Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

There are so many variables a thread of prices doesnt have much use really and the rates are continuously changing also so its out of date as soon as you post it.

There are price comparison sites (bonkers, switcher etc) dedicated to finding the cheapest option for you based on your situation.... 24hr, day/night, smart meter, urban, rural, low usage, high usage, solar, cashback offers, etc etc.

The best advice is to get out your last 12 months worth of bills and plug the values into the price comparison sites and see what plans come out on top of the list, as they take all the above variables into account.

Have you worked out the math on that? How many km's per year will you likely do in the Ioniq? Will it be nearly all home charging?

If you are doing all your charging at home and you do any reasonable amount of km's it will pay to have a day/night rate. The increased day rate is 1.8c and your night rate is halved! The standing charge is also ~€50 more with day/night but if you work it out it still pays for itself once you have an EV and do reasonable mileage.

Here's one example.

15k km's per yer (thats fairly average)

Ballpark figure for EV to do that is 18kWh/100km. All depends on driving style etc but in or around that.

So, thats 2700kWh's to charge the EV for the year at home.

Lets say you are a standard enough household using 4000kWh already.

Energia 24hr rate for urban customer = 18.82c/kWh inc vat

Standing charge = €304.86

Energia day/night rate = 20.63/9.90c/kWh

Standing charge = €367.21

Calculations:

24hr rate: €508.14 (EV) + €752.80(4000kWh) + €304.86(standing charge) = €1565.80

Day/Night: €267.30(EV) + €825.20(4000kWh) +€367.21(standing charge) = €1459.71

Day/Night is €106.09 cheaper for this basic example.

In reality its cheaper than that as some of the 4000kWh will also be at night rate and you can also shift a few appliances (dishwasher, washing machine etc) to night rate further increasing your savings.

If you do more than 15k km's per year then the savings will grow even further.

TLDR; Unless you do very small mileage it pays to have day/night rate once you have an EV.

Check your meter type. If it has a digital display it may have multiple readings for night rate even if you are on a 24 hour rate. If you hit the buttons you get day, night and total which is a combination of two. You can also switch to a might meter, and after a year switch back if it makes no financial sense. They leave the same meter when you switch back. Avoid smart meters as typically the prices are higher at the moment.

But electric Ireland plan is cheaper ? 🤷‍♂️

The Energia EV rates are lower at night by 3.2 cents than the cheapest non-EV-branded plan and I could see how that would be the best deal for someone with two EVs.

But for someone with a single EV, I'm not so sure since the day rates on the EV plan are 3.15 cents higher than Energia's Dual Fuel (-40% + -39%) plan. It really depends on your usage pattern.

We're currently on Energia's 40/39 Dual Fuel plan. We only just got our car, so I'd like to see how charging it at night affects the proportion of our usage that is at night. Currently about 30% of our total kWh per month are on the night rate (we try to run the washer and/or tumble dryer and the dishwasher at night).

I am on the Energia day night meter with the 40% discount and will be moving to ESB next week as my year long contract with Energia is up. ESB currently looking very attractive from a day/night meter perspective, 40 euro less on annual standing charge and no limit on unit consumption. Energia apply lower price unit limits to their customers before moving you to a higher tarriff. ESB coming in at 18.9 day, 9.3 night including VAT, we are rural.

For what it's worth, the meter reading submission and billing process with Energia is a complete mess. I enter meter readings very 2 months and these are rarely reflected in the bill, so it's one to keep an eye on. Last bill was almost 50% less than it should have been as they ignored my meter reading submission and just used an estimated value.

Currently our annual consumption is 60% night rate, 40% day.

Finally, if moving provider, call the provider and do it over the phone. ESB said it only takes 1-2 days if done over phone but can take up to 5 if done online.

ESB are just a network operator now. I think the OP means Electric Ireland. Appears to be the first plan listed here: https://www.electricireland.ie/switch/new-customer/price-plans?priceType=E

I changed from Smart meter to Day night meter last year and moved supplier from Electric Ireland to Energia the following week. Not a good experience as the combination of a new meter and changing provider ended up with a massive bill from Elec Ireland due to a mixup in meter readings. However I think this is the right way to do it, meter first then change provider, just make sure all the meter readings are correct as the new meter will obviously start @ 0

Energia are giving €135 in Cash Back to renew by the the looks of Bonkers.

I used 5000 units last year with about 35% at night rate. So if I used the same again this year I'd be €20 better off staying with Energia.

I'll move to Electric Ireland though as I expect I'll be charging at home more this year as my free €600 charging credit I got with the ID3 is almost gone so my usage will increase. I'll also try get the wife to move the washing machine and dishwasher to night time again but I was told it's to loud before!!

I can do better than 18c!

Bord Gais: https://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/home/our-tariffs

Go to the "Residential Electricity" section and select whatever type of customer you are (Urban/Rural etc) and select the max discount (40%) and you will get, for example, a 16.08c/kWh (inc vat) urban 24hr rate.

Switch to a day/night rate and you get 17.29/8.56 for day/night resp.

Unless you want to pay more, dont get the smart meter. Just call your provider and tell them you want a day/night rate right now and tell them you dont want a smart meter. They cannot force it on you but if you let them put it in you are stuck with it and if you select a smart tariff you cannot (apparently) go back to a day/night tariff... they will lock you into the smart tariffs which are alot more expensive (the plan you mentioned was at 28.65c, thats 11c/unit more than what I've shown above!!!!)

I had mine taken out too. My smart meter was only in place about a month so maybe they hadn’t made up the rule to not allow day/night meters at that stage. Changed it April 2021

I know from having looked at them that the smart meter tariffs are all bad value.

But why is this the case? Why should having a smart meter mean paying over the odds for energy? Especially since, presumably, the gov't would like everyone to be on these meters. Surely they should have comparable tariffs.

Lots of you are saying that the smart meter costs more. How does this work? I input details for an urban house with 40,000kwh and got the same deal bord gais deal with a smart meter as without one, same standing charge too?

day €17.30

night €8.56

standing charge €299.54

BTW the top plan they can switch you today on is over €400 p.a. dearer based on the 40,000kwh. It seems lacking that they don't give the option for how many kwh are at the night time rate.

Thanks for the advice but as a retired CEO of a company that operated worldwide and with decades in senior management prior to, cost is not the only influence when deciding on a supplier- of anything. Like it or not, smart meters are going to be the only meters by 2030.

There is no way I want to pay for a couple of months’ electricity I haven’t had on the basis the following bill will be adjusted. Given our normal lifestyle, we could well be away for a period in the following two months.

Level payments are a fool’s exercise for those who are both capable and economically able to pay on receipt of a bill. Relatives have in the past been either heavily in credit or been harassed to up their payment if for two winter bills on the run they have used more electricity than budgeted for, even with the summer months and less usage coming.

In our circumstances level payments would be a ridiculous expenditure leading to massive credit which, experience shows, suppliers would rather sit on than pay back in cash.

As it goes, and based on relatives’ experiences in the UK, smart meters give accurate bills and can help budget. They will be mandatory sooner rather than later and, in the interim, there will be a turnaround where customers who have meters that need to be manually read will see a premium added to their bills either by way of an increase in standing charge or an increase in the unit charge. That’s the way of the world. New technology costs more to begin with but there comes a tipping point where things switch and the old technology becomes the cheaper option.

Based on Kcross post earlier, I checked prices again and for Rural day night meter, Bord Gas seems cheaper per unit considering the 40% discount rate (Elec Ireland : 19.8 inc vat,. Board Gas are 17.62 inc VAT). Standing charge for Bord Gas about 17 euro higher per annum.

What plan is that? I thought there was no such thing as a locked in rate anymore, all plans are variable?

As far as I know, no electricity or gas provider guarantees you a specific rate for the length of your contract. They only guarantee you a discount level relative to their (variable) standard rates.

Given our circumstances as outlined earlier regarding our life style and the large chunks of time we spend away under normal circumstances, it is a no brainier for us. If we were here all the time a day night meter would work- until smart meters become mandatory, as they will.

The money is better in my possesion than with a supplier. I pay for what I have used, not what they guesstimate.

Perhaps before teaching your grandfather how to suck eggs, you might just like to think about this:

I'm 75, ran a very successful international business, retired at 52, regularly travelled the world until Covid, have a bank balance around four times the Irish average annual income and have a beautiful, regularly updated home.

I don't need any advice on how to run an electricity, or any other account.

If you had read the thread, started on the Ioniq 5 forum, you would understand. How do you suggest I submit readings when I'm in New Zealand, the USA or even the UK for up to 8 or 9 weeks at a time?

Grow up

The funny thing about that is that by going with a smart tariff you are doing exactly the thing you purport to want to avoid, which is overpaying. But instead of having an estimated bill where you overpay one period and underpay the next (end result is no overpay) you will be signifcantly overpaying EVERY month and you will never get that money back. I hope the irony of that is not lost on you.

Anyway, you clearly are not for changing here, as is your choice. I respect that. You have the info and figures so have at it. I just wanted to make sure others didnt blindly follow your "no brainer" route.

When you are in my position and with my experiences of dealing with utility suppliers for over 50 years you may just be able to determine what does and doesn’t make sense. Until then, keep your ideas to yourself.