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

EI will put you onto their standard rate, unless you sign again or switch

So I’ve been keeping an eye on this as I was doubting the information I was given . Sure enough today by discount is no longer appearing online. Time for another lengthy phone call. I’m now out of contract by the looks of it . Not sure I’ll rush into another one yet. May bite the bullet for the month. But it’s an expensive month to be doing that ……

I'd be over the moon if EI made me that offer as I'm currently on 30% discount with them on a day/night meter. I'll be out of contract end of May.

According to the wording in the email - you are wrong... or they are lieing. :P

We are writing to inform you that your current Electricity fixed term contract will expire on 02/03/2023. Don't worry, nothing will change on your account and you do not need to take any action. Your discount rate won't disappear and you'll continue to receive the same discount from Electric Ireland for as long as you remain a customer. Now and in the future we're here for you.

If you need to discuss any of our products and services, please call 1800 30 50 90, our team will be happy to help.

How your bill is calculated:

Below is a quick rundown of the charges you are currently paying (excl. VAT):

Energy Day Unit Rate: 40.29 c/kWh

Energy Night Unit Rate: 20.00 c/kWh

Annual Standing Charge: 364.12 €/annum

Currently on 0.4241 day and 0.2092 night (ex VAT). On Value Reward Nightsaver!

I have close to average usage for gas and electricity, and it's time for my annual switch.

Switcher.ie and Bonkers are both pushing me towards Flogas fixed rate dual plan with the €300 cashback.

Fixed rate is a guaranteed rate for the year. Fine that it wont go up(they are at a peak from wholesale gas prices at the end of summer), but it won't go down either. Are prices likely to go down in the next year or are these companies going to continue ride us with the rates and never drop them?

I'm in the same boat and wasn't really expecting the available tariffs for electricity to be so bad... my Bord Gais contract ends in a couple of weeks.

My last BG bill was 44.34c per unit, minus the 40% "best new electricity" discount so it worked out at a cost of 26.6c per unit effectively before vat.

Here are the alternatives for switching after some research this evening (26th Jan 2023)... (all excluding vat and after the discounts are taken off)...

My current BG plan is 26.6c/unit

1. Electric Ireland offering 37.52c/unit

2. SSE Airtricity 39.83c/unit

3. Flogas offering 41.13c/unit

4. Energia offering 49c/unit

I see from posts a few days ago that BG were ringing people offering 18% discount. I haven't had a call yet though. That would be 36.36c/unit, better than any other providers but its still a long way from the 26.6c that I was paying.

In business circles its normal to quote excluding vat, because a business normally claims the vat back on its purchases. Business profits are worked out exclusive of vat. Thats probably one of the reasons.

Just off the phone with BG, would only offer me 10% on gas and electricity. Told her that others are getting 18%. She said that my contract ran out end of September/October and they can only offer the higher 18% if you're within 12 months notice. Manure. So after paying 2 months on the higher price to them I'm ineligible for a bigger discount. Told her grand, I'll head off elsewhere so.

In addition, the VAT rate is likely to change again this year (back up to 13.5%), so quoting both ex and inc VAT is useful.

You're right, I thought the 10% discount with EI was applicable to everyone at the end of their contract, instead it's only offered to those who enter a new contract, which I just did.

I didn't like the idea of paying a higher unit price but having a cashback bonus. I want the ability to change provider later in the year without losing any cashback, which I hear they sometimes do, and I didn't want to go through all the clauses of FloGas' offer.

So they're creating new plans to prevent people from availing of low rates when they charge their EV vehicles?

That's some creativity there. Of course they would do that.

Hi all, out of contract the past month. I signed up to Bord Gais 8.5% discount 10 days ago which is pretty poor, 24hr rate 43.5C incl VAT and discount. Standing charge is 323E.

I'm looking into other providers as I'm within the cooling off period. We have a smart meter but haven't had a smart plan yet. We don't have storage heaters or an EV so the smart plans wasn't something i've been considering in the past..

I spoke with Electric Ireland and they have a smart plan at 0.45C 24h rate, but with one weekend day free (8am to 11am). I figure if we do a lot of our washing, drying, use electric heaters, heat water cylinder etc.. on that day then it would surely make sense to move to this plan? I'm told it's not capped in terms of KWh used. The fixed charge is 380E.

Should I be concerned with activating the smart plan and then not being able to get out of it in the future? This free day may not be available next year for example or the rates could go up leaving me snookered. No plan to get a heat pump or EV over the next few years at a minimum.

We have a 6KW PV system but only one small battery. Not sure if that has much bearing on it! We purchased 3300KWh from the grid over the past year. The PV system generated over 6000KW. We returned 1200KW to the grid which we will get paid for.

Appreciate peoples thoughts..

cheers

john

Just spent the afternoon looking at the various suppliers. Head is frazzled.

Currently with electric ireland on standard rate of. 39.7c ex vat. With further 5.5% discount. Contract up next month.

My last bill I had about 45% night rate units , (Heat pump and MHRV in house.)

Peak was around 10% and the rest normal Day units.

Punching the numbers from my last bill into one of the EI Smart plans I would be making around 12.5% saving if I switched to one of them, to take advantage of the Night rate.

What's this I'm reading about once you "activate" smart meter you can't go back to standard plan, like ever? With any supplier?

(My meter is probably activated anyway as it breaks down Day, Peak and Night units and it's not read by the meter man.)

EI seem to be giving me the best outcome when I compare current best rates for Energia, BG, Flogas based on last bill usage.

Will have to call them to see if they can do better than the current 5.5% discount. It says on the website 10% for existing customers who renew but not sure if that's on top of the 5.5% or not.

8.5% is the duel fuel (gas & electricity) discount. Electricity only is 5.5%.