ESB is that it?

dts

Just moved to Ireland
Is there another electricity provider in Ireland or do you just have to pay what ESB set there prices at?

blahblah06

just esb

dts

How can that be fair? Who regulates there charges? It seems very expencive compard to what we used to pay in the UK.

dts

Found this on Oaisis.ie

Deregulation of the electricity market in Ireland
In February 2000, as a result of EU directive 96/92/EC, the electricity market in the Republic of Ireland was opened to competition. Larger customers using 4 gigawatt hours or more of power per year are now free to choose their own electricity supplier. The market will be fully open to competition from 2005.

In July 2003, the Commission for Energy Regulation agreed the measures needed to separate ESB Networks from other businesses of ESB. The implementation of this comprehensive business separation programme is now in progress.

Business separation will lead to some changes in the way customers deal with the different businesses of ESB. For example, customers' contact with ESB Networks will be carried out mainly through its Contact Centre rather than in local ESB shops and separate telephone contact numbers and an ESB Networks website have already been established to facilitate this change. If you choose a different electricity supplier to the ESB, you will need to apply to ESB Networks for connection to the electricity system and separately to the electricity supplier of your choice for a supply agreement.

ESB Networks builds, owns and maintains the electricity network and has responsibility to all electricity customers, irrespective of their supplier, for:

Connection to the network
Reading meters and passing these readings to the different supply companies
Restoring supply in cases of interruptions and emergencies
Facilitating a change of supplier, where a customer requires this
The billing and payment of electricity bills is the responsibility of the supply companies.


What happend?

Tazz T

Welcome to Ireland - land of competition. :rolleyes:

Feel free to join my moan here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054894591

Some seemed to think it wasn't that much cheaper in the UK>

dts

Look at the state of this,

Where's the Electricity competition?


Value Ireland Commentary - First Published February 20th, 2005

It appears to have been a very well-kept secret that on February 19th, 2005, it has become possible for you to choose who you buy your electricity from. On that date, not only will all businesses (irrespective of size) be able to choose their electricity supplier, but all home residential electricity customers will also be able to change their electricity supplier.

Irish residential electricity consumers will no longer be tied to the ESB and their regular price increases, including 4% at the beginning of 2005, quickly on the heals of a 9% increase in September last year.

In the same way that we recently began to choose alternative suppliers for our home telephone calls and benefit from competition in the market once dominated by Eircom, we should soon be able to receive the same benefit of competition in the home residential electricity market.

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) has the responsibility for introducing full competition to the electricity market in Ireland by 2005. The stated objective of the CER is to protect the interests of final customers, and therefore it is with this in mind that the electricity market is now, officially, fully open to competition.

But will we actually have that choice? Will there be any immediate benefit to the Irish residential consumer of this electricity market de-regulation?

The CER website informs consumers that there are 6 active independent electricity suppliers now operating in the Irish market. Add in the ESB, and there is the appearance of quite a choice for the consumer.

Value Ireland, in pursuit of it's aim to help Irish consumers make "better purchasing decisions through better information", contacted each of these 6 independent electricity suppliers to find out what benefits they'll be providing Irish residential electricity consumers from February 19th next. Here is what we found out.

Airtricty - www.airtricity.com
While confirming that at present, Airtricity supplies green electricity to over 35,000 small and medium sized companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, they also informed Value Ireland that they have no immediate plans to enter into the Irish residential electricity market.
Update - April 17th, 2005 - It has been reported that Airtricity are now supplying electricity to domestic consumers. Their prices are exactly the same as the ESB. However, if you want your electricity to be from renewable resources (such as wind energy), then this would be a reason to change to Airtricity. For more, check their website - here.

Direct Independent Energy Limited - www.directindependentenergy.ie
Direct Independent Energy has confirmed to Value Ireland that they will not be entering the domestic electricity market in time for de-regulation. They also do not appear to have any timeframe for they intend to supply residential electricity customers.

Energia - www.energia.ie
Value Ireland has discovered that at present Energia have no plans to enter the domestic market. They did confirm that this may change "in the coming years".

ESB Independent Energy - www.esbie.ie
When contacted by Value Ireland, ESB Independent Energy (a separate entity from the ESB as we know it) confirmed that it does not plan to enter the home electricity market in 2005. The company plans on continuing to focus their attentions on the Industrial/Commercial Sector during this period.

Bord Gais Eireann - www.bordgais.ie
Bord Gais stated that they expected to be in a position to provide a full service to residential customers from next winter onwards. They say that they are finalising their tariff structures for residential customers at the moment.

CH Power - www.chpower.ie
CH Power was the only company contacted by Value Ireland that was even considering offering supply to residential consumers in the February 2005 time frame. They confirmed to Value Ireland that they will be offering % discounts to domestic users and that they "hope that this will come into effect from February 2005".

Not much choice there then. Of 6 possible competitors to the ESB, only one company "hopes" to be supply residential customers with electricity when the market opens in February 2005.

For residential customers therefore, it doesn't appear that the Commission for Energy Regulation has been entirely successful in "introducing full competition to the electricity market in Ireland by 2005". While there is competition evident in the business and commercial sector, it appears that the residential sector has been neglected completely - an evident failure on the part of the CER to introduce competition for the Irish residential consumer.

Despite the fact that there will be only one possible competitor to the ESB in the short-term, on a brighter note, for those that do want to change suppliers, the process appears to be relatively straight forward.

You start by signing a customer agreement with your newly selected supplier, and return this to them with a copy of your most recent electricity bill.

Your new electricity supplier should do the rest for you. They will send your details to the Meter Registration System Operator (MRSO) whose primary role is the provision of a central registration process and for the transfer of the responsibility of supply to you, the customer, from your old supplier to your newly chosen supplier.

The MRSO will inform your new supplier of the start date from which they must begin to supply your electricity - normally this will be from the point of your most recent meter read date.

Then, as a customer of your new supplier you will receive your bills from them depending on their own chosen billing cycle. You'll have nothing more to do with the ESB.

While it is positive to have such an easy process to help you switch suppliers, it is a let-down for the Irish consumer that despite all the possibilities of a de-regulated market, we still don't have much of a choice of suppliers to switch to. For the moment, www.valueireland.com will be updated with each company's offering as and when it is launched.

Tazz T

And, Chpower, the only company in Ireland to offer a service to residential customers (something they don't advertise as it's uneconomic to do so) are more expensive than ESB if you have nightsaver.

Bord Gais never introduced those residential tariffs as promised.

All those price rises by the regulator to encourage competition were wasted. IMO, all regulators in Ireland are a waste of money and generally aggravate the existing situation.

parsi

Tazz T wrote:

All those price rises by the regulator to encourage competition were wasted. IMO, all regulators in Ireland are a waste of money and generally aggravate the existing situation.

That's what pees me off. We have to endure price increases to make the incumbent dearer in the hope that someone else says "hmm- I can do it for 2% less and still make a fine profit" but yet the damn increase is more than the saving so the competitor is cheaper than the incumbent butstill dearere than before the fake increase.

Before deregulation we had free directory enquiries - now in order to have competition we have to pay. And our line rental is skyhigh.

netwhizkid

The ESB should stay a monopoly IMO, They offer an excellent service, and of course like everywhere we have moaners. Most of which are people who would rather buy G- Rated appliances for pittance than buy a good quality a+ appliance that will save money. Then they rant on looking for competition, Competition will raise prices and encourage polluting methods of generation. (Which are cheaper) We should have no competition in this sector and the ESB should stay completely state owned. Electricity is an essential service and should not be allowed to "free-market" interference.

Tazz T

netwhizkid wrote:

The ESB should stay a monopoly IMO, They offer an excellent service, and of course like everywhere we have moaners. Most of which are people who would rather buy G- Rated appliances for pittance than buy a good quality a+ appliance that will save money. Then they rant on looking for competition, Competition will raise prices and encourage polluting methods of generation. (Which are cheaper) We should have no competition in this sector and the ESB should stay completely state owned. Electricity is an essential service and should not be allowed to "free-market" interference.

What has this thread got to do with the ratings of appliances. It's about competition in the electricity market in Ireland, something that the goverment is supposed to be encouraging (after all, that is why there is a regulator), it's also something that the ESB has signed up for - which is why they've been allowed to raise their prices so much.

Can you explain how 1. competition will raise prices and 2. how it will encourage pollution? I was in the UK when the market was opened up and prices almost halved overnight and new entrants are likely to be more environmentally friendly than the incumbent. Airtricity, Ireland's only eco-provider has pulled out of the market because it hasn't been facilitated in providing these services cost-effectively.

Are you going to start 'moaning' that you have cheaper bills and the opportunity to choose to buy your electricity from a choice of suppliers, of which, some will have an infinitely more environmental offering than ESB?