is it worth changing back to ESB

vanderbadger

hey
am with bord gais the last good while now, I think I get a further reduction for being IFA member also, I think airtricity and bord gais are upping prices so wondered is it worth changing back to ESB or has anyone done a bit of research on it?

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

hey
am with bord gais the last good while now, I think I get a further reduction for being IFA member also, I think airtricity and bord gais are upping prices so wondered is it worth changing back to ESB or has anyone done a bit of research on it?

There was a guy on the radio yesterday (Conor Pope I Think) saying that he sees ESB as being the best rate currently so long as you choose online billing and DD. He recons that ESB will try to win back a lot of customers by keeping their prices lower than others. He did point out too that you don't have to commit to a contract with ESB so if you find another lower price in 6 months time, you can change straight away.

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

There was a guy on the radio yesterday (Conor Pope I Think) saying that he sees ESB as being the best rate currently so long as you choose online billing and DD. He recons that ESB will try to win back a lot of customers by keeping their prices lower than others. He did point out too that you don't have to commit to a contract with ESB so if you find another lower price in 6 months time, you can change straight away.

ya i know the chap alright, he is on the radio a good bit..might change over so although i hate signing up to direct debit with anything

whelan1

am thinking the same myself, but am just waiting to see if esb raise theirs too

reilig

Just to be nosy. What's your average household ESB Bill (without counting the milking machine and cooler) ??

We've a relatively new house. In it almost 2 years now. Summer bills are about €70 every 2 months, spring and Autumn Bills are €800 and winter bills are usually less than €110 - that's for last winter while the Mrs was at home on maternity leave so I hope we will use less units this year. We have one slatted shed powered from this meter too. My parents pay at least twice the above and have a smaller house.

I fitted all lights with energy saving bulbs when we moved in. The halogen spot bulbs were replaced with 3 watt led's. The only gripe I have is that we tend to use the clothes drier too often, but I'm working on a clothes line for the garage

whelan1

mine is around 700-800 every 2months , pay 360 a month dd... last bill was 1030:eek: as previous one was estimated and i was using my 2 milk tanks, am only using 1 now ... dont have a seperate bill for the house but am constantly giving out to kids for leaving tv and lights on when there is no one in the rooms:rolleyes:

MBateson

Did you try bonkers.ie which gives price comparisons for electricity?

whelan1

MBateson wrote: »

Did you try bonkers.ie which gives price comparisons for electricity?

yup esb or what ever they are called works out cheapest, was with airtricity last eyar and tbh they are not worth the stress:)

Tora Bora

reilig wrote: »

Just to be nosy. What's your average household ESB Bill (without counting the milking machine and cooler) ??

We've a relatively new house. In it almost 2 years now. Summer bills are about €70 every 2 months, spring and Autumn Bills are €800 and winter bills are usually less than €110 - that's for last winter while the Mrs was at home on maternity leave so I hope we will use less units this year. We have one slatted shed powered from this meter too. My parents pay at least twice the above and have a smaller house.

I fitted all lights with energy saving bulbs when we moved in. The halogen spot bulbs were replaced with 3 watt led's. The only gripe I have is that we tend to use the clothes drier too often, but I'm working on a clothes line for the garage

Good lord, that is fair going. €70 per two months in summer. €35 per month. Standing charges plus the PSO levy are €31 / €33 for two months depending on who you are with!
So actual electricity consumption is around €38 for two months. €19 per month. €0.63 per day. That's circa 4.5 units of electricity per day!!! I'd safely say, my teenage girls consume that much with the hair dryer and hair straightner alone, neber mind the TV and computer!

Despite our best efforts, haven't been able to get electricity below €105 per month in summer including standing charge. €210 per two months. Mine's an eighties built house. I guess retrofitting with new fangled lights and so needs to be considered.

moy83

our house is four years old and the bills are around 120 for two months

leg wax

81 euros a month for our house.

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

I fitted all lights with energy saving bulbs when we moved in. The halogen spot bulbs were replaced with 3 watt led's.

What brand(s) of LED bulbs did you fit Reilig? I've noticed there's a big difference in them. Some of them are grand for a while, then the light goes 'yellowish'.

vanderbadger

generally around 190 euro every 2 months, have alot of energy efficient bulbs..thats house and farm now

djrichard

ESB announced they are upping their electric rates by 12%, the same as Bord Gais and Airtricity. The gas announcement will be next. I hope they dont go up the same 22% as BG and Airtricity, as their current savings on gas are a miserly 6%, and thats only if you have both bills with them, pay by direct debit and get online billing. As it stands, the Electric Ireland (ESB) 6% discount IS tracking the Bord Gais gas rate whatever it is at any given time. So anyone that previously signed up to ESB for gas will be getting a 22% rise.

Username John

Last bill for summer was just 100 euro for 2 months. New house, and those LED bulbs everywhere.
Only two of us - and we're at work all day, so we'd be easy on electricity.

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

What brand(s) of LED bulbs did you fit Reilig? I've noticed there's a big difference in them. Some of them are grand for a while, then the light goes 'yellowish'.

I bought all Lumax Leds from a guy in the UK. It was actually based on a recommendation from my electrician. I have 16 led's in total. Bulbs cost me €4 each and after 2 years, they are all still working perfectly. They are in the kitchen which sees them turned onn for 12 hours a day and in the landing over the stairs where they are left on most nights.

Electrician says that they only go yellowish if they get a surge or if someone tries to use them on a dimmer switch :eek:

whelan1

djrichard wrote: »

ESB announced they are upping their electric rates by 12%, the same as Bord Gais and Airtricity. The gas announcement will be next. I hope they dont go up the same 22% as BG and Airtricity, as their current savings on gas are a miserly 6%, and thats only if you have both bills with them, pay by direct debit and get online billing. As it stands, the Electric Ireland (ESB) 6% discount IS tracking the Bord Gais gas rate whatever it is at any given time. So anyone that previously signed up to ESB for gas will be getting a 22% rise.

where did you read that?

djrichard

Username John wrote: »

Last bill for summer was just 100 euro for 2 months. New house, and those LED bulbs everywhere.
Only two of us - and we're at work all day, so we'd be easy on electricity.

LED bulbs? I never knew that you could buy household LED bulbs. Are they tiny little LED lights, or big, like a typical bulb from a few years ago? Do they cast a warm glow or are they clinical? I imagine clinical, but would love to be proved wrong. I dont like energy saver bulbs, dim when first turned on, and just not bright enough.

djrichard

whelan1 wrote: »

where did you read that?

I had the Irish Daily Mirror in my bag yesterday. I shall look for a link.

Weird, I cant find a link for the paper! Surely there must be a website for a newspaper!! I have the paper, so I could take a photo and then figure out how to host it, if you wish.

reilig

djrichard wrote: »

LED bulbs? I never knew that you could buy household LED bulbs. Are they tiny little LED lights, or big, like a typical bulb from a few years ago? Do they cast a warm glow or are they clinical? I imagine clinical, but would love to be proved wrong. I dont like energy saver bulbs, dim when first turned on, and just not bright enough.

They are between 11 and 80 tiny little bulbs built together to make a large bulb. There is no reason why they won't give as much light as an ordinary bulb if you buy the proper strength (ie. if you buy one with enough tiny bulbs on it). The gu10 bulbs are typically 2w to 4w and replace a standard 50w halogen GU10 bulb - therefore offering significant savings. They light up fully as soon as the switch is flicked. I'm very happy with mine.

reilig

djrichard wrote: »

I had the Irish Daily Mirror in my bag yesterday. I shall look for a link.

Weird, I cant find a link for the paper! Surely there must be a website for a newspaper!! I have the paper, so I could take a photo and then figure out how to host it, if you wish.

ESB haven't made any announcement yet. Some newspapers just speculated that the esb will hike by that much.

BeeDI

djrichard wrote: »

LED bulbs? I never knew that you could buy household LED bulbs. Are they tiny little LED lights, or big, like a typical bulb from a few years ago? Do they cast a warm glow or are they clinical? I imagine clinical, but would love to be proved wrong. I dont like energy saver bulbs, dim when first turned on, and just not bright enough.

Just came across this thread. Reading through it, some people seem to be able to run a house on 4 and less units of electricity per day.
To achieve that level of efficiency, I imagine you have to look beyond the lighting. It must have to do with the heavier power using appliances as well.
Jeez, I would imagineif you boiled a kettle of water a few times a day for a cup of tea, the 4 units of electricity would be well and truley used up.

Now if you have an electric oven ...... say average 1 hour a day... bang goes a few more units.

TV ........... say a couple of hours ?????

At this stage, I have still not switched on any light, or electric iron, clothes dryer, washing machine, dish washer, radio, !!!!!

How on earth do you folks live on 4 units of power a day??

whelan1

djrichard wrote: »

I had the Irish Daily Mirror in my bag yesterday. I shall look for a link.

Weird, I cant find a link for the paper! Surely there must be a website for a newspaper!! I have the paper, so I could take a photo and then figure out how to host it, if you wish.

was just wondering as i didnt read it anywhere else

Username John

reilig wrote: »

They are between 11 and 80 tiny little bulbs built together to make a large bulb. There is no reason why they won't give as much light as an ordinary bulb if you buy the proper strength (ie. if you buy one with enough tiny bulbs on it). The gu10 bulbs are typically 2w to 4w and replace a standard 50w halogen GU10 bulb - therefore offering significant savings. They light up fully as soon as the switch is flicked. I'm very happy with mine.

Yep - same here. Am happy with em. But we have a few of em in each room. I imagine if you dont have enough, there could be pockets of darkness...

They're like this
http://img.greentradebay.com/picture/13837/13837_39988653446770882.jpg

whelan1

reilig wrote: »

ESB haven't made any announcement yet. Some newspapers just speculated that the esb will hike by that much.

thanks

reilig

Everything is A rated from the fridge to the washing machine. The washing machine only goes on twice a week. We dry on clothes line in summer Everything is cooked in a solid fuel cooker, kettle is boiled on top of it, hot water is heated by it by gravity flow into the cylinder. House is well designed so that natural light lights kitchen in the morning and sitting room in evening so rarely use lights in sitting room in summer. We watch very little tv - 2 or 3 hours per week max.

BeeDI wrote: »

Just came across this thread. Reading through it, some people seem to be able to run a house on 4 and less units of electricity per day.
To achieve that level of efficiency, I imagine you have to look beyond the lighting. It must have to do with the heavier power using appliances as well.
Jeez, I would imagineif you boiled a kettle of water a few times a day for a cup of tea, the 4 units of electricity would be well and truley used up.

Now if you have an electric oven ...... say average 1 hour a day... bang goes a few more units.

TV ........... say a couple of hours ?????

At this stage, I have still not switched on any light, or electric iron, clothes dryer, washing machine, dish washer, radio, !!!!!

How on earth do you folks live on 4 units of power a day??

djrichard

reilig wrote: »

ESB haven't made any announcement yet. Some newspapers just speculated that the esb will hike by that much.

I realise all the papers specualted about the rise. Its obvious that will happen. However, this article was a spokesman for ESB announcing they are increasing the electric by 12%. He stated they had not announced any changes to the gas price yet. The reason for this is simple. ESBs discount on gas is tracking the "current Bord Gais rate" which, as we all know, will be rising by 22% on 1st October. Technically BG have not confirmed they will rise 22% on 1/10/12, but I can assume thats the case as they applied for 28% and 22% was approved. Who knows, maybe BG will astound us all and not take the full 22%........yeah right!

The paper is in my bag in the office, so I cant repeat word for word what the ESB article said, I still cant believe I cant find a website for the paper. Ive even been searching on the UK Mirrors website to see if they cover the Irish side of the company. They dont appear to.

djrichard

Username John wrote: »

Yep - same here. Am happy with em. But we have a few of em in each room. I imagine if you dont have enough, there could be pockets of darkness...

They're like this
http://img.greentradebay.com/picture/13837/13837_39988653446770882.jpg

wow! That looks like a shower head. I cant believe I have not seen them about, or even read about them. Im always reading about gadgets and new tech.

whelan1

this is the same paper that a few weeks ago said ireland was in the top 10 milk suppliers in the world! donr believe everything you read:D i know the rise is inevitable(sp) but i prefer to wait until the company announces it themselves

djrichard

whelan1 wrote: »

this is the same paper that a few weeks ago said ireland was in the top 10 milk suppliers in the world! donr believe everything you read:D i know the rise is inevitable(sp) but i prefer to wait until the company announces it themselves

there are a lot of cows around though.....

Atilathehun

reilig wrote: »

Everything is A rated from the fridge to the washing machine. The washing machine only goes on twice a week. We dry on clothes line in summer Everything is cooked in a solid fuel cooker, kettle is boiled on top of it, hot water is heated by it by gravity flow into the cylinder. House is well designed so that natural light lights kitchen in the morning and sitting room in evening so rarely use lights in sitting room in summer. We watch very little tv - 2 or 3 hours per week max.

What summer? My missus, reckons she would be better off not washing the clothes in the washing machine at all. Just hang them out on the clothes line to get them washed by the weather.
But that's us, in the west of Ireland.

reilig

djrichard wrote: »

wow! That looks like a shower head. I cant believe I have not seen them about, or even read about them. Im always reading about gadgets and new tech.

That is the type of bulb that I have too. However, they were modern tech. 2 years ago and are now old tec. Modern tec led bulbs have just 3 bulbs in them and a glass cover over them. I'll have to live with mine for another 18 years though - its said that they have a life of up to 20 years (Halogens last up to 1 year in comparison)

reilig

Atilathehun wrote: »

What summer? My missus, reckons she would be better off not washing the clothes in the washing machine at all. Just hang them out on the clothes line to get them washed by the weather.
But that's us, in the west of Ireland.

Same as that. Definitely one of the worst summers in memory. We had a bad summer in 2009, but at least August dried up.

Username John

BeeDI wrote: »

Just came across this thread. Reading through it, some people seem to be able to run a house on 4 and less units of electricity per day.
To achieve that level of efficiency, I imagine you have to look beyond the lighting. It must have to do with the heavier power using appliances as well.
Jeez, I would imagineif you boiled a kettle of water a few times a day for a cup of tea, the 4 units of electricity would be well and truley used up.

Now if you have an electric oven ...... say average 1 hour a day... bang goes a few more units.

TV ........... say a couple of hours ?????

At this stage, I have still not switched on any light, or electric iron, clothes dryer, washing machine, dish washer, radio, !!!!!

How on earth do you folks live on 4 units of power a day??

Just double checked the bill - it was for May & June, and was €100.89, 444 units, so thats over 7 units / day.

Everything is A rated, washing machine only used maybe twice a week. Clothes dried in the sitting room, cos its not finished or furnished yet

Electric cooker used most evenings for dinners & baking. TV prob used 2 hours a day in the evening, but that'd use very little electricity. Kettle is electric, so thats boilded a few times a day, not sure how much that'd use...
Hot water is provided by solar panels, so electric shower isnt used. If extra hot water is needed, we have a solid fuel range, so we light that for a few hours to heat the water.

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

The washing machine only goes on twice a week. rarely use lights in sitting room in summer. We watch very little tv - 2 or 3 hours per week max.

Reilig have you been moved to Castlerea ?

Tora Bora

Muckit wrote: »

Reilig have you been moved to Castlerea ?

Isn't there a prison there:o

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

Reilig have you been moved to Castlerea ?

Sometimes it seems like that

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

Sometimes it seems like that

Was only messin' btw! Definitely 'in the current climate' everyone has to tighten their belts and save the few pennies where possible.

blue5000

Username John wrote: »

Just double checked the bill - it was for May & June, and was €100.89, 444 units, so thats over 7 units / day.

Everything is A rated

Electric cooker used most evenings for dinners & baking. TV prob used 2 hours a day in the evening, but that'd use very little electricity. Kettle is electric, so thats boilded a few times a day, not sure how much that'd use...
.

Watch out for plasma tvs, they use a unit of electricity every 2 hrs, compared to a tube tv that uses a unit every 10 hrs. Deep freezers can be heavy users too, 20 units a day. If they are not full put bundles of old news papers in the bottom.

whelan1

reilig wrote: »

That is the type of bulb that I have too. However, they were modern tech. 2 years ago and are now old tec. Modern tec led bulbs have just 3 bulbs in them and a glass cover over them. I'll have to live with mine for another 18 years though - its said that they have a life of up to 20 years (Halogens last up to 1 year in comparison)

there is an offer on today on city deal for those bulbs , how much are they normally , do they just fit in to a normal light holder?

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

there is an offer on today on city deal for those bulbs , how much are they normally , do they just fit in to a normal light holder?

I bought mine for EUR4 each. They aren't an ordinary bulb, they are gu10s (Normally ceiling recessed halogen lights or on some specialised light fittings too).