Classic ESB ads of the 80s

ESB CS: Chris

Hi Everyone,

We've had a few comments on our old ads already, so for anybody else who wants a blast from the past you will find it here:

Classic Ads of the 80's

You can also vote for your favourite - we've had over 2000 votes so far!

Many thanks
Chris

gizmo555

Never did understand why a monopoly provider of an essential service felt the need to incur the cost of producing and broadcasting these ads, which presumably was ultimately passed on to the consumer. It's not as though we had anywhere else to go for our electricity at the time. Classic waste of money if you ask me.

satanta99

ah I have to disagree gizmo555, I'm away from home now and those ad's brought me right back.

They just don't make ad's for semi-state bodies like they used to! Everytime I see this Aerlingus one, I wanna jump on a plane and fly home... oh and then be collected from the Airport and have that Dusty Springfield song blaring in the car as I come home to a house where the mother has had the immersion on all day and has been cookin bread in the oven all day long.

I dunno for anyone who grew up in the 80's these ad's bring back the memories big time! Plus there was feck all else on TV really beside repeats!

gizmo555

satanta99 wrote: »

ah I have to disagree gizmo555, I'm away from home now and those ad's brought me right back.

In that sense, I don't disagree with you - they were beautifully produced and do strike a strong nostalgic chord. But what, at the time, was the point of them?

satanta99

I suppose the ESB used to have all the shops back then and wanted to create a brand which people would trust and buy more stuff from.

I'm sure everything in our house was bought from the ESB. I don't remember the "dreamlover' one and I'm not sure I get the point of that one either. The music is so catchy though, it was stuck in my head all day!:o

445279.ie

gizmo555 wrote: »

Never did understand why a monopoly provider of an essential service felt the need to incur the cost of producing and broadcasting these ads, which presumably was ultimately passed on to the consumer. It's not as though we had anywhere else to go for our electricity at the time. Classic waste of money if you ask me.

I agree, but I still voted

gizmo555

satanta99 wrote: »

I'm sure everything in our house was bought from the ESB.

I did too, but mainly because I could pay for the stuff on the drip interest free on the electricity bill, not because of the country mammy on the telly, frying the sausages and plugging in the electric blanket.

Fnergg

That Aer Lingus ad brought back happy memories, especially of traveling to the States in one of their 747s. I wish they still had some in their fleet.

And the ESB ads remind me of the time when we had some of the cheapest electricity in Europe despite the disadvantages this country has on the electricity front: an island nation not connected to the European grid, no access to nuclear power (France generates more than 70% of its electricity from nuclear and has the cheapest electricity in Europe), no appreciable indigenous fuel source (such as the Nordic countries with their significant hydro resources) etc.

Yes, the ESB was a monopoly but it was very well managed and had a cost cutting ethos and practice that was the envy of many private companies. It was - and is - the jewel in the crown of the semi-state sector and has never had to seek a handout from the tax payer.

Then came regulation.

Is regulation there to reduce prices to customers?

No.

It is there to promote competition. Well, competition Irish style, not *real* competition.

From day one, the CER - the Commission for Energy Regulation - has helped to INCREASE prices in the interests of bringing "competitors" into the electricity arena. It was only last year for instance that the price of domestic electricity had risen enough to attract Bord Gais and Airtricity.

At the same time, while those companies have undercut the ESB's prices, the ESB is not allowed by the CER to compete with them and have to keep their prices higher.

It's a joke.

I've heard it said that domestic customers are paying up to 60% more for electricity now as a direct result of "competition" and the whole regulatory framework that underpins it. I understand for example that the ESB had to spend multiples of millions upgrading their IT systems as their perfectly good legacy system was not compatible with regulatory requirements. All these costs are passed on to individual customers.

The CER is an expensive behemoth staffed with a raft of highly paid individuals whose mission in life is the promotion of "competition" and the ticking of Brussels generated boxes.

If they were seriously concerned with the impact of high prices on individual customers they would allow ESB to compete NOW. But no, they are overseeing the steady reduction of ESB's domestic customer base with profitable customers going to Bord Gais and Airtricity.

The CER clearly doesn't care a fig for those customers whose circumstances are such that they cannot exercise the option of going to other suppliers. Such customers include the long-term unemployed, the unbanked, those in financial difficulties: those who the other suppliers are not interested in obtaining. Those customers would benefit the most from a price reduction by the ESB but ... CER will not allow it!

Bord Gais and Airtricity have cherry picked customers from the ESB with the full sanction of the CER. When ESB is eventually allowed to compete it will have a significantly higher proportion of unprofitable and high cost to serve customers than its competitors and thus will find it more difficult to offer attractive price offerings to all customers.

This is not fair. It is anti-customer and it is contrary to true competitive practice.

One might be forgiven for thinking that there are people in the CER with personal axes to grind against the ESB, who are intent on doing down the once fine organisation exemplified in those old ads.

But of course that is a nonsensical suggestion.

(Isn't it?)

Regards,

Fnergg

gizmo555

That's an extraordinary rant that's long on sweeping assertions and short on facts - for example, you do not need to have a bank account in order to become a customer with Bord Gais or Airtricity. You will get cheaper prices if you pay by direct debit, but it's not obligatory. And as ESB customer service advisors have pointed out in other threads here, if you want to become an ESB customer but don't have a bank account, you'll have to lodge a €300 security deposit with them. A bit of a hurdle for "the long-term unemployed, the unbanked, those in financial difficulties" too, I'd have thought.

"One might be forgiven for thinking" you "have a personal axe to grind against the" CER . . .

I remember them all except the Dream Lover and tumble dryer ones. We were the first on the road to get Night Saver, would have been around 1990 or 1991 I think; we had the Unidare storage heaters installed which were exactly the same as those shown in the ad.

I don't suppose it would be much hassle to put a date on these? I had seen Going Back as recently as the late 90s though I believe it was originally from 1988. There was also a version with an Irish language endcap, it was shown on TnaG in its early days.