Prepay Power.ie...any good?

Bleating Lamb

Please move if in wrong thread,just wonder has anyone moved to using prepay power.ie....where basically you pay as you go for electricity....they claim you become more aware of what's costing most to run in house and adapt your ways and reduce your bills a bit...opened the Dec~Jan bill there and it was a whopper:(.

MarkR

Try this.

http://www.bonkers.ie/compare-gas-electricity-prices/electricity/

I doubt the prepay crowd would come out on top, but fill in the details and see what happens.

tomdempsey200

i would try that
https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential/contact_us/reducing_my_bill.jsp

and the owl energy monitor

frankmul

Some of the electricity providers allow you to make payment to your account between bill. You could put a fiver or a tenner in every week and build up some credit. It would make your bill easier to manage, when it arrives.

tomdempsey200

i looked at the prepay power but glad i didn't go near it


paying more to save money ...only in ireland wah!:)

frankmul

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

i looked at the prepay power but glad i didn't go near it


paying more to save money ...only in ireland wah!:)

I can see where it could suit some people, why join a gym when you could get loads of excersise outdoors for free. There is more chance of going to the gym and getting fit if you are paying for it.
Some people will reduce their energy useage and save money if they are paying through the nose for it.

ted1

prepay power is the equivalent of doing your weekly grocery shopping in the corner shop.

same products but dearer.

Irish Steve

Prepay are being somewhat economical with the truth with some of their numbers, if you look at the CER site, they (In theory) show the churn rates for the main suppliers, and for some time Prepay were not even considered a "main supplier". When they were eventually split out, if you look at the figures and the way they change, there wasn't that many people using them, and the number leaving seems to be very high. I can't post a link to the latest figures, there's some sort of problem with the CER site that's blocking access to the information.

If you have a problem with your power usage, start reading the meter more often, so that you see how much you are using, I can't see any advantage in a meter that cuts the power off when you run out of credit, especially when you end up paying them more for the "privilege" of having a pre payment meter. It would make more sense to move to a cheaper supplier and pay a sum each week so that there's no bill to pay at the end of the 2 month period, and you don't need prepay to do that.

It's pretty easy to work out your daily or weekly usage, and several (most) of the companies have schemes which will allow you to make payments in advance of billing, either through the post office, or online, Electricity is not like a mobile phone, there are certain things that require power 24/7, and having a device that stops the power is a last resort option, and to my mind, not a good way to "manage" your power use. If you have a freezer, and the power goes off, which means it starts (slowly) to defrost, it will take just as much power to pull it back down again as it would take to keep it at the set temperature. If you have cordless phones that use a base station, if the power is off, so is the phone, which could be very significant in the event of an emergency. While they don't cut the power overnight, the system will cut the power early in the morning, which could be highly inconvenient in some circumstances.

There are other devices that will do exactly the same as the prepay meter system, without the extra costs and inconvenience of having to remember to top up. That would seem to me to be a better option.

tomdempsey200

i had a good luck at it ..but it's daft

you have to pay a premium like a tenner a month i think

and all the hassle of (potential)cut-off and topups


it's better just to cut back on usage and save money on the bill

cast_iron

frankmul wrote: »

I can see where it could suit some people, why join a gym when you could get loads of excersise outdoors for free. There is more chance of going to the gym and getting fit if you are paying for it.
Some people will reduce their energy useage and save money if they are paying through the nose for it.

No doubt it would have an effect on people's usage. However, it's not worth paying extra for the privilege when a better alternative is available.
As suggested above, buy an energy monitor for about €40 and monitor it that way. Pay less for the electricity by avoiding prepay and the cost of the monitor will be negated in a few months.

ted1

cast_iron wrote: »

No doubt it would have an effect on people's usage. However, it's not worth paying extra for the privilege when a better alternative is available.
As suggested above, buy an energy monitor for about €40 and monitor it that way. Pay less for the electricity by avoiding prepay and the cost of the monitor will be negated in a few months.

Tesco in nutgrove were selling owl meters for 15 euro at the weekend

.G.

And if you really have trouble paying your bill and want a pre pay meter,all the other energy suppliers will install them for you,free of charge and without the extra electricity costs on top.

tomdempsey200

superg wrote: »

And if you really have trouble paying your bill and want a pre pay meter,all the other energy suppliers will install them for you,free of charge and without the extra electricity costs on top.

Do the other suppliers have cheaper prepay then?

wytch

This seems to say to me that pre pay power is a rip off. (see link)They charge an extra 37 cent a day standing charge. Works out I think 137 euro per year? I would think it is normally the less well off in society that use this service. Good ads, tell people they will save money, and charge them more. You gotta love capitalism.


http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/prepay-electricity-users-fork-out-extra-137-a-year-29279402.html

.G.

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

Do the other suppliers have cheaper prepay then?

If you have trouble paying your bill they can install a pre pay meter.Unit prices will be the same as they were when you got a normal bill.

tomdempsey200

superg wrote: »

If you have trouble paying your bill they can install a pre pay meter.Unit prices will be the same as they were when you got a normal bill.

didn't know that


so if i switched to prepay with electric ireland ,the charges are identical?

.G.

Yes but they usually won't fit them unless they have to.Usually its for customers who are already in debt so your top up amount on the meter is split,some for credit,some goes off existing debt.

Give them a call and ask.

sawdoubters

they charge 25% more than non prepay


Cost

€1,049 – Airtricity Home Electricity Saver
€1,051 – Bord Gais 10% Discounted Electricity
€1,077 – Electric Ireland ValueSaver – their cheapest deal
€1,179 – Electric Ireland Standard Rate - tracked by PrePayPower and Pinergy
€1,316 – Pinergy
€1,316 – PrePayPower


to match Airtricity’s Home Electricity Saver deal, a prepayment customer would need to reduce electricity usage by 1,383 units a year, which is 26%

To reduce electricity consumption by 26% would require monumental effort. It would it would be like turning absolutely everything off and going Victorian for three months of the year.

yenom

What happens if you lose the piece of paper you are given in the shop? Can you ring them up and get the credit number off them?

Delta2113

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pre-pay-power-plans-prove-costly-5861211



Not just this country the poor being taken advantage off.