low usage standing charge

wazzoraybelle

Why have electric ireland not made the customers affected by this new charge aware that they will be liable for it, given that it will be implemented on Feb 1st?

In my own case it will add 160 euro to my annual energy bill!!

It would surely have been simple for EI to email or send a letter.

On top of the increase in standing charges ( 14%!!) last year. It's the last straw for me with EI.

ESB gave us great service over the years, so much in fact that I was never tempted to change over to another provider even when it was cheaper to do so. Since you have rebranded yourselves you seem determined to degrade your customer service as well as squeeze as much money out of people as possible.

Early last year I posted a litany of issues I was having with my service and some remain to be resolved today.

Shame on you guys, if you want to become the ryanair of power supply you are heading in the right direction

Wazzo

Electric Ireland: David

Hi wazzoraybelle,

We recover a range of fixed and variable costs incurred in serving customers through a combination of electricity units and standing charges. Where there is very low electricity usage we do not recover the full cost of servicing that customer. This leaves us with no option in these situations but to increase the standing charge to fully recover our costs.

The alternative was to increase standing charges for all customers; however we felt a fairer approach was to apply the charge solely on accounts where we are currently not recovering our full costs.

We have set the daily threshold at a very low level (average 2 units or less per day per billing period) and are confident that only empty/vacant households and premises will attract this increased charge. A typical residential electricity customer uses approximately 14 units per day.

However, to ensure that our more vulnerable customers are not affected, the following groups are exempt from this charge:

• Customers who receive a Free Electricity Allowance
• Customers on Electric Ireland Household Budget Plan including those who have ‘Pay As You Go’ Meters installed

We announced the charge on the 30/12/11 to the National Press (including the Times, the Independent and the Examiner). All customers will also receive a notification of the charge with their bill in Feb/March.

Regards,

David.

wazzoraybelle

I don't know how you are confident only vacant houses attract this new charge,
I have 4 meters on my property, 1 for the house, 1 in a well house, 1 in a domestic workshop and 1 in garage. 3 of these will be affected.

I can only imagine that there are hundreds if not thousands of wellhouses with meters in them.

My meters are all read at the same time and there is no additional cost to EI from them.

Sending a press release on New Years eve to the national press must have ensured little if any reporting on the new charge. The first I heard of it was by word of mouth last week.

I spoke with ESB networks, CER, NCA and CAI today and none of these bodies knew anything about this charge.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I don't know why you would expect ESB Networks to know anything about a Standing Charge by a Supply company like Electric Ireland.:rolleyes:

I fully agree with applying additional standing charges to accounts that use as little as 2 units a day. No company could make such an account pay with the existing standing charge. If you have several small accounts why not have the well wired to the same meter as the house - mine is. Why expect a company to maintain an account at a loss?

wazzoraybelle

Karter Flaky Sperm wrote: »

I don't know why you would expect ESB Networks to know anything about a Standing Charge by a Supply company like Electric Ireland.:rolleyes:

I fully agree with applying additional standing charges to accounts that use as little as 2 units a day. No company could make such an account pay with the existing standing charge. If you have several small accounts why not have the well wired to the same meter as the house - mine is. Why expect a company to maintain an account at a loss?

My issue with EI is that they are not letting the people who are exposed to this new charge know that it has been implemented. It's something that would be very easy for EI to do. A google search of this new charge does not show any results for a national newspaper reporting on it.

If EI have accounts with 1/3 of the 300 000 vacant properties in the country not to mention accounts like my own they stand to make 6 million euro this year from the charge. To spend a few thousand on an awareness campaign would be the responsible thing to do

It's a great shame that a company that was so proud of its customer focus is now focused only on boosting its profits for the eventual sell off of the company.

My meters are not related to vacant properties of which they are 'confident' the new charge will be confined to, and when this has been explained they do not care. In fact my annual household electricity bill is in excess of 1750 euro (4 x standing charges + usage)

Rewiring my existing meters to one is not an economical solution, as you must know. It would cost 1000 euro minimum for trenching, ducting, armoured cable etc.

My solution has been much simpler in that all my accounts have now been moved to bord gais. This will save me nearly 250 euro a year.

I am only sorry I stayed with EI for so long, it appears they care nothing for customer loyalty.

Do the right thing Electric Ireland! Let people know that this charge exists before they see it on a bill.