Switching electric/gas providers (see first post for links)

banie01

The Flogas electric plan is as good a price I've seen in a while. Is there any similar gas discount plan with them?

I'm a fairly low gas user, 6000kwh per year but would still like as good a price as I can get there too.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883294#Comment_120883294

Should be a dual fuel plan if you look back a few pages.

Here. https://www.flogas.ie/dual-fuel/flogas-community-plan-fixed-dual-fuel-1-yr.html

crasy dash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883294#Comment_120883294

Cheers for that just took the gamble and switched over currently with energia at 44cent a unit so swapping to 30 includind the vat should help a little

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883418#Comment_120883418

Thanks for that Con. I'd completely missed it 👍

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883481#Comment_120883481

Only sign up online though, don't ring or they might say the offer is not open to you as happened to others here.

nhg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120882594#Comment_120882594

I’m out of contract with EI since last week, thinking of emailing them with a copy of our most recent bills (have 3 accounts) attached asking for confirmation that our ‘smart meters’ are still unactivated and confirming that we do not wish to activate them - that way if they do activate them if/when we move we can try fight the change…..

Roberto_gas

so has waterpower reduced price by 40% as wholesale prices have gone down? Anyone has latest July price?

tx_tx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883584#Comment_120883584

That confirmation is on the bills themselves. If they say MCC01 or MCC02 you're good, otherwise you're smart.

And EI won't activate your smart meter - they'll trick you into doing that yourself by clicking OK to see your detailed usage on their portal or something similar.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883584#Comment_120883584

What meter status is on the bills? Have you accessed you meter data on any of the accounts through the EI app?

Pekarirska

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883657#Comment_120883657

Waterpower rate is 50% down when compared December to May.

We're still in July so the price couldn't have been calculated yet for this month. Was 25.15c/kWh ex vat in June.

nhg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883836#Comment_120883836

No, the accounts are - 1 is DG1 MCC01 & the other 2 are DG2 MCC01

Before they first started installing the smart meters I set up a spreadsheet tracker for usage & unit costs which I keep updated with each bill to see if it would be beneficial to go with a smart plan on any of the accounts - which it wouldn’t - rather than listening to a salesperson telling me it would be of benefit.

I have over 3 years of data for each account.

Setanter

For a sort of smart plan check out

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830954#Comment_120830954

I had to ring them to sign up, nothing happened when I submitted online, very disorganised.

The rates quoted in that post are apparently for rural, urban was a little dearer but competitive think 34.5 for day rate. The urban standing charge is nearly €100 cheaper. This was the situation as of last Tuesday.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884065#Comment_120884065

You're ok, 24hr is available or day/night sometime in the future...

OmegaGene

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884240#Comment_120884240

so around 280 standing charge for urban ?

can you recall the peak and night rate at all by any chance ?

thanks in advance

Pekarirska

Google "flogas community". Then click the first link.

SC €302.92

Sheep Shagger

Has anyone come off a Flogas contract and then moved to the community plan and if so, did you sign up online straight after you came out of contract or did you call them ?

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884625#Comment_120884625

Don't ring them, try do it online if you can. Ringing them they start asking questions and might tell you your not eligible as has been the case with others here.

Sarn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884625#Comment_120884625

I resigned with them online, I think two days before my contract ran out. They said that there would be no break fee.

Saying that, my gas contract was started a day after my last contract finished. However, my electricity started 15 days later, 17 days after I applied for the community offer. Something I have to look into as that’s messed up and makes switching awkward next year.

Pekarirska

Moved my gas to Flogas BWG - now called Community - the day after the old Flogas contract expired. I'm quite sure process for electricity is the same as I did it before. All done online.

Got an email confirmation the next day confirming the "switch". That was 40 days ago. No communication since then though, can't see any changes on the portal either. Both old gas and electricity still showing active, which is not the case. That makes some people uncomfortable.

But that's ok for Flogas standards. That's how they do business. They didn't send me electricity bill for 4 months in winter for example, and then they sent two together.

I had 6 contracts with them in the last 5 years, electricity and gas combined. They're a cute bunch pricewise.

OmegaGene

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884417#Comment_120884417

yeah I’ve done that already and it’s not for a smart plan and that’s why I quoted the poster as they seem to have got the smart plan urban rates

thanks anyway

Cape Clear

How would one prove that a supplier activated a smart plan without the consent of a customer? Do the suppliers even require consent as we have seen with telecom operators they have in the past altered terms of supply with little recourse. It's only a matter of time before suppliers start charging a premium for peak hours. CRU, Eir Grid and government aren't going to discourage it either.

beet_root

Am in the same boat as others being 'duped' last year by EI while switching to their 24hr rate (with insights). Never realised I was going to be stuck on a smart plan from then on, no mention in their T&C either https://www.electricireland.ie/DOCS/PRICE-PLANS/RESIDENTIAL/2022/0522_PP_HD_SAVER_PLUS_22.PDF

tx_tx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885487#Comment_120885487

Trying to contain usage at peak times is actually mainly a network management issue. The grid has a certain peak capacity, and beyond that, parts of the network need to be cut to save the rest. Upgrading that capacity is costly, so to an extent, it's a better alternative to have incentives in place to shift usage away from peak times.

Electricity (wholesale) is a bit more expensive at peak times, but this alone isn't a powerful enough incentive. It has to be made even more expensive, by way of increasing network pass-through charges at peak times. That's a decision from the network operator and regulator, not suppliers. Just to clarify that indeed they're not going to discourage it, they're the ones pushing for it! And they have very good reasons to do so.

The alternative, upgrading the network peak capacity, would also ultimately be funded by consumers anyway, through standing charges and/or unit prices. Peak hours rates not only costs you less than a network upgrade overall (it should be neutral i.e. the premium at peak times can be used to reduce pass-through charges at other times), but also gives you the choice to pay that premium, or change your usage patterns.

A third alternative would be to accept that black-outs at peak times become a regular feature of electricity distribution on this island, like it is in countries like India.

tx_tx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885487#Comment_120885487

As for "proving" your point. I doubt EI activated anyone without their consent. They made you click a button without reading the small print. That's sneaky and morally questionable, but contractually, they've done nothing wrong.

First you should determine when the shift took place. Look at the MCC codes on your bills, when did it change?

Then try to remember what you could have done at that time, typically accessing usage details through their portal or app.

If you're absolutely certain you did nothing at all at that time, you may have an angle. Try asking them on what basis you were activated then. They should be able to tell you.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885668#Comment_120885668

Unfortunately you're dead right, it would have been hidden in the terms& conditions that we're all guilty of just clicking and moving on to the next screen. Sure only for boards people like myself and I'm sure many others wouldn't know the implications of activating a smart plan. It's all so cloak and dagger, it definitely should be made much clearer to consumers.

OmegaGene

even the fact that if you move smart you can't go back was something i didn't know until this thread, i was in the last 3 months of a contact and thought i would test it out which was a bad move obviously

Sultan of Bling

Same here, it's an excellent and insightful thread

tx_tx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885727#Comment_120885727

In the first place, the decision that you can't go back is theirs. They could let you go back if they wanted. So unfortunately, I don't think it's an accident that they don't communicate this clearly, it's hidden in official documents on their website and that's it.

The point is that they need people to go smart. It's the best decision from a network management perspective, and it also benefits us all in the end.

You can do that in several ways:

1/ Just force it. After such date, every contract is a smart contract and that's it. We may well end up there in time.

2/ Use incentives. They tried that approach back in the day with day/night meters. And the incentives were good, in fairness. But it turns out good incentives don't work. Consumers already have good incentives to switch suppliers every 12 months, and they don't do it. The hope was that some people would change their usage patterns to avail of the day/night deal, the reality was that the only ones who availed of it were the ones who already had these usage patterns. It didn't encourage anyone to change their habits.

3/ Trick people into it. Don't make them aware that you won't allow them to go back, and that simply looking at their usage is an activation. It's not very different from being forced, from the victim perspective, but it allows them to blame you for not knowing, and also it avoids a massive push-back, as it's only a small number of people who fall for it at a given time, it's more gradual than forcing everyone at once.

It's not pretty. But I don't know if they really had a better alternative, given that making smart plans attractive is unlikely to work, from the Nightsaver experience.

zell12

Adverts work..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nagdcULlAk

tx_tx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885851#Comment_120885851

Only 10% are on Nightsaver. I'm only guessing here, but I'd say their target was higher, so I wouldn't say it worked.

And the bigger issue is that when it's so low, it means no one changed their habits, the only ones who went for Nightsaver were the ones who already used most of their energy at night. So, if it had no significant impact on shifting network load away from day to night, it was a failure, because that was the objective in the end.

It's only a success if you get on board not only the ones who benefit from it naturally, but also a number of people who change their habits to get the benefits.