OneBigSwitch.ie Bulk Buying for Electricity

Muahahaha

Right admittedly this isn't a Bargain Alert just yet but if enough people sign up to it then it could very well become one.
Website is onebigswitch.ie and they just launched today. The idea is that when they have a few thousands sign ups they can then go to the electricity companies and negotiate a discount using the purchasing power of a large group of people. I guess you could say its Groupon for ESB.

Anyway according to the company electricity costs have risen 21% in the last year alone and also that schemes like these are up and running successfully in other European countries. So I've signed up and hope this works out cause I'm really sick of €100+ bills at this stage. Sign up is easy, there's a survey bit but you don't have to answer all the questions.

whiteshorts

What do they get out of it and what happens if they don't get 1000 people to sign up?
Doesn't sound like something I'd be getting involved in.

Bebo stunnah

If they don't get the amount they need, then nothing happens, I'm assuming...

Signed up myself, can't see the harm in it. It even says if you don't want the new negotiated price there's no need to accept it. Apparently theyrecieve commission from the energy company for getting so many people to join them.

Can't see it working as every time a money saving scheme pops up in Ireland, it's usually greeted with a big F#ck you, or you get the normal price and everyone else gets an inflated one...

Fries-With-That

AFAIK they are looking for 20,000 people to sign up, then they negotiate with the power companies on behalf of their members.

Its a similar to when companies offer specific discounts targeting employees of different companies.

They are hoping to negotiate substantial discounts over and above what the power companies offer existing customers for switching.

Kristopherus

Of course Mr Tattan could have got the ball running in a big way if he offered the first 20,000 sign-ups 10 - 20% of Glo-Health Insurance, as he is also co-founder of that;).

Muahahaha

whiteshorts wrote: »

What do they get out of it and what happens if they don't get 1000 people to sign up?
Doesn't sound like something I'd be getting involved in.

I presume they get some sort of commission out of it, they're not doing it for the craic. If they saved you 15% off your bill would you really begrudge them a 3 or 4% commission on the savings they've passed on to you ?

Dogre

1,980 people have now signed up, including me. 26 days to get to 20,000

Fr_Dougal

You can't sell gas/electricity in Ireland without a licence...and it takes up to 2 years to be granted one. Can't help but think that this is one clever marketing campaign.

keithclancy

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

You can't sell gas/electricity in Ireland without a licence...and it takes up to 2 years to be granted one. Can't help but think that this is one clever marketing campaign.

The Energy Market in Ireland has been liberalised in a similar way to the Dutch market.

The Idea isn't new, pretty much along the lines of United Consumers:
http://www.unitedconsumers.com/energie/

ted1

Fries-With-That wrote: »

AFAIK they are looking for 20,000 people to sign up, then they negotiate with the power companies on behalf of their members.

Its a similar to when companies offer specific discounts targeting employees of different companies.

They are hoping to negotiate substantial discounts over and above what the power companies offer existing customers for switching.

with 20,000 there is no negotiation needed they simply become a supplier, and purchase their own electricity on the SEM. sounds like an advertisement to me

sawdoubters

you just adding another middleman
,and most put up prices after a few months

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

mozil

Stupid idea all in aid of lining this companies pockets!

Do people not realise that ESB once had every customer on this island???
We went from having the second cheapest leci prices in Europe in that so called "monopoly" to now being second dearest last time I heard....

All we have is artificial competition, EU told us we could no longer have one company selling the power gave the state X years to open the market before this was done the regulator over a number of years insisted on price increases, with this accomplished the door was open for other suppliers to come on in and undercut.

Just my two cents, **** all the chancres out let ESB set there own price no problem

ted1

mozil wrote: »

Stupid idea all in aid of lining this companies pockets!

Do people not realise that ESB once had every customer on this island???
We went from having the second cheapest leci prices in Europe in that so called "monopoly" to now being second dearest last time I heard....

All we have is artificial competition, EU told us we could no longer have one company selling the power gave the state X years to open the market before this was done the regulator over a number of years insisted on price increases, with this accomplished the door was open for other suppliers to come on in and undercut.

Just my two cents, **** all the chancres out let ESB set there own price no problem

Mozil our biggest problem is our energy mix. its all imported and we're last in the long gas pipeline.

we had plenty of peat plants but these were to dirty.

VikingG

sawdoubters wrote: »

you just adding another middleman
,and most put up prices after a few months

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

Odd that you call them a middleman and then post a link to another middleman. Both companies have a similar business model ... get consumers to switch and take a commission from the new provider for sending them new customers.

Just one point though OneBidSwitch are not bulk buying electricity as the title says... they are just using the weight of a large number of customers to negotiate a better price. Once they negotiate a price with whoever they will step away... and your contract will be with your new energy provider.

jpb14

They were on TV3s morning am programme this morning promoting this.And as of 11am this morning over 3000 people have signed up to to it.
Not bad going imo.

dor843088

5, 500 as of a few minutes ago . If I dont get a better deal ill stay where I am . I dont see how this isnt a good thing . It worked in oz as far as I know. If 20,000 sign up theyd have a buying power of roughly €10,000,000. Cant see any company passing up that kind of revenue opportunity too easily.

Bebo stunnah

Assuming the average bill is about €150 bimonthly, it'd be €18m for 20,000 people. With what they currently have (5900), that's nearly €5.5m.

And I know a lot of people paying way more than my average figure!

dodzy

dor843088 wrote: »

5, 500 as of a few minutes ago . If I dont get a better deal ill stay where I am . I dont see how this isnt a good thing . It worked in oz as far as I know. If 20,000 sign up theyd have a buying power of roughly €10,000,000. Cant see any company passing up that kind of revenue opportunity too easily.

True, but that company might already have the bulk of these customers in their pocket. No harm going along for the ride though.

Muahahaha

<snip>

Nearly 7000 customers is pretty good going in four days. They still have another 24 days to hit their target of 20.000 customers so I'd be surprised if they don't hit the target earlier than that.

I'll be interested to see how this actually works when it's set up. If it's a case that they get people a 10-15% discount for 12 months only then it is a waste of time because you can do that yourself just by switching your energy company.

If they can negotiate a permanently lower rate than what is a available otherwise then I'd say this service will be very successful.

Cape Clear

20,000 is not such a big figure for a nationwide campaign considering it doesn't cost anything to sign up.

bogman

Muahahaha wrote: »

Nearly 7000 customers is pretty good going in four days.

7,958 at 20.40 tonight

famer279

Just checked, there's 8007 people there now. They'll get 20000 in no time Join yourself with this link : www.onebigswitch.ie

AlanS181824

Not harm in signing up I'd imagine.

AlanS181824

"Alan, you have joined 8,046 consumers in this campaign"
Eh... yay?

prettyboy81

Fook it I'm in

jpb14

Thats me signed up.:)
Also recently signed up to Energia for dual fuel online.
On a side not here for a second,I see that the EU today have lambasted Ireland and Mr Kenny for not making the electricity and gas market over here more competitive and lowering the cost of both utilities.
Ireland is in line to get hit with a big fine from the EU if we we dont lower the cost of both electricity and gas to customers.Hopefully prices come down rather soon.

jpb14

Full story here.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/ireland-facing-european-court-over-electricity-competition-failure-623176.html

south

jpb14 wrote: »

Thats me signed up.:)
Also recently signed up to Energia for dual fuel online.
On a side not here for a second,I see that the EU today have lambasted Ireland and Mr Kenny for not making the electricity and gas market over here more competitive and lowering the cost of both utilities.
Ireland is in line to get hit with a big fine from the EU if we we dont lower the cost of both electricity and gas to customers.Hopefully prices come down rather soon.

So we'll end up paying high energy costs and a fine on top of them.. Lovely!

amber2

On Monday I completed an application through bonkers to switch from Airtricity to electricity Ireland. Once switched over will be contracted for 12 months. I presume I can't sign up for the onebigswitch now.

Kalyke

Sign up anyway. No obligation involved.

casio4

just signed up

snubbleste

Now at 15,750 people

TheHappyChappy

signed up - great idea

The Assistinator

snubbleste wrote: »

Now at 15,750 people

Up to 16055 now

DERICKOO

Ya but who gets the commission now if it was passed onto the recipients well OK but to set this up to make money just does not set right with me. I'm out

Round Cable

DERICKOO wrote: »

Ya but who gets the commission now if it was passed onto the recipients well OK but to set this up to make money just does not set right with me. I'm out

If the customer saves 5% (for example), and they take 1%, is it not better to save 5% than nothing?

TheHappyChappy

DERICKOO wrote: »

Ya but who gets the commission now if it was passed onto the recipients well OK but to set this up to make money just does not set right with me. I'm out

From the 16000+ we are sad

cruhoortwunk

TheHappyChappy wrote: »

From the 16000+ we are sad

Signed up. 16274 is the current total

The_Conductor

jpb14 wrote: »

Thats me signed up.:)
Also recently signed up to Energia for dual fuel online.
On a side not here for a second,I see that the EU today have lambasted Ireland and Mr Kenny for not making the electricity and gas market over here more competitive and lowering the cost of both utilities.
Ireland is in line to get hit with a big fine from the EU if we we dont lower the cost of both electricity and gas to customers.Hopefully prices come down rather soon.

The problem is the CER when approached by the once incumbents for permission to increase prices- agreed to guarantee them income levels (independent of price of sourcing their supplies). The public consultations on price rises- and indeed the reports they issued after each increase they sanctioned, were quite remarkable. Sure there were platitudes to the poor consumers getting hit by yet more price increases- however, the tone of them was to safeguard of the balance sheets of the companies- not the pockets of consumers.

Our Commission for Energy Regulation- is there to protect the Energy Companies (and now Uisce Eireann) not the Irish Consumer. As soon as people understand this- the better.

TireeTerror

Im not seeing any evidence of this working at all. I will point out that data gained from people registering is very valuable......

Its worth noting that energy suppliers already lose money from a customer when they sign them up due to the discounts they receive in year 1. Its a loss-leader, they hope to keep you after the year and recover their losses.

You would be better off to simply change yourself each year and not provide personal details to some website.

meathman0

It's gone over 20,000 now with 15 days still left, so let's see all the big discounts or is this just a big con

The_Conductor

meathman0 wrote: »

It's gone over 20,000 now with 15 days still left, so let's see all the big discounts or is this just a big con

What do they define as a 'big discount'.
Given all the new customer offers with pretty much all suppliers are 'loss-leaders' aka provided at below cost- how can these meet or better those offers.

meathman0

The_Conductor wrote: »

What do they define as a 'big discount'.
Given all the new customer offers with pretty much all suppliers are 'loss-leaders' aka provided at below cost- how can these meet or better those offers.

As someone mentioned in an earlier post you can get discounts by moving supplier yourself for 12 months, maybe with one big switch your discount will run as long as you stay with that supplier, otherwise this is a waste of time unless the discounts are much bigger.

The_Conductor

meathman0 wrote: »

As someone mentioned in an earlier post you can get discounts by moving supplier yourself for 12 months, maybe with one big switch your discount will run as long as you stay with that supplier, otherwise this is a waste of time unless the discounts are much bigger.

Sorry for being horribly cynical.

TireeTerror

The only way I can see it working, if at all, is if the commission they receive is a lot less than what they are paying out to the marketing companies who currently obtain them new customers. The suppliers wouldn't be interested in using them if they were to actively encourage the customers to switch after the 12 months discount had expired, as they really need customers to stay for 2-3 years to make it worth their while. If that is the case, how could they genuinely state they have the best interests of the consumer in mind when they are being driven by profit.

Another issue is that all of the suppliers in the market have contracts with direct marketing companies to source their new clients, it is highly likely that there will be T&Cs in those contracts to ensure that those marketing companies have exclusive access to direct sales, other than inhouse sales generated by call centres and online advertising. Would a big supplier risk losing an effective marketing company for a few thousand customers who are more than likely to be considering changing as soon as their discount is over? Remember that even though 20,000 people may sign up, many will be in contracts and many wont actually bother to change. A lot of people will wrongly assume that 20,000 customers is a lot and a huge discount will be available, well 20,000 is actually a small number in reality. A lot of those customers will already be existing customers of the chosen supplier and will almost certainly not be likely to receive a discount, unless its Electric Ireland who do offer discounts to existing customers.

I just do not see the margins being available for it to work.

Kristopherus

meathman0 wrote: »

As someone mentioned in an earlier post you can get discounts by moving supplier yourself for 12 months, maybe with one big switch your discount will run as long as you stay with that supplier, otherwise this is a waste of time unless the discounts are much bigger.

But Mr Tatton's plan is that you will effectively get another discount on top of the "discount" that you're talking about. There would be no sense in running a big campaign like this just to match the "discounts" that you can get by moving to a different provider.

Deep Thought

TireeTerror wrote: »

The only way I can see it working, if at all, .

What the harm in signing up, if its a goer then great, if not then do your own thing

Even if it works, you dont need to use it

Muahahaha

Kristopherus wrote: »

But Mr Tatton's plan is that you will effectively get another discount on top of the "discount" that you're talking about. There would be no sense in running a big campaign like this just to match the "discounts" that you can get by moving to a different provider.

If that's his plan then this could very well work. It remains to be see if they follow through on it. If they do get us a discount on a discount (I.e. Somewhere to the tune of 15% off the headline rate) then I reckon this service will be popular and with 20,000+ sign ups they can then apply the same business model to mobile phone bills, internet bills, etc

If it turns out that all we get is a 10% discount which we could have got ourselves by switching company then it'll be a wasted opportunity on behalf of the company because there is definitely an appetite among consumers for this type of scheme and savings. At this stage a statement from the company on how the mechanics of this will actually work would be welcome.

If it turns out that they've wasted our time then I for one will waste their time by requesting a copy of all the data I gave them.

Edit- just checked there and they now have 20,800 sign ups so let's hope we find out how this works very soon

snubbleste

They've already done Oz
https://www.onebigswitch.com.au/campaigns/snapshots#.UxH21BtMn_4

TireeTerror

There is not a hope in hells chance there will be anything like 10% off the discounted rates, there is no benefit for any provider to do it at all. I know on the face of it, it sounds great, bulk buying power and all that, but the margins energy suppliers sell energy for are far too small to facilitate bigger discounts. The fact is, the more people that sign up for it, the more money the chosen supplier loses. Perhaps they may wangle 5% off, but thats about it and Im highly dubious about that at all.

My natural cynicism tells me that they will make plenty of money from your personal details. I value my privacy, so unless there is a specific option to prevent my details being sold on, or used for other marketing purposes, I wouldnt be interested.

rhapsodyinblue

Regarding electricity: does anyone else check their meter readings? I read mine every morning and know more or less what we use every day. Imagine my surprise when the last bill arrived and we were overcharged by 450 units!!
Tried phoning them, but their phone is just on a ridiculous answering system.