Price Plan Changes and Overall Price Increase - Q & A

Wertz

ted1 wrote: »

Why is the standing charge going up ? These are for fixed costs that are not affected by changes in gas or oil prices.

Would you like to know why?

Simple really...the company know that if they push up unit prices by such a large amount that customers will attempt to save money by reducing their unit usage by as much as possible ...with that in mind it makes sense to push the Standing Charge up by enough of a margin to cancel out as much of the loss as possible (when averaged out across all customers).
What's even better is that the standing charge is pure profit and doesn't get eaten into by rising fuel costs...to quote another company motto, every little helps.

gigitu

Hi David at Electric Ireland , My last bill which included the price rise was estimated . How do you Know you are not charging me old price units at new unit prices ? It seems obvious the best thing to do was to read the meter when a price rise is in the offing. I phoned to find an answer and was basically tod that I had agreed to estimated readings when I originally signed up with ESB 14 years ago , but I dont remember anything about hady price rises in the middle of a bill. The fact I may be quibbling about a few cents is not the point , I feel if they are mine Electric Ireland is not entitled to them and should at least make more of an effort to listen to my complaint rather than fob me off for attempting to log a complaint , which I still did not manage .

P.S. how do you go about lodging a complaint when the company dont want to listen

MisterB

gigitu
As far as I can tell, the method of calculation for price changes works well.
If you feel the estimate is grossly exaggerated you could have asked to have it ammended.
Did you read your meter on 1st October?
If the price had gone down would you still feel the same?

gigitu

MisterB,
As far as you can tell ? Thats a good one. Do you work for Electric Ireland ? Its not the point about wether I feel it was grossly exaggerated or not , but I dont think it was all the same. At least you have managed one good point , why did they not contact me to ask me to read my meter on the 1st October ?
I take you feel that I am the kind of person who only thinks of getting the better of others when it comes to money ? Unless of course it reflects your own thoughts on matters of money

234

ESB EI do not read meters, at all, ESB Networks do. ESB Networks are independent of ESB EI and service all electricity providers i.e. Airtricity, Bord Gais, etc. ESB EI would not have been in a position to order ESB Networks to go out and read all their customers' meters on the same day at the cost of the other suppliers. As well as this there would simply not have been the man-power and the expense would have been enormous.

If you take a meter reading you can always call to have a corrected bill issued.

Electric Ireland: Mark

Hi gigitu,

Whilst I can understand where you are coming from in relation to this matter, unfortunately this would not be feasible. ESB Networks would read the meter at your premises on behalf of all suppliers; be it ourselves, Airtricity or Bord Gais Energy. They would adhere to a bi-monthly schedule (in accordance with bills being issued). It would not be feasible to read the meter in every property when price rises occur; particularly in this instance where suppliers would have raised prices at various times.

The meter at the property would normally be read four times per year. Outside of this, we would ask that customers submit readings. You can do this in several ways with ESB Electric Ireland. You can submit readings through our automated phone system by calling 1850 372 372. Alternatively, you can submit readings through the ESB Networks website at this link. The reading can also be submitted through our online billing system if you have signed up for online billing, which you can do at this link. We also have a smartphone application, through which you can submit readings, which can be downloaded at this link.

I hope this information helps.

Regards,
Mark

Electric Ireland: David

Hi everyone,

Just adding another FAQ to this thread, as it's a query that has come up quite often of late.

I signed up for your Supersaver price plan back in the summer, and I was told I would receive the 14% discount until 31st March 2012. Looking at my bills, I can only see a 6% discount?

The 6% optional discount (4% for direct debit and 2% for online billing) is itemized on page 2 of your bill (see here for a sample) and is deducted after the total units used are totted up. The rest of the discount is integrated into the unit price itself, resulting in an 8% reduction against the standard unit rate. This adds up to 14% overall.

For our current rates, see here.

The same holds for customers in receipt of the Dual Fuel, Reward or Supersaver Nightsaver price plans, all of which expired (i.e. became unavailable) on 26/08/11. However, customers signed up to these plans will continue to receive their agreed level of discounts against the standard units rates until 31/03/12.

Thanks,

David.

olympicweights

Electric Ireland: David wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just adding another FAQ to this thread, as it's a query that has come up quite often of late.

I signed up for your Supersaver price plan back in the summer, and I was told I would receive the 14% discount until 31st March 2012. Looking at my bills, I can only see a 6% discount?

The 6% optional discount (4% for direct debit and 2% for online billing) is itemized on page 2 of your bill (see here for a sample) and is deducted after the total units used are totted up. The rest of the discount is integrated into the unit price itself, resulting in an 8% reduction against the standard unit rate. This adds up to 14% overall.

....

Thanks,

David.

I switched back to ESB in June and was told the unit rate would hold until March 2012, or was it just clever wording by the telephone sales rep to make me think the rate as well as the discount would hold? I am requesting a transcript of the phone call from ESB to see exactly what was said as I have been told that they are "sorry if I was missold the product" but cannot do anything about it. In other words just pay the bill and if I'm not happy I was told I can always move to another supplier.

P.S. I may be charged €6 for the transcript!!!!!!

Electric Ireland: David

Hi olympicweights,

olympicweights wrote:

I switched back to ESB in June and was told the unit rate would hold until March 2012

I am sorry if you were misinformed. What should have been communicated clearly is that your precentage discount rate of up to 14% for standard Supersaver (or up to 17% for Dual Supersaver) would hold good until March 2012. These percentage discounts are against the standard unit rates.

olympicweights wrote:

or was it just clever wording by the telephone sales rep to make me think the rate as well as the discount would hold?

Words such as 'rates', 'prices', and 'charges' are often used interchangeably, which can sometimes lead to confusion. However I'm not suggesting that you misinterpreted what you were told; if the agent stated that the unit rates would hold good until March 2012, then that was an error pure and simple. We apologise if this was the case.

olympicweights wrote:

P.S. I may be charged €6 for the transcript!!!!!!

There is an administrative charge of €6 to have the call listened to and transcribed, and subsequently posted to the customer. But you are entitled to know what was noted by the agent at the time of the call free of charge.

If you have any further queries don't not hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,

David.

scooter29

The electricty bills we have been getting lately are so high that we are finding it hard to pay them in one payment. We have to break them up and pay them weekly. Once when I was late with a payment, we were innundated with phone calls from electricity company telling me to pay and we owed around E60. I have tried everything from turning off my heaters even when the house is freezing and not heating up the water with the immersion heater but my bills are still high...hmmm....I know all about ways to save energy etc but i still need to use my dryer and my washing maching etc. how am i supposed to live without using electricity? We are getting fleeced here.

EI: Una

Hi scooter29,

Are the amounts based on meter readings or estimates?

We also have an appliance calculator which helps you keep track of your usage - this is available on our website or as an app.

Here is a section on our site, Reduce your costs.

Here is a link also to the Energy Saving Wizard.

And finally, a link to our overall Residential energy services page.

There is also a number of energy-saving tips websites, offering recommendations such as draught-proofing.

Regards,
Una