Alternative Energy Suppliers

mal1

I think it's got more to do with the fact the CER (regulator) has artificially kept ESB electricity prices high in order to encourage customers to move to other suppliers like Airtricity and Bord Gais. It's done in the hope that prices with reduce in the long run with more competitors in the market. Not so much got to do with Wind generation. That's a different business and i believe that Airtricity has renamed it's renewables unit SSE.

I don't know where that information about EirGrid increasing charges came from. Could we get a source?

gerrycollins

mal1 wrote: »

I think it's got more to do with the fact the CER (regulator) has artificially kept ESB electricity prices high in order to encourage customers to move to other suppliers like Airtricity and Bord Gais. It's done in the hope that prices with reduce in the long run with more competitors in the market. Not so much got to do with Wind generation. That's a different business and i believe that Airtricity has renamed it's renewables unit SSE.

I don't know where that information about EirGrid increasing charges came from. Could we get a source?

I'm a business cutomer of airtricity and they informed us a few months ago by letter.

dotsman

2manyconditions wrote: »

Hi,

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

No catch at all. They're pretty much the same price as Bord Gaid (who I transferred to). ESB currently have their prices frozen by CER. As soon as a large chunk of the population are with Airticity/Bord Gais, CER will allow ESB to compete (lower their prices to match the others).

To be honest, I think anybody who doesn't switch loses all right to complain about rip-off ireland etc. There's no disadvantage, only a ~12% discount on electricity for the next year or 2.

Fnergg

What will be interesting to observe over the next few months is how many Bord Gais electricity customers transfer to Airtricity. The BG customers who transferred from ESB last February will now be losing their significant discount against ESB prices as they applied for 12 months only. However, if these customers transfer to Airtricity they will get the discount for a further 12 months.

How will Bord Gais react? They cannot afford to continue the discount (can they?). Customers have shown they will switch for a significant price difference so Bord Gais could see huge customer losses. They are however about to launch an expensive advertising campaign so watch this space.

Regards,

Fnergg

Fnergg

I heard the new Bord Gais radio ad this morning. The gist is to switch and save up to 14% on ESB unit prices for the first year and up to 5% thereafter. Nothing new.

The rational thing for any Bord Gais electricity customer to do therefore, once the 12 month period is up, is to switch to Airtricity and benefit from their first year discount.

Fact: in the UK, people who switch from supplier to supplier for price alone are referred to within the industry as "tariff sluts"!

Regards,

Fnergg

bungler

Bord Gáis offer a MINIMUM of 5% for years 2 and 3,doesnt mean thats what you will get

i am with Bord Gáis for my business for 3 years and i am still getting my original discount so i presume its the same for domestic

dudara

Mega-thread created by merging alternative energy supplier threads.

dudara

Fnergg

bungler wrote: »

Bord Gáis offer a MINIMUM of 5% for years 2 and 3,doesnt mean thats what you will get

i am with Bord Gáis for my business for 3 years and i am still getting my original discount so i presume its the same for domestic

No, the situation with domestic customers is different. The up to 14% discount is for the first 12 months only. There was never such a differential for business accounts. The unit price was cheaper than ESB's but was far less than the 14% domestic difference which is a loss leader for Bord Gais and is not something they (or Airtiricity) could possibly sustain.

Also, it remains to be seen if they will be able to deliver on the offer of a minimum of 5% discount on the ESB rate for years 2 and 3. ESB will later this year be reducing their prices assuming that CER lifts the price regulation which forces ESB to charge more than their "competitors" (if that's competiton I'm a banana). Given the very low margin on domestic electricity accounts undercutting a reduced ESB rate by a minimum of 5% will be a challenging task.


Regards,

Fnergg

bungler

i signed up my business with Bord Gais 3 years ago and i am on a standard general purpose tariff. they offerd me 10% off ESB rates for the 1st year and said they offer a min of 5% for years 2 and 3. 3 years later i am still getting 10% and they have tracked ESB tru all their rates changes. This year in May ESB came down i think 12% and on my BG bill they dropped their rates too and i was still getting 10% off ESB.

In Oct 09 ESB came down i think 10% and on my BG bill they also came down and there is still a 10% differential between them and ESB.

I also asked my business rep about th house and he said it is a MIN of 5% for years 2 and 3 so i am hoping it will be the same they have told me nothing about me losing my 14%,yet lol

at least BG can track ESB rates,Airtricity cant which is a huge amount of security for me

Bumble32

Thinking of changing from ESB. Airtricity look to have the better deal. What's the general opinion on this.

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

SelMic

Hi, we switched over a month ago and received our first bill last week, our night time consumption has increased by 10. Going form 456 units for 36 days to 4241 units in 40 days. We use storage heaters but have not changed the settings since we changed. Has this happened to anyone else?? Our bill has gone from €136 to €461

Kotek Besar

SelMic wrote: »

Hi, we switched over a month ago and received our first bill last week, our night time consumption has increased by 10. Going form 456 units for 36 days to 4241 units in 40 days. We use storage heaters but have not changed the settings since we changed. Has this happened to anyone else?? Our bill has gone from €136 to €461

Cold weather caused you to use more energy in the last month?

SelMic

No, we only increased the setting by 1 point which cannot explain a jump from 456 units to 4241 units. On the esb calculator is estimates that we should on average be only using, 1777 for every 2 months. 4241 was for 40days!!

Kotek Besar

SelMic wrote: »

No, we only increased the setting by 1 point which cannot explain a jump from 456 units to 4241 units. On the esb calculator is estimates that we should on average be only using, 1777 for every 2 months. 4241 was for 40days!!

That's pretty strange all right. I'm not an expert in this area, so I may be wrong in assuming that it's probably not related to your switch in electricity supplier.

Sounds to me like a problem with the meter, if it's really not a genuine jump in consumption. Must say though, it'd be some hell of a coincidence that you changed supplier around the same time.

Sorry man, I've not been of much help have I!

SelMic

Can't seem to get any help from airtricity either. But a problem shared and all that!! Thanks for your reply

Kotek Besar

SelMic wrote: »

Can't seem to get any help from airtricity either. But a problem shared and all that!! Thanks for your reply

Indeed. Hope you get it sorted anyway and, when you do, please post back with what happened!

phantom_lord

i signed up with airtricty when i moved into my new place, haven't heard anything from them since (about 2months ago maybe?), just got a bill marked overdue from the esb for the full period since imoved in, and which also included a 90yoyo reconnection fee? anyone ever experience anything similar?

haven't had a chance to ring either of them yet, but i'm guessing this shouldn't be too difficult to sort out?

wingnut

Anyone with airtricity find their billing odd. I gather they average it out over the year etc, I have supplied one reading since we moved to the new house. They are taking €76 a month which is very steep, but online it states we are €176 in credit. It seems an odd way of doing things.

discostu1

I think the Airtricity billing system is very good..... IF your Airtricity, imagine your Dunnes stores or Tesco, and they have € 176 of YOUR money, and are taking €76 a month Jeeez neat system they get to keep your money in their bank account.
Also any one see this
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/disconnections-for-gas-arrears-up-by-15-per-cent-46938.html

DisDisconnections for gas arrears up by 15 per cent
connections for gas arrears up by 15 per cent

‘‘The majority of these disconnections are due to the customer’s failure to pay, as opposed to inability to pay," said the spokesman. He said that customers could be disconnected for a number of reasons, but most were ‘‘linked in some way to the economic conditions’’

I'm with BGE for electricity my own "economic conditions" have deteriorated any one know how BGE are handling electricity customers

Neeni

Not so sure the few cent per unit saving is worth the hassle of switching!!!! I went to BG recently annd have had nothing but trouble since. They seem to have absolutely NO understanding of customer service.

As a result of all the silly regulations and the CER insisting on making ESB lose customers I'm stuck with them for 20 working days but as soon as that lapses I'm heading back to ESB with my tail between my legs - more expensive or not at least they actually try to help their customers!!!!!

dudara

Threads merged.

Neeni Please do not drag up old threads from the depths.

dudara

E.T.

Has anyone been signed up to Airtricity for over a year on their average-out billing? I signed up last summer and gave them my reading and I'm now paying about €45 a month - I'm just scared because the cheapest ESB bill ever was about €110 for 2 months and I was actually away for a lot of that time! I'm afraid I'm going to get landed with a huge extra bill at the end of the year. I've been submitting my readings online every month or so. I know I should get off my ass and ring them myself to check it out, but I'm being lazy and posting here first!

Kotek Besar

E.T. wrote: »

Has anyone been signed up to Airtricity for over a year on their average-out billing? I signed up last summer and gave them my reading and I'm now paying about €45 a month - I'm just scared because the cheapest ESB bill ever was about €110 for 2 months and I was actually away for a lot of that time! I'm afraid I'm going to get landed with a huge extra bill at the end of the year. I've been submitting my readings online every month or so. I know I should get off my ass and ring them myself to check it out, but I'm being lazy and posting here first!

Call them with a current reading and ask them to adjust your monthly payment accordingly. That's what I did.

loyatemu

E.T. wrote: »

Has anyone been signed up to Airtricity for over a year on their average-out billing? I signed up last summer and gave them my reading and I'm now paying about €45 a month - I'm just scared because the cheapest ESB bill ever was about €110 for 2 months and I was actually away for a lot of that time! I'm afraid I'm going to get landed with a huge extra bill at the end of the year. I've been submitting my readings online every month or so. I know I should get off my ass and ring them myself to check it out, but I'm being lazy and posting here first!

I was paying 75 a month at my old address which I figured was about right for a monthly average. When I moved and transferred the new address to them they started off taking 26 a month, which was plainly wrong, but they won't correct it themselves - you need to ring them.

Bobeagleburger

Looking to change myself.

Can someone who knows a bit on this tell me what is the better option, BG or AT please?

Kotek Besar

rarnes1 wrote: »

Looking to change myself.

Can someone who knows a bit on this tell me what is the better option, BG or AT please?

AT IMO.

Bobeagleburger

Kotek Besar wrote: »

AT IMO.

Why is that?

Kotek Besar

rarnes1 wrote: »

Why is that?

Partly because I don't like BG, partly because AT claim to be a lot greener than the other two (using more renewal energy).

els27

I switched over to AT a few months ago and it's clearly cheaper. Also I had trouble with my nightmeter, put in a service request to ESB months ago and they didn't really care but instead ESB kept charging me the higher day rate for 24 hours. Then I switched over to Airtricity and told them about the problem and, they got in touch with ESB Networks and withing 2 days it was fixed.
Also been told that I will get a refund for the time beeing overcharged however I have no idea how they will going to work that amount out.

I also signed up for thet payment plan with them and got a letter saying that the monthly charge will be 72 euro which was a lot. Rang them explained that my average esb bill was bout 60 euro so they changed that monthly amount to 25 euro which is grand.