Best Electricity Plan for new EV Owners

Hindsight is great ! Many of us did not realise the impact of smart meters - and the resultant poor value smart meter tariffs, including myself.

Now we know the facts, many of us will definitely be better off, on a day/night rate meter, even though, it comes with a higher annual standing charge. The EI Urban day/night rate meter standing charge, is €77 ex vat annually, more expensive, than the 24 hour meter.

One needs to crunch the numbers with your real data from past years bills, to see this, and see does it make sense for your circumstances, everyones usage, is different. We have 2 EV’s and a new heat pump recently installed, so it will be well worth getting that meter changed.

Then, start changing some of our habits, time delaying clothes washing, drying, dishwasher, EV’s, etc etc to only come on during the night rate time slot, to make the most of those much lower night rates.

I also switched to low wattage bulbs in every house room, several years back, it cost a few hundread, but was a one off cost, and have hardly changed any since as they tend to last for years, that alone, made a difference to the bills. Had several 50watts bulbs, now they are mostly 4 watt. And, take a look at the energy ratings on your appliances is a good idea as well, if any are due to be changed.

Sorry it's hard to follow. I have a digital Meter which supports day night and 24/7 modes. This is normal, there is no installation when moving to a day night tarrif, they just came by and took a meter reading. I had no issue on either bord gais or energia with a digital Meter.

Anyone have a link to a fair usage policy for electric. Just starting to compare different providers for when I have to renew my contract.

Hi,

Dose anyone know if I can cancel my contract with electric Ireland early, without a fee / cancellation charge as their rates are going up on the 1st ?

Hi

what are the costs of this deal? Is it a day/night scenario.

Isn't the EV plan better? It's a cheaper night rate, plus the UNIT price is fixed.

Note, the day rate is more expensive than the retention plan but if you also have solar pv it's a no brainer.

The EV rate seems to have been recently removed from the site. At least I found no way to sign up a couple weeks ago. Might be still available over the phone, but tbh looks like it's gone now.

As above, the energia 41% is probably a good bet. If you want to expand a fair bit of mental energy you might be able to get a deal which is more suited to your usage patterns (whatever they might be).

On Day/Night rates,

I suppose it depends on usage,and if you have heat pump, or solar PV. Its close, between Energia 41 % off and EI 26 % off, but EI is more than a cent cheaper for Day ex vat, (20.39 v 21.52), and a little cheaper on night as well, (10.06 v 10.33)allthough EI have higher standing charges, of about €55 annually ex vat.

the “Current Price Plan” below is EI day/night 26% off, and the “New Price Plan” is Energia 41% off.

The heat pump we have, swung it to EI for me, as come next October, that will be using up a good bit of day rates.

Depends on ones usage and circumstances.

If is not removed. It's under day/night section.

Hands down the best deal. Even better when I see they are putting up unit prices on other deals. Link here

https://www.energia.ie/products/product-page?productid=26975&productRateId=156289&promotionId=&mprn=&affinityCode=76&meterTypeId=2&fuelTypeId=2

Some info that may help.

I'm in contract with Energia, smart meter but standard 24hr tariff with 41% discount. New EV arrived last week so trying to sort out what plan will suit best.(should have been on it weeks ago). Did the sums and day/night meter is the only way to go.

I contacted Energia, my only options if I keep my smart meter are stay on standard 24hr tariff or move to a smart plan which is a definite no. They said it's not possible to have a day/night plan with a smart meter.

My other option is to change my smart meter for a day/night meter which they will do free of charge (afaik Esb will do it). They said as I was never on a smart plan they can do this. I don't have to cancel my existing contract and pay the fee but I will have to sign up for a further 12 months. They haven't said, as yet, how long it will take to change the meter.

Once the meter is changed I have 2 plan options:

EV plan Day: .2856 - Night .0822 - Standing charge & PSO €367.21 (urban) incl vat.

Standard Day/Night : Day .2443- Night .1172 - Standing charge & PSO €367.21 (urban) incl vat.

Hope this helps

Hi,

Not sure what set up you have but the heat pump should be running 24/7. It will cycle on and off itself maintaining an appropriate temperature. In winter it will probably be cycled on all the time and in summer as little as once an hour.

What you might mean is that you have the thermostats set to off at night ? That normal enough, but your heat pump will be using some power still. Having the entire pump shut down at night and start up in the morning is less energy efficient than letting it run.

Anyway, our unit does both central heating and hot water. We shifted the hot water time and the thermostats time to 7:30 AM as the big draw is used to get the temperature up in the morning for showers and can lift house temperature about 2 degrees in a half hour. With this minor change we found that a day night meter with the extra standing charge saved us a modest amount yearly but with an EV charging once every 2 week to 80 units we where saving about 400 euro a year.

Btw our heat pump draws between 500 watts and 1Kw continuously at all times, day and night. We use about 8000 units a year. House rating A2.

Last week. Appointment was for yesterday.