Thinking of Switching from Electric Ireland to Airtricity

Selbeep

Hi there,

We are thinking of moving from Electric Ireland to Airtricity as our discount period with Electric Ireland is finished and they put us straight on to the standard domestic tariff. If we do sign up with them again for a slightly cheaper rate, which is the best they say they can offer us, it's until June next year but they didn't mention that this slightly better rate would end in March but we're stuck with them until June. Because of all of this we're thinking of moving to Airtricity but just wonder what experiences anybody has of them, are they up-to-date with bills, etc.? We were also with Bord Gais before but they won't give us any discounts as they don't consider us "new customers" so they're not an option. Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Selbeep.

dirtyden

From my experience I would stick with Electric Ireland. I have moved home and have been having serious issues with airtricity over them closing my old account and finalising a bill and also setting up my new account. This should be simple but I have found their customer service shocking. I have given all details they need but they have still managed to mess up my final bill with account termination fees, recharging me for units already paid for etc. I have called them numerous times and each call just ends up with a different incorrect bill. I have not been debited yet luckily so I will hold out and hope I come across someone competent by mail or phone but it is unwanted hassle.

Their unit rates were better, but standing charges appear to be higher. When my 18 month contract is up I will be changing to anyone else even if it means slightly higher unit rate.

SnipSnop

I can only agree.

First of all, bills have been insane ever since we switched to Airtricity. As in twice what we paid in the past.

Constant issues with direct debits, you call them up and "Oh no there are no outstanding balance". 3 days later you get a letter in the door. "Outstanding charges" etc etc etc. Nightmare from start to finish.

Customer service is a joke. Nobody knows what is going on. Stay far far far away from them.

Selbeep

Thanks both for your replies, think we'll stay with Electric Ireland for the moment anyway and see if things improve with Airtricity.

pprendeville

Moving house shortly and have to cancel/switchover lots of accounts including Airtricity. Can someone tell me is this list definitive? Should I expect hassle?

http://www.airtricity.com/ie/home/help-centre-ie/moving-house/

petethebrick

Soerenlp wrote: »

Customer service is a joke. Nobody knows what is going on. Stay far far far away from them.

Absolutely agree. They are a nightmare to deal with. I too had a couple of ridiculously incorrect bills such as €400 when it should have been €100 (despite having submitted meter readings). These were debited from my account regardless of the fact that I was told by several customer service reps that they would not be. The issue was not then resolved until the next bill, leaving me €300 out of pocket for two months.

You are constantly told different things by their customer service reps (after waiting on hold for ages - funnily enough if you call them to sign up your call is answered instantly).

I'm back with Electric Ireland now and couldn't be happier, what a difference in customer service anyway....

petethebrick

pprendeville wrote: »

Moving house shortly and have to cancel/switchover lots of accounts including Airtricity. Can someone tell me is this list definitive? Should I expect hassle?

http://www.airtricity.com/ie/home/help-centre-ie/moving-house/

Be very careful that you research this properly. You will need to either
- transfer the account to the landlord
- transfer the account to your new address if you're going to stick with them
- terminate the account

If transferring the account to the landlord both you and he will need to agree on the final meter reading and send the relevant documents to airtricity. If the landlord drags his heels on doing this then simply terminate the account. The landlord will have to pay to get power reconnected to his property so warn him about this.

havetoquit

I am also grossly fed up with Airtricity, but it does seem that they all change once the year's contract is up.

Have looked at comparisons at Bonkers.ie, who say they will even carry out the switch for you. Don't know if this is wise or not.

Can anyone verify their own comparisons on here and let me know if there is an efficient company out there for electricity only whom they have been happy with cost and customer service wise for a lengthy period, not just the first year.

Many many thanks for any advice, or even a guide as to where I can find trusted unbiased advice.

RATM

Bonkers.ie is a good site, have used them in the past.

It seems to me that (customer service aside) in order to ensure you are on the cheapest possible rate for electricity you must switch company every 12-18 months becasue as soon as your new customer discount period is up you'll likely find electricty 10-12% cheaper with one of the other providers.

It isn't all that much hassle either and would probably save the average household €100-150 per year by doing so. I put a reminder in my phone to let me know when the discount period is up and then I check bonkers.ie for the lowest rate and switch. It has worked well so far and considering it is 15 minutes work for a decent saving it is well worth doing IMO.

havetoquit

Thank you so much, but do the companies in question not have you on record as being an old customer and therefore present issues with your new customer discount.

Sorry, can't use question mark key, as stuck.

It just seems that Airtricity have upped their prices with no warning to me and also have a very iffy customer service when you have to contact them.

They told me that I did not have to use the direct debit, providing my payment arrived on time and then just went ahead and deducted direct debit without my knowledge and this was after I had entered into a written agreement with them to the contrary.

You seem to have a good system of dealing with the rising prices and just hope it works for me.

Gatling

We had similar web had sales reps call to our apartment we stupidly switched after the sales pitch of up to 30% saving over electric Ireland and that we could pay through the post office like EI and our UPC ,first bill arrived 110e increase over EI 2nd bill jumped another 200e then they demanded we pay by direct debit we said no,then when we complained to them, they said it was the meter needed reading ohhh that would add 110e to the next bill and that there estimate was we were underbilled we went from suppostly a 320e bill to 780e in 2 phone calls.

Never again at least with EI when people get a little behind they work with customers and the likes of Mabs ,yes I've a few slight issue's with EI but my god is never touch airtricity with a barge pole ,
Funny thing how they had the law changed to make it harder to switch service providers after lobbying the government too