Alternative Energy Suppliers

dahamsta

Sending to every email address I could find worked, now I just have to deal with the €340 bill that they f*cked up.

Sizzler

I have found our bill has dropped significantly since we signed up, bi-monthly bill with ESB c.€80-€90. Same period with Airtricity €60-65 No fundamental changes in usage patterns so thats a damn good saving in my book.

foggy_lad

Colby Stale Creek wrote: »

Just for accuracy: ESB Networks read the meters for all the Supply companies on a tw0-monthly basis. There are some estimates but again they are for the 2 month billing period - not every three months.

the esb do not read meters anywhere near as often as this! most people are lucky to have their reading done once or twice a year so estimates are based on previous years estimated history and is very often way off the mark!

D'Peoples Voice

I.K.Brunel wrote: »

I've heard rumours that Airtricity has just increased its prices for existing customers, but is still offering a discount for new customers. Have any of you switchers got an increase or are you still in receipt of a discount?

No, they just left mine as they were, while reduced it for new-comers. A quick phonecall sorted that out, I was soon on the new-comers rate.

I.K.Brunel wrote:

Are you now going to pay more than the latest ESB price?
If you still have a discount is it against the old or the new ESB price?Thanks.

they would have had me on the same rate as ESB CS I believe, with the new-comers on the same rate as Bord Gais, so definitely worth the phone call.

Personally its a bad way to treat loyal customers, but NTL and SKY do the same!

I.K.Brunel

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

No, they just left mine as they were, while reduced it for new-comers. A quick phonecall sorted that out, I was soon on the new-comers rate.

they would have had me on the same rate as ESB CS I believe, with the new-comers on the same rate as Bord Gais, so definitely worth the phone call.

Personally its a bad way to treat loyal customers, but NTL and SKY do the same!

I was told that existing customers got some form of notice (letter/bill) announcing the latest prices, aparently suggesting it was just passing on upstream networks charges from ESB, but it didn't clearly indicate that prices were going up!

What exactly did you get?

D'Peoples Voice

I.K.Brunel wrote: »

I was told that existing customers got some form of notice (letter/bill) announcing the latest prices, aparently suggesting it was just passing on upstream networks charges from ESB, but it didn't clearly indicate that prices were going up!

What exactly did you get?

I can't remember exactly, the increase was months ago February maybe, most recently, October I think, it was a tiny reduction.
All I know is that when I get either a price increase or decrease, I'm straight onto EBS CS's website to compare, and this time around I could get ESB CS's rate, take off 13% for Bord Gais, and check it against my own, it didn't match, so I rang them and said I'd move, because I would have. But they were extremely obliging (and pragmatic) and changed my tariff to match that of Bord Gais.

AIR-AUSSIE

I have decided to change to Bord Gais. If in the future I wished to return to ESB would I have to pay a reconnection fee or anything?

The_Conductor

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

I have decided to change to Bord Gais. If in the future I wished to return to ESB would I have to pay a reconnection fee or anything?

The ESB are a power supplier- as are Bord Gais. All connections to home customers are via ESB Networks- an entirely different company. There is no connection charge- or reconnection charge if you go back to the ESB- as your connection- which is managed by ESB networks, has not changed.

AIR-AUSSIE

smccarrick wrote: »

The ESB are a power supplier- as are Bord Gais. All connections to home customers are via ESB Networks- an entirely different company. There is no connection charge- or reconnection charge if you go back to the ESB- as your connection- which is managed by ESB networks, has not changed.

Thank you.

So this site is just for people who have been disconnected for not paying their bill or whatever and need to be reconnected? Reconnections & new connections

The_Conductor

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Thank you.

So this site is just for people who have been disconnected for not paying their bill or whatever and need to be reconnected? Reconnections & new connections

Correct.
Or- purchasers of new dwellings, which have not previously had an electricity connection.

Fnergg

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

I have decided to change to Bord Gais. If in the future I wished to return to ESB would I have to pay a reconnection fee or anything?

No, but be sure you pay the final bill you get from ESB Customer Supply when switching to another supplier. If you leave that unpaid the ESB will insist on full payment before they take you back as a customer.

Regards,

Fnergg

none

Hi,
In my Bord Gais account I can see something called "Paperless Billing (New)" but I'm not sure what's behind it. Does it allow you to get your bills in electronic form (e.g., PDF) or it only takes away the paper bills without giving anything instead? I can see my recent bills online but they're plain HTML without any option to properly export/download them. Will this "Paperless Billing" give me this option?
Cheers

danjo-xx

none wrote: »

Hi,
In my Bord Gais account I can see something called "Paperless Billing (New)" but I'm not sure what's behind it. Does it allow you to get your bills in electronic form (e.g., PDF) or it only takes away the paper bills without giving anything instead? I can see my recent bills online but they're plain HTML without any option to properly export/download them. Will this "Paperless Billing" give me this option?
Cheers

ESB have that but you can opt in or out, bill opens as you say in pdf and you can save that, from the save option on the pdf doc. Irish Broadband issues both invoice and receipt, in pdf, most most utilities just issue a bill/invoice.

none

danjo-xx wrote: »

ESB have that but you can opt in or out, bill opens as you say in pdf and you can save that, from the save option on the pdf doc. Irish Broadband issues both invoice and receipt, in pdf, most most utilities just issue a bill/invoice.

I know about ESB, my question was about Bord Gais Eircom and UPC also provide nice PDF bills, some banks do it too.

abc1228

Hi Guys,

Just an FYI to all of you thinking of changing your electricity and/or your gas.

For electricity, Airtricity are definitely the cheapest (and the greenest) in the market with savings of 13%. I switched there a few months ago and I think they're brilliant! And, making the switch was totally hassle free and really quick and easy to do!

As well as this, I then changed my gas to Flogas who are now providing residential natural gas and I saved 9% on what I was previously paying with Bord Gais.

I thought initially that Bord Gais had a good offer with the 12-14% savings on electricity but they offer absolutely NO SAVINGS on gas so I shopped around and found the biggest savings are made by going with Airtricity and Flogas.

Even if you dont have gas and its just your electricity that you want to change, Airtricity is the way forward. Do your bit for the environment and save money at the same time.. I say thumbs up to that!!!

mcaul

We're now coming up to the end of the initial 12 months of Bord Gais electricity and the discount will be dropped to 5% - who's now going to switch from BG to Airtricity on the anniversary of the initial switch?

The_Conductor

mcaul wrote: »

We're now coming up to the end of the initial 12 months of Bord Gais electricity and the discount will be dropped to 5% - who's now going to switch from BG to Airtricity on the anniversary of the initial switch?

Quite a few people I imagine.
If people were sufficiently motivated to dump ESB- they certainly have no loyalty to BG. If BG wishes to retain all those customers who switched over- they are going to have make it worth our while to stay........

foggy_lad

bord gais cant even get my gas bills produced on time so i definitely wont be switching my electricity supply to such incompetants and am looking into switching my gas to flogas as i dont trust a company that can be over two weeks late providing a gas bill especially when around the same time last year they were over a month late with a bill!

NuMarvel

So, nearly one year on, we're looking at switching the electricity to Bord Gais. Has anyone had any major difficulties switching or after the switching? Or is there any advice you would give to someone swtching so they'd have a realistic expectation of how it all works?

discostu1

We're now coming up to the end of the initial 12 months of Bord Gais electricity and the discount will be dropped to 5% - who's now going to switch from BG to Airtricity on the anniversary of the initial switch?

Question, BG electricity bill in my name, if Mrs Discostu1 nee Marge Simpson takes over the account in her name i.e Marge Simpson do we still qualify for the higher discount as "new customers"

The_Conductor

discostu1 wrote: »

Question, BG electricity bill in my name, if Mrs Discostu1 nee Marge Simpson takes over the account in her name i.e Marge Simpson do we still qualify for the higher discount as "new customers"

No- because you aren't switching from another supplier.......

discostu1

But I understood that if a "new Customer" signed on with BGE they got a year at the higher discount, Marge would be a new customer how would they know that Marge is my wife. I assume the question would be "Marge have you had an account in your name before. answer No
Ok she would have to set up dd or dep but she has her own bank account.Just wondering will people try this. When does the Airtricity offer drop down I thought it was Feb/March ????

The_Conductor

discostu1 wrote: »

But I understood that if a "new Customer" signed on with BGE they got a year at the higher discount, Marge would be a new customer how would they know that Marge is my wife. I assume the question would be "Marge have you had an account in your name before. answer No
Ok she would have to set up dd or dep but she has her own bank account.Just wondering will people try this. When does the Airtricity offer drop down I thought it was Feb/March ????

A new customer to BGE...... BGE is already the supplier to the property. Marge is a having the pre-existing account changed over to her- there is a pre-existing account associated with the property.......?

Ring them and ask is the simplest thing. I'd be very surprised if you get away with it- but if you don't ask, you won't get it......

S.

discostu1

Ring them and ask is the simplest thing. I'd be very surprised if you get away with it- but if you don't ask, you won't get it......

Did as you suggested.
Rang said I would be leaving and taking my name off the account but that the new friend was taking over the account she was first time BGE Electricity customer and wanted to set up the account in her name, would she get the big discount up to 14% for a full your from the set up date,

Answer "absolutely we will guarantee the full reduction for a year subject to the customer paying all bills to terms"
I reckon this may well be the way to go for lots of customers if it "guarantees" an additional 12 months at the top discount

RandomName2

I don't like the main bill payment options available with Airtricity. Spread your payment evenly across the entire year (for fixed sum) by direct debit and no paper bills.... :pac: Sounds as if I could get ripped off - and what's more, that it could be hard to rectify...
This is the only way to get 13% saving (although 5% saving is available through conventional means).


Am tempted to switch to Bord Gais - but am worried that their prices will increase, and I will also not be able to avail of their gas discount because I plan to switch to Flogas for that

Talking of which - how is the final stage of switching to Flogas conducted? Do you get a final bill from Bord Gais or what?

Kotek Besar

RandomName2 wrote: »

I don't like the main bill payment options available with Airtricity. Spread your payment evenly across the entire year (for fixed sum) by direct debit and no paper bills.... :pac: Sounds as if I could get ripped off - and what's more, that it could be hard to rectify...
This is the only way to get 13% saving (although 5% saving is available through conventional means).

I thought it might be like that at first too. It's not though. Everything is clearly documented in the statements. Every reading, every bill. You know exactly what your usage and bill is, and your regular payment is deducted from this. You can see if you've over or under paid and can (I think) choose to then adjust your payments accordingly.

mcaul

NuMarvel wrote: »

So, nearly one year on, we're looking at switching the electricity to Bord Gais. Has anyone had any major difficulties switching or after the switching? Or is there any advice you would give to someone swtching so they'd have a realistic expectation of how it all works?

The surprise is it took one year to decide.

There will be 2 differences you'll notice

1 - the name on the bill will say bord gais

2 - the bill be be up to 14% lower

That's it - no change of meters / wiring or anything whatsoever. If there's a supply outtage you still contact esb networks.

Totally & utterly seamless and without any work needed other than a phone call / 2 minutes filling form on web.

2manyconditions

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the catch with the 'cheaper' electricity provider Airtricity.

John Mason

no catch just cheaper lecky

gerrycollins

2manyconditions wrote: »

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the catch with the 'cheaper' electricity provider Airtricity.

the catch is the mix that they use or thats their way of saying it.

they produce electricity and it gets sold to eirgrid for the national grid. However they also buy from eirgrid to sell on to you and me however because they produce a cheap electricity(ie wind) and all electricity has the same wholesale price no matter its origin they effectively buy their resale electricity at a great discount and then sell on to you and me.

A word of note, eirgrid has increased their connection charges for companies to buy off them so it will be passed on to you and I, its one of those fixed costs on your bill every two months.