Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

Could you string them out for a few months? Not enter a new contract but continue with them?

That's the plan but lose the 15% discount 1 year offer after mid December unless I switch or enter a new 1 year contract with Energia. Not the end of the world, just means paying more for electricity at an already peak usage time of year. I might ring them and see if I do go for another 1 year contract acan I bring it with me to the new house

Just checking now with energypal.ie as I have a months data to see did I pick the right plan. Using my prvious 12months consumptions data it said that Energia would have been the cheapest but I know I could shift my load profile easily into the cheap 6.33cent Bord Gais rate and it would make them the cheapest anyway after a month it confirms that Bord Gais would be the best for me phew!! these number dont take in my FIT as BG do that every 6months!

Current prediction from Energypal using 1 months data…

Previous energypal.ie estimation using my previous 12 months data, showing energia the best.

Was having a look on ESB and noticed a meter reading saying MCC change for when I renewed with Energia. I was previously on the smart dual fuel plan and just signed up for the same, previous was MCC002. Not sure what the new MCC is now but there was zero indication of any change, just a confirmation that I was signing up to a. smart plan and can't go back, but I was already on a smart D/N plan for solar so as far as I understand it made no difference to me.

I understand people renewing on the phone were told they can't stay on a D/N plan but this is where the confusion lies. As far as I know smart D/N meters can't have time of use smart plans (peak rates). So I'm not sure what the difference is or why it matters if I'm on a standard smart D/N plan?

I don't really care what MCC I'm on once it doesn't effect me being on standard D/N plans. Time of use plans are no use to me.

Yeah I have a heat pump all electric house and those numbers you have shown there are very impressive…I do need a battery and thats the plan hopfully next year. Big outlay required even if I go down the DIY battery route, I would need a 30 kWh at least. I have the 16 kVA connection so that will help a lot in filling that thing 😎

To simplify it a bit for you Bord Gais EV tariff is very competitive. Pinergy and Energia also have competitive EV tariffs but their rates are higher out with the EV window.

https://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/home/our-plans/a0pSh0000009TkNIAU?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAlsy5BhDeARIsABRc6ZvO1wnbOhONDfD_e95Ph7AML5VW2wynK0Zo6w_RnbiZI1VCzOAasF8aArAiEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

The BG tariff works out around 21 cents per kWh on average outside the EV rate. I have a similar tariff with Flogas minus the EV rate. I discount the peak rate as it has little effect on the calculation.

I too have solar (without battery). I sell all the excess to the grid and with the credit received offset power when the sun is not shining. Don't bother with a battery for now, it won't pay for itself with FIT rates the way they are.

A quick question about usage limits.
How much power can a domestic system (16KvA) pull simultaneously?
With a three hour window from 2am to 5am

is it possible to charge an EV at 7 kwh,

charge a solar battery at 5 kwh,

boost the hot water (Hitachi A2W 2 kwh?) or have heating come on

run a dishwasher/tumble dryer/washing machine

with background usage of 0.2 to 0.3 kwh.

ESB Networks says this
Maximum Import Capacity (MIC) is the maximum electricity demand level that can be catered for by your connection to our network. MIC is stated in kilovolt-amps but this value is, in most cases, similar to the number of kilowatts that may be catered for by the connection.

16kva is not the standard domestic connection, 12kva is.

Assuming you have 16kva that will have a 100A networks fuse and typically an 80A consumer fuse but that can vary depending on your install. 80A*240V is 19kW so if you're drawing 15-17kW max that will allow for fluctuation in grid voltage.

7kW for your car charger can be 8kW+ gross
5kW into the battery
2kW hot water (this would typically be 3kW)
2kW dryer
2kW for washing machine and dishwasher (allow if both pull a heat cycle at the same time, their use can vary from a few watts to 2kW)
200w-500w base load

This would put you at 18.5kW draw. Close to the max IMO but easily managed by staging the battery and hot water and dryer to not be on at the exact same time.

Energia have the only 4 hour low rate at night on the market, 2am to 6am, its a little higher priced than BG or Pinergy, at 7.54 inc vat, and if you pull more than a thousand units per bi monthly billing period, it increases slight for the excess to 8.67 inc vat.

However the longer 4 hour window, adds some additional flexibility, and longer EV charging, Energia also has a lower standing charge of €236 per annum inc vat, and a much higher export rate of 24 cent, BG is only 18.50 cent for export(recently reduced)BG credit the export every 6 months, Energia do it on every bi monthly bill.

If you are a high exporter, i’l be around 5,000 units exported this year, the Energia higher export rate of 5.50 cent more, than BG, more than makes up for their higher night rate.

Great idea

I went with a SwitchBot for turning on the immersion - went with it as the easiest option to fit and able to keep the sink/bath option also

for your use - https://kilowatt.ie/service/price-comparison is probably better - it allows you to upload your HDF and then also add solar + battery and use that additional production / load-shift to suggest a better tariff.

Yep at 2-5am all hell breaks loose in my house …I have a HP as well so I jam in a load of kWhs there as well

Just checked with Energypal again with my new consumption profile and BG are the best still…but you have to be using the EV tariff as much as possible to get the best out of it.

So after a year charging our Kona64 on Energia 2-6 EV rate, I plugged our ESB meter data in to Energypal…

• We would have been €90 better off on Energia Day/Night rate (27c day/13.2c night)

The main reason was being unable to stick rigidly to the 2-6 window.

I broke down the raw data from Zappi for hours of usage, which showed that 15% of our car charging was outside the 2-6 rate, but this made up 45% of the cost (34c vs 7.5c). Total charging was approx 5200kWh (about 35,000km driving done only charged a few times on the road). Quite a few occasions my OH had consecutive long days on the road and needed to charge fully for the next day. Not to mention the one time my SIL plugged in her EQE and sucked 60kWh on day rate!

We exported 4200kWh solar at 24c which softens the blow - will consider batteries if FIT drops drastically.

Still only cost €610 for 35k km motoring, which would have been a good 2000l diesel in the Sportage so around €3400.

I've signed up to the Day/Night tariff, at least we'll have no worries about managing the charging window. Worst case our charging costs go up to €700 if we do similar mileage, and our day rate for everything else is 6c less.