Alternative Energy Suppliers

foggy_lad

angel01 wrote: »

I got an email this morning:

http://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/help-and-questions/home/electricity/levelpay/

Would this be a better idea to go for than the regular plan?

With this plan they will charge you €xx per month based on your usage history which is husually not very accurate then balance up at the end of the year and you could get a very large bill or they could owe you credit.

I Should Be So Lucky

Sounds like you just spread your bills over the year - can't be a bad thing? Will take a look at it as ESB used to do it but they took it away I think?

angel01

Just concerned at the end of the year, you could get a big bill...

It says:

If there is a balance of less than €200 owed by you or owing to you, this amount will be carried over into the next year and used to adjust the monthly payment amount for the next year.

So what happens if it is over 200 Euro? :eek:

thebuzz

Currently with Airtricity but recently got a letter from them reviewing my monthly direct debit and it's now gone to a price I never used to pay in the old ESB days, have energy prices soared in recent years?

Thinking of moving, so who is the cheapest these days?

E.T.

I got a similar letter today. Mine's now nearly €20 a month more than when I signed up with them. I know the heating must have upped the bill a lot over the cold spell, but absolutely nothing else has changed.

musiknonstop

Got the same, 9% increase. I would like to move away from Airtricity too.

faw1tytowers

Mine actually went down 30 euro which i was suprised of. I am on the budget plan pay a set charge every 6 months its reassessed. Now that ESB are dropping prices surely they will compete???

E.T.

Just found this comparison site. It says that ESB are now the cheapest supplier for electricity. Think I'll be switching back soon!
http://www.moneyguideireland.com/electricity-prices

foggy_lad

thebuzz wrote: »

Currently with Airtricity but recently got a letter from them reviewing my monthly direct debit and it's now gone to a price I never used to pay in the old ESB days, have energy prices soared in recent years?

Thinking of moving, so who is the cheapest these days?

You and others have most likely been paying too little each month and may be hit with a massive bill if you decide to leave.

Trampas

E.T. wrote: »

Just found this comparison site. It says that ESB are now the cheapest supplier for electricity. Think I'll be switching back soon!
http://www.moneyguideireland.com/electricity-prices

I know. Never thought I would ever move back

joolsveer

I decided to switch back to ESB from Airtricity last Monday. They say it takes about 21 days to go through.

joolsveer

I have been doing this with Bord Gais and Airtricity and I wasn't hit with a big bill from either at the end of the winter. The estimated usage seems to have been right.

jeffk

We ended up sticking with ESB, better the devil you know and all that.

They give us a 14% discount for ebiling and direct debt, plus there's no messing with estimate bills or your contracted till x date.

Jesus Wept

Trying to work out all this stuff just wrecks me head.

genie

I've just switched back to ESB after my bill was to go up by €5 per month with Airtricity. It doesn't seem a lot but I live on my own and I am always careful not to waste energy and I thought it was a bit much.

One small niggle, when I was entering my MPRN, it then automatically entered the village nearest to me as my address (it isn't actually my postal address) but it wouldn't allow me to enter my correct postal address. I hope I can ammend this at some stage?

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

genie wrote: »

I've just switched back to ESB after my bill was to go up by €5 per month with Airtricity. It doesn't seem a lot but I live on my own and I am always careful not to waste energy and I thought it was a bit much.

One small niggle, when I was entering my MPRN, it then automatically entered the village nearest to me as my address (it isn't actually my postal address) but it wouldn't allow me to enter my correct postal address. I hope I can ammend this at some stage?

You might be as well to ask on the Talk to...Electric Ireland forum

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1349

Just to be sure.

CS Hasuki

With Airtricity, looking to move back ro ESB or Bord Gais.
Leaving as did not notice any savings, cost more I think. Also the estimations they are doing are insanely high. Nice customer service though. Down to earth, nice enough people.

Which is the better move at the moment?

thesphinx

I am with Airtricity and going to move, they have messed up my bill again. I can't honestly undertand what the problem is. I was getting my electricity bills but wasn't recieving Gas bills, I had to ring Customer Services 10 times in order to recieve my Gas bill, I shouldn't have to do that. Both my electricity and Gas bill was due today on-line, I checked all day and low and behold no bill. I rang customer service, I was told my bill was not generated (em no sh*t sherlock) so a note is going to the billing department as to why my bill was not generated. I did everything I Was supposed to do, provide meter readings in a timely fashion etc. I was with Bord Gais for Gas and ESB for Electricity and had none of this hasle, my advice to anyone wishing to move to airtricity is to don't bother you will regret it

jeffk

CS Hasuki wrote: »

With Airtricity, looking to move back ro ESB or Bord Gais.
Leaving as did not notice any savings, cost more I think. Also the estimations they are doing are insanely high. Nice customer service though. Down to earth, nice enough people.

Which is the better move at the moment?

Id say ESB.
No contract so you can leave more or less when you want.
Your bill is your bill, not a guess.
If you do direct debt and on-line billing you get a 14% discount

In my view its really is better the devil you know!

Ana36

WelL.... changed last week to ESB and low and behold....got another massive bill from Airtricity! This after them estimating my gas all winter and landing me with a whopper of a bill a week ago! Requested a key for my gas box ages ago, (which I never got of course) so that I could give meter readings when I got meter reading alerts that I had signed up for........but OOOPPPS! never got those either.

Raging! Will be on to them first thing in the morning. Have a lovely scathing letter that I just lovingly put together telling them that I am encouraging all of my family and friends to switch their service provider as soon as......however, I wonder if they can do me for slander if I send it.

They tried to take 300 euro from my friends account as "security", without her permission, although she had never failed to pay a bill in her life! I am just afraid now that they have my bank details they can slip money out of that too!
Anyway, stay away from them....do yourselves a favour. I regret the day I changed over. Could have saved myself a lot more than 14%!

quinnthebin

Ana36 wrote: »

WelL.... changed last week to ESB and low and behold....got another massive bill from Airtricity! This after them estimating my gas all winter and landing me with a whopper of a bill a week ago! Requested a key for my gas box ages ago, (which I never got of course) so that I could give meter readings when I got meter reading alerts that I had signed up for........but OOOPPPS! never got those either.

Raging! Will be on to them first thing in the morning. Have a lovely scathing letter that I just lovingly put together telling them that I am encouraging all of my family and friends to switch their service provider as soon as......however, I wonder if they can do me for slander if I send it.

They tried to take 300 euro from my friends account as "security", without her permission, although she had never failed to pay a bill in her life! I am just afraid now that they have my bank details they can slip money out of that too!
Anyway, stay away from them....do yourselves a favour. I regret the day I changed over. Could have saved myself a lot more than 14%!

Not so sure they are entirely to blame. Estimated billing is entirely that - and it's difficult to estimate for an especially hard winter. Having said that it'd probably be good practice for them to overestimate for the feelgood factor when you're ahead of the meter readings!

I used to use estimated billing but would make a point of ringing in readings regularly so as to maintain as much accuracy as possible.

The key for your meter box can be bought in any hardware store and it's always a good idea to keep an eye on actual v estimated.

None of which really helps you at the moment - but just feel the anger might be misplaced or misdirected.

Priori

Ana36 wrote:

...however, I wonder if they can do me for slander if I send it.

I really wouldn't worry about that. They must be well used to it by now!

I made a few comments myself in the ESB forum about Airtricity, not flattering by any means, but feel I have to say this (if only out of guilt): this evening an Airtricity sales rep called to my door and she was very nice. Wasn't pushy at all, and left my doorstep within a few seconds of learning that I wasn't interested. Felt sorry for her actually.

E.T.

Does anyone know what the situation is if you're on the Airtricity Budget Plan (where you pay the same amount every month) and want to move back to ESB. The last paper bill I got from Airtricity said I was a few hundred euro in credit so I don't think I could owe them anything (I hope!).

Priori

E.T. wrote: »

Does anyone know what the situation is if you're on the Airtricity Budget Plan (where you pay the same amount every month) and want to move back to ESB. The last paper bill I got from Airtricity said I was a few hundred euro in credit so I don't think I could owe them anything (I hope!).

You might find this thread of interest.

bennyob

E.T. wrote: »

Just found this comparison site. It says that ESB are now the cheapest supplier for electricity. Think I'll be switching back soon!
http://www.moneyguideireland.com/electricity-prices

Good site that. I just realised that my electricity discount for switching to bord gas has expired so I signed back up with ESB.

Shay Conway

I got a huge bill from Airticity last week. they "forgot to" bill me in February, so I had €1056 deducted from my account.

http://householdsaving.blogspot.com/

I wasn't surprised to read in The Sunday Times today that Airtricity "forgot to" bill lots of people as 500 went into the above site. I think Airtricity was trying to avoid a big switch back to ESB. The ploy was, that since ESB had reduced their prices just before Airtricity was about to issue the biggest bill of the year ( due to the cold winter). Airtricity simply did not bill some of their customers, and the customers were not reminded of the high cost of electricity. The other advantage of this ploy was their customers were now in arrears and were trapped with Airtricity untill they clear the debt. Remember you are entitled to a proper bill hopefully CER will recommend that if they didn't bill you on time that you are entitled a reduction.

unkel

I was about to sign up with Airtricity as they gave me better rates for both electricity and gas than Bord Gais. All the standing charges were the same. The sales guy said.

Looked up the detail and the standing charges with Airtricity were about €240 higher per year than Bord Gais :eek:

The guy was very embarrassed when I pointed this out to him. That was a dealbreaker of course. Now where can I find a proper comparison off ALL COSTS not just the unit costs?

Ogham

I don't know where you are getting that figure of €240 a year higher standing charges - they are not that high.

For a comparison including standing charges - take a look at this

http://www.moneyguideireland.com/electricity-prices or this http://www.moneyguideireland.com/electricity-and-gas-cheapest-combined-prices.html

David Matthew

This site is also very useful: bonkers.ie