Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119328680#Comment_119328680

Energia do. Always found their energy plans super easy to find on their site and really well broken down. Have you tried there?

Liam2021

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119329008#Comment_119329008

Found the plans easy, but it does not show rural standing charge only urban.

macvin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119305277#Comment_119305277

Easy enough to time dishwasher/ washing machine/ immersion for those hours too.

Don't worry about the noise, you get used to it very quickly and you don't notice it.

If you have the discipline you could reduce the bill dramatically.

fafy

Noise ! There are plenty of low, db dishwashers and washing machines. They are a bit pricier though.

Best to time that it finishes, about the time you are getting up, assuming that is before the night rate ends.

A few small behaviour changes needed, then, it becomes normal after a while

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119329051#Comment_119329051

So I see. From what I can gather, I think it's €100 or so extra Vs urban. I'd imagine if you put in your mprn on the site, and it's urban, it'll give you the price eventually.

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119328680#Comment_119328680

Mine is 377.06 for a rural day/night meter on their EV plan. Signed up at the start of June.

Mike2006

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119329260#Comment_119329260

This is a significant carrot to move to night time operation of appliances…. However, there are safety implications to running these at night also. I have 3 examples where my friends kitchen burnt down when her dishwasher caught fire, an uncle of mine had his utility burn down when his tumble dryer caught fire (build up of dry lint..) and most recently, my own washing machine started smoking when the bearing was failing… I as a rule do not allow appliances to be run while we are asleep. The chances may be low, but they do happen and the consequences are higher than I am willing to accept…

Sorry to go off thread but it is somewhat relevant as once you move to a nightrate meter then the very natural thing to do is to push as much usage as possible to the cheaper time..

Mike

DaveyDave

Just got off the phone with Electric Ireland, they said my request to have my smart meter swapped was denied by ESB. Then said i can just get a smart plan etc started telling me how it will be 28c day, 17c night or something. Told him about Energia's prices and he started going on how it's probably vat exclusive etc and he was trying to work out rates and why would I want to get rid of a smart meter etc. So I just hung up. Wasting my time...

So what's the story, I can't change my smart meter? Can I get a normal day night plan on a smart meter?

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119331119#Comment_119331119

Agree with this, hence in our house we time them all to come on at about 7am (when we are getting up) but still during night rate. There is no chance I'd remember to actually turn them on at that time though.

fafy

These are very good points and very relevant, we always have the cycles, finishing, before the night rate ends at 9am for the summer period (8am in winter) and there is always someone up from about 06:30 ish, so i don’t consider it an issue in our house, as we mainly use 70’ish minute washing cycle, but safety is a very valid point to be aware of.

kuang1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119332184#Comment_119332184

This is untrue. Yes you can have your meter changed.

I'm with Bord Gais, and it took me 3 attempts at requesting a change to d/n meter to finally have it done. Turns out esb networks never received the request the first 2 times as the individuals I spoke with at BG did not process the request correctly.

I expect this is what may have happened here. You could always contact esb networks and they'll tell you if they received any request for change of meter. I'll bet they didn't.

fafy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119332480#Comment_119332480

I agree with this, its a scenario i have heard before, a lot of the customer service agents do not know the details, same with IBAN from non Irish Bank account, EI customer service agents told me this was “impossible, on two separate occasions, which was incorrect.

I would suggest the next time you ring EI, ask for a supervisor. I swapped mine out in April last, ordered via Bord Gais, i had no issues, but am aware of those that did.

I am not aware of a new policy on meter swapping, i doubt this has changed.

darrenheaphy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119328680#Comment_119328680

Mine is 377.06 incl. VAT

SD_DRACULA

Coming to the end of my contract with bordgais in about 2 weeks time and I am on a d/n meter right now (not smart)

Wondering if the energia EV plan is still the best one out there:

Have solar with a 20kwh battery pack so I will be using the night charging in winter to hopefully avoid any day units.

eddhorse

No brainer if you have the battery alright, Ed shakes fist

Liam2021

My meter is getting changed from a smart meter to a day/night meter on Friday. I will be changing to board gas or electric Ireland. Any advice on which is best. There is a big difference between the rural standing charge

fafy

Its tricky to compare, as, EI have announced another price increase from August 1st, and its very likely Energia & Bord Gais will follow, exactly when this will be, is unknown. The best option might be to wait a few weeks.

I also notice Bord Gais have several 24 month plans, not something i would personally consider.

The various providers are also been regularly increasing standing charges, this often goes under the radar, EI have both current, and post July 31st standing charges listed, but Energia & Bord Gais have not announced their price increases yet:

kuang1

I'm with BG and just recently changed to a d/n meter.

Rang them last week to see what different plan options are available to me now, and was told that there is only one:

Including VAT, day rate 26.67c, night rate 13.2c.

No EV plan available. No alternative plan other than this one.

She also mentioned that if there was another plan available and I wanted to switch to it, I would have to pay a charge of €50 for exiting my contract early, despite (and I repeated this question 3 times for clarity!) me remaining a customer of theirs!!

Disgraceful carry on.

I'm leaving things be for now, but as soon as my EV arrives I'm jumping ship.

DaveyDave

Is it even worth looking into these plans that much? Pick the cheapest now, it will likely go up. Go for one that went up recently, it will likely go up again in 6 months anyway.

I got a €30 gas bill for the last 2 months, only €5 of that is actual gas. The standing charges and taxes are absolutely ridiculous. Same with electricity, 2 of us in the house at the moment, both working in the office and no EV at present. 1.2kW solar on the house so annual usage is fairly low and a big chunk of our summer bills are just charges and tax...

fafy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119358383#Comment_119358383

Ya, its tricky, all though, Flo gas who have very high tarriffs, have a good offer for Natural Gas, a credit of €220, which will pay for your annual standing charges. Thats a 12 month plan, avoid the 2 year plan offering same credit.

https://www.flogas.ie/assets/uploads/documents_autopopulate/Natural_Gas_And_Electricity_Downloads_Residential/C016494%20Flogas%20Cashback%20T&C%20A4_Digital.pdf

You have to stay the full 12 months, or the credit recouped, but thats okay, its particularly good, if you have very low annual gas usage, which is me.

Flogas are also the latest to increases rates from August 19th next:

https://m.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/flogas-announces-sixth-price-rise-for-households-in-past-year-41850667.html

eddhorse

Just switching to Electric Ireland today from SSE, 21c day, 10c night. Going to 23/11 in august.

SSE could only give me 29c day and 16c night, standing charges are roughly the same too.

Energia 27c day and 7.9c night, looking at my usage roughly 50/50 for day to night, EI was a better deal.

fafy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119360601#Comment_119360601

Yes, everyones requirements/usage is different, Energia’s 27/7.9 day/night deal is really only good, for people with PV panels.

eddhorse

Or definitely a battery to charge up overnight.

Definitely write down all your usage for one year and compare what you can, especially with EV and night rate.

Standing charges vary slightly too.

as of August 1st EI standing charge is 396, SSE 286, Energia 296

munsterfan2

Has anyone tried to calculate their costs on a BG smart plan. I have the rates (Rural EV 32% discount) as

but when I try calculate the actual charges, multiplying the 30min smart reader values by the above rates the numbers are off. (Had no issues with electric Ireland)

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366358#Comment_119366358

Yep their website seems to only provide a "guesstimate" and seems to round everything up, e.g. my standing charge (Urban 100% Green free Saturday) at €218.75 a year works out at 1.248c every 30 mins but gets rounded up to 2c which would make it €350.40 a year (I queried this as my "free" usage period was still showing 2c every 30 mins which is the standing charge).

I've been told that the monthly or two monthly bill is what actually decides what you are charged, and that works out your pro-rata standing charge for the month or two months and your aggregate day, night and peak units for that period multiplied by your unit rates.

munsterfan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366890#Comment_119366890

Thanks, I had noticed the kw/h unit counts were the the sum of the rounded values of the 30 minute readings ( to 2 places ). I guess I will just ignore their costings and get mine synced so the bill is correct monthly.

Redfox25

Pick your brains here folks if that's OK.

Currently use 1100 odd units with no ev, one due next month. Estimating 20k mileage. Smart meter currently.

Paying 21c per unit with Energia, 243 euro standing charge.

Is it worth moving to day night as likely only thing that will be using night rate is the car. Unlikely to get the dishwasher and washing machine over to night rate atm. Started a new contract at start of this month so would have to factor in breaking contract too.

Anyone got a spreadsheet set up by any chance?

Thanks in advance

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119395004#Comment_119395004

20k km mileage at say 18kWh/100km is about 3600kWh. The rule of thumb is if you can move more than about 30% onto night rate, it's worth it. So based on your day consumption being only 1100, you would be using about 75% on night rate just charging the car.

For context, we've done less than 1k km per month for past 4 months in our EV, but we are running at 50/50 ish day/night (granted with some machines running from 7am on night rate).

dingbat

Getting a new EV next month. Am assuming that there is little to no point in trying to guesstimate what the best plan might be until I see how much our usage is under our current one?

Redfox25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119395038#Comment_119395038

Thanks for that Crisco10

I think I may have explained it poorly. Its circa 1100 per billing cycle so circa 7k units per year. Throw in another 3.6k units for the EV and it tips it to the over 30% of total usage where day night makes sense.