Bord Gais level pay

Ciarrai76

Fol20 wrote: »

I’m with energia at the moment. Do they stop whatever promotion they give you after a year so you just revert back to their base package?

Yes, when your contract ends so does any promotion you’re on. Ours ends next Saturday so I’m shopping around this week.

Ciarrai76

zell12 wrote: »

Why don't give us some basics
Nightsaver/none
Kwh usage per annum

No nightsaver at home. Is this something you can get & is it recommended?

I’ll have to work out our annual usage.

Tar.Aldarion

I like paying each month and it being the same price. I've ended up hundreds in credit and that will disappear over the winter when I spend way more on heating, so it works out ok. They are much cheaper than what I was previously on.

3DataModem

Level pay is fine, and a great idea for this country where heating costs vary so much by season.

The reason they do it is people on level pay are less likely to switch providers, and direct debits are less likely to bounce.

Ciarrai76

zell12 wrote: »

Why don't give us some basics
Nightsaver/none
Kwh usage per annum

Looks like we are using roughly 9,600 kWh per Annum. It’s a 4 bed semi, 2 adults & 1 small child.

Ciarrai76

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I like paying each month and it being the same price. I've ended up hundreds in credit and that will disappear over the winter when I spend way more on heating, so it works out ok. They are much cheaper than what I was previously on.

It does sound good. Thanks.

Degag

dubrov wrote: »

The main reason why they offer level pay is because they can debit your account much more quickly *i.e. on the day the billing period ends). With post-pay, they would have to wait 2 weeks after issuing an invoice before collecting payment.

I've also found their "estimates" are consistently about 10% above the actual reality. You get it all back at the end of the year but you end up effectively lending the difference to them for the period at 0%.

They don't debit a customer's account on the day the billing period ends. They simple debit it once a month on a date of the customer's choosing.


Also they don't estimate readings. That's done by Gas Networks Ireland who maintain the network and provide estimates to all energy providers.

tomplate

I'm none too pleased since I switched

I'm paying more on level pay than I was on standard billing with my previous provider

Also most of the €150 switching bonus is left sitting in the account 8 months later which suits them I guess.

Also it's a dogs dinner to make sense of the payments and billing on the website

Ciarrai76

tomplate wrote: »

I'm none too pleased since I switched

I'm paying more on level pay than I was on standard billing with my previous provider

Also most of the €150 switching bonus is left sitting in the account 8 months later which suits them I guess.

Also it's a dogs dinner to make sense of the payments and billing on the website

I’m still not sure what to do. I don’t see any switching bonus with them at the moment either. I have a few days before we can switch so I need to have a bit of a ring around tomorrow.

EverythingGood

If you are a Tesco shopper or Tesco mobile customer, you can add your clubcard and build up points this way also. And use the points against your bill.

Ciarrai76

EverythingGood wrote: »

If you are a Tesco shopper or Tesco mobile customer, you can add your clubcard and build up points this way also. And use the points against your bill.

Rarely shop in Tesco & don’t have a Tesco phone so it wouldn’t benefit me.

Degag

Ciarrai76 wrote: »

I’m still not sure what to do. I don’t see any switching bonus with them at the moment either. I have a few days before we can switch so I need to have a bit of a ring around tomorrow.

People over-complicate Level Pay. When it comes down to it all you are doing is paying a set amount every month against your two month bill. You will therefore then always have a running balance on your account. Sometimes debit, sometimes credit.


If you are happy to have a running balance on your account then Level Pay will probably work for you. Some people however like to pay their bill when it comes in and clear it. If you are like this then Level Pay is probably not for you.

dubrov

Degag wrote: »

They don't debit a customer's account on the day the billing period ends. They simple debit it once a month on a date of the customer's choosing.


Also they don't estimate readings. That's done by Gas Networks Ireland who maintain the network and provide estimates to all energy providers.

I checked my payments last year (bi-monthly invoicing)
24/03/17 = Sign up date
28/04/17 = Paid first level pay amount
29/05/17 = Paid second level pay amount
31/05/17 = First invoice issued

If I wasn't on level pay, the first bill issued would still have been 31/05/17 but they wouldn't have debited any money until 2 weeks after that. Cashflow is a big thing for suppliers.

Also, I am aware that Gas network providers provide gas meter estimates for historical periods (ESB Networks do electricity). They do not provide annual forecasts and Bord Gais are free to make their own. All I am saying is that my level pay amounts consistently overcharge when the whole year is considered. They also do not provide any details on how they calculated their level pay amount.

martingriff

Hi have my Gas and electricity with Bord Gais and both are level pricing throughout the year. What they then do is at the end of the year see your actual level and then up or lower the bills for next year plus whatever extra over the 12 months if it was higher. I am actually in credit this year with my Gas

Degag

dubrov wrote: »

I checked my payments last year (bi-monthly invoicing)
24/03/17 = Sign up date
28/04/17 = Paid first level pay amount
29/05/17 = Paid second level pay amount
31/05/17 = First invoice issued

If I wasn't on level pay, the first bill issued would still have been 31/05/17 but they wouldn't have debited any money until 2 weeks after that. Cashflow is a big thing for suppliers.

There is no doubt that it works well for the suppliers in terms of getting regular payments every month but the same is quite true for the consumer. I know i'd rather pay a set amount every month instead of perhaps getting a huge bill that needs to be paid on week 4 of a month when i'm monthly paid.

Gooser14

martingriff wrote:

Hi have my Gas and electricity with Bord Gais and both are level pricing throughout the year. What they then do is at the end of the year see your actual level and then up or lower the bills for next year plus whatever extra over the 12 months if it was higher. I am actually in credit this year with my Gas

Why would you stay with the same supplier for more than a year. Surely you are missing out on lower prices by not switching to an alternative supplier.

van_beano

Gooser14 wrote: »

Why would you stay with the same supplier for more than a year. Surely you are missing out on lower prices by not switching to an alternative supplier.

I've been with Bord Gais for about 4 years now, I ring on the contract ending day every year to renew. They have always credited me €150, gave me whatever the discounts on the gas & electricity is and a further 1000 Tesco points.

The Tesco points are great as they can be doubled and that's €20 that can be paid of gas and electricity. I am still on level pay - Electricity about €44 per month, gas was the same but it has been knocked down to €28 from this month, it'll change again in a few months I reckon. Between both gas and electricity I am €800 in credit. Over the course of 4 years I have benefitted by over €1100 by using the Tesco vouchers boost. I do all my shopping in Tescos and had a Tesco Credit Card (now Avantcard, same points benefit) so the points really add up.

Xterminator

this year when i went out of contract i signed up with the one big switch offer. It just happened this was with my existing supplier, BG.
so i got the discount 28% and did not change supplier. if you see an offer and call them up you should get it once your out of contract.

Its only the people who dont call up that get screwed.

EverythingGood

Xterminator wrote: »

this year when i went out of contract i signed up with the one big switch offer. It just happened this was with my existing supplier, BG.
so i got the discount 28% and did not change supplier. if you see an offer and call them up you should get it once your out of contract.

Its only the people who dont call up that get screwed.

I have that 28% discount also, plus call each year and get at €100 cashback and Tesco club points, been with BG for 8 years now and wouldn't move.

NIMAN

Been with BG for approx 7 years now, and currently on level pay.

Anyone know if they have any offers on at present, or would it be worth calling them?

Springfields

We find level pay great. No huge bills to fork out for just smaller amount every month that we don't really notice. Can't fault it.

whelan2

NIMAN wrote: »

Been with BG for approx 7 years now, and currently on level pay.

Anyone know if they have any offers on at present, or would it be worth calling them?

Do you not renew each year to get discounts?

NIMAN

whelan2 wrote: »

Do you not renew each year to get discounts?

I used to check bonkers and the like, and it would often tell me I could save maybe 30 or 40 euro by switching.

To be honest, to change to another provider for that saving wasn't worth it, so I never did.

van_beano

NIMAN wrote: »

I used to check bonkers and the like, and it would often tell me I could save maybe 30 or 40 euro by switching.

To be honest, to change to another provider for that saving wasn't worth it, so I never did.

No need to switch, just ring BG when you’re out of contract every year, they’re very good at giving you a few sweeteners to stay

NIMAN

Cheers, I must contact them and see when my contract is up.

NIMAN

I got a reply to an email, telling me I was out of contract and they'd offer me 5% off and €100 cash back if I sign for another 12 months.

Fairly decent deal, can't see myself bettering it by moving tbh. Unsure someone knows I could?

Pity I had to email them to get it!

Gooser14

NIMAN wrote:

Fairly decent deal, can't see myself bettering it by moving tbh. Unsure someone knows I could?

Have you compared it with Energia & Electric Ireland? I think you can get a better deal but I haven't done the comparison check.

NIMAN

Bonkers is showing only 2 deals that will better that

Energia will save me €135, and SSE Airtricity will save me €124.

Can you haggle with BG? I might ask them to match the 135 to stick with them.

Ah-Watch

My Energia 12 months was up the 23rd of November. Went to switcher.ie and entered my kwh from the total of my contract with Energia. Switcher said I would save 432 by switching to Bord Gais which seemed quite big of a savings but I checked and rechecked the details to make sure I entered the right details. The Bord Gais website shows that my level pay would be either 135 or 150 I dont remember which exactly but my energia bills with discount were always around 200-240 per month. I only switched to Energia last year and had been with BG for about 5-6 years before that maybe and was happy with them. I suppose I'll know whether I made a mistake or not when the bill actually comes in.

Worth noting though that Energia rang the next day to try save me as a customer but their offer wasn't as good as the one from Bord Gais

NIMAN

I emailed BG and asked if they could match the €135 saving I would make by switching.

Worth a punt.