, for example, because ESBN started paying their workers more to combat the cost of living increases

And to be fair to @CoBo55 requiring customers to pay almost €1000 up front because of "billing issues" is dumb

Again, just be honest and call it what it is, it's a deposit to insure against customers going into arrears. Don't try to obfuscate it and treat customers like idiots

Personally I'm glad others found out about it before me. If it works for them, all well and good, but for me the plan doesn't seem worthwhile

In other news, I really need another coffee. Sleep and caffeine deprivation are making me grouchy 😂

That's interesting, I must admit I've had a totally different experience with all the suppliers I've been with (Energia, BG and Flogas).

It was just a case of calling up, asking to adjust the level pay and that was that

BG I remember were a bit more reluctant, but that was more the rep saying that if I underestimated it then I'd be paying for the excess when the bill came out

Edit: Probably worth mentioning I don't have a smart meter yet, perhaps having more updated data makes the supplier reluctant to change the monthly payment, although you'd think the opposite would be true in that case