Electric Ireland Bill

surely the OP know that energy prices have jumped considerably?

You would have had to had lived under a rock not to have heard all the increases.

Considering the OP pays little heed to news, my guess is they do not avail of any discounts or move supplier (takes 2 minutes) - up to last you you could get average 30% off by switching.

Your unit rate has most likely gone up from 20c to about 45c and standing charges have gone up too. So even if your usage did not change, a €250 bill Jan/Feb 2022 would be about €600 this year if you did not change use (easy to cut down too)

You may also not have noticed or read that the government gave a total of 4 x €200 rebates (the 4th just landed) and these were applied automatically to your account.

Be wary of estimated bills. You will need to check against your meter reading, and advise EI.

Once they take the money by DD, you will not get it back.

I have been fighting with them for months now.

If you want stress, ring the customer care line, puts you on hold for 30 minutes, or they hang up on you.

Was it estimated or not? How many kWh did you use in the period? Compare that to the last few bills. Only then should you be looking at the cost per unit. When did that change? Were you on any discounts etc.

Deleted post. Wrong thread

Check out their customer charter, if they don't meet their own deadlines on queries they should pay you €40 compensation.

Thanks, they've another few days to go but I'll be watching like a hawk. Must say that that's a terrible turnaround time to start with, 10 working days, more time with the money they've overcharged me

Yes, but they can represent the DD.

Another point to note, they will not refund you the Govt. credits, and the credits cant be used against previous bills.

The problem is thousands of people don't listen to news and do not know there's a war in Ukraine and do not know energy prices have jumped substantially.

They then get a bill about 2.5 times the equivalent last year and instead of knowing that the price has gone up 2.5 times they ring the supplier and argue for 30 minutes.

This holds up genuine calls.

My email has been with them for 7 weeks now. Just saying...

Estimated bill is my guess for OP, although even if accurate with a reading, the cost has risen substantially. But we were warned, and got a couple of very welcome credits.

The war had been going on a long time. The bills have only shot up now. It's the lag of the wholesale price, expiring discounts and high estimated bills and just when the govt credit was applied. Mine is estimated twice the usage than the same time year.

Yes? I send in a reading now and then. Seems to be read every 2nd bill. Usually estimated bills aren't that far away from actual usual usage. This is the first time I've even seen such a massive disparity between them. Its way off. Why would they estimate I'd use twice the amount of energy than the highest I've ever used. Wasn't even a particularly cold winter.

Lol.

I just think its a very happy confluence for the energy providers to have issued so many unusually high estimated bills for THIS billing period considering the context of what's going around it, energy credits etc. I don't think the lag in wholesale rates really explains it.

So they told you that a smart meter was fitted and now they want you to sign up to a plan for it. Were you not asked for consent to fit it in the first instance?

You should have received a letter in the post a few weeks prior and that if you wished to process that the electricity would be disconnected for about 15mins while they swapped out the meter. Also if you meter was inside the house someone would have to be present to grant them access.

That said I don't think there's any advantage to keeping the old meter and refusing the smart meter especially if you've a standard 24hr meter. You have have the smart meter and just not switch to a smart meter plan which can be more expensive depending on usage. Once you have the smart meter some time you can get a breakdown of your day, peak and night usage and determine from that if there's any savings to be had from a smart meter plan.

I suggest everybody that is in stable living situation should move to paying your utilities by estimated standing order regardless of discounts if you can. I know it's not for everybody but it has saved my ass during this escalating bills situation.

I am a demon when it comes to my ESB bill.

I make sure and read the meter and upload it a few days in advance of the bill. I check units used vs prev. month and having been on 30% discount when we moved - I hounded them after the 12 months were up and managed to get 10% off for this year. I also refused the smart meter...

My next door neighbour was chatting to me the weekend saying he nearly fell over when he got his bill. It was 660! I told him not to ask what mine was (in jest). He asked. I answered. 140 euro. "But that was after the 200 credit, ya?"" No says I... 140 was the total bill. And we've the same sized house.

The difference? There's 4 of them AT HOME ALL DAY - with dryer going, oven on, dishwasher, constant showers, etc... We (wife and I) never owned a dishwasher so we don't use it. We air fry or slow cook (oven is rarely on). Dryer gets very occasional use! And I'm showering a lot less at home as I've use of a gym after astro soccer 3 times a week. We are not in the house 8am - 5/6pm, 5 days a week.

TLDR?

I'm afraid the more you use... the more it costs! And with the way they're charging - it's only getting worse!