# ESB Electric Ireland Unable to issue Bills to some Social Welfare Recipients



## mathepac (18 Jan 2013)

Earlier this week I contacted ESB Customer Services and twice spoke at length with two Customer Service Representatives. Each of them informed me that ESB Electric Ireland is unable to issue Nov / Dec invoices to some consumers in receipt of Social Welfare payments as they have not been issued with directives by the Department of Social Protection about which form of credits to apply to the invoices.

Pre Budget 2013, Social Welfare recipients got a number of electricity units credited to their bills and these above-the-line credited units resulted in “subsidiary” credits for VAT, Public Service Obligations Levy and Standing Charge credits, substantially reducing the energy burden on Social Welfare recipients. These credits, either 300 or 400 units per two-monthly billing cycle, were replaced in the Budget by single below-the-line credit of  35 euro / month, or 70 euro / two-monthly billing cycle.

According to ESB Electric Ireland, the Department of Social Protection has not yet given instructions on how credits are to be applied to invoices due to be issued  in early January 2013 and it appears some will have the old credits applied and some the new, but ESB Electric Ireland have no information as to how the decision-making will be guided. This decision could have substantial impact on some bill-payers.

If I use the old credit of 300 units / two-monthly billing cycle applied to my own bill (meter-reading taken 31/12/2012 and phoned in) my net bill works out at 15.43 euro. However if I apply the new credits of 70 euro / two-monthly billing cycle, my bill then works out at 28.99 euro or 12.52 euro extra. That doesn’t sound like much but for a Social Welfare recipient it’s a lot out of a weekly budget and is also a massive 81.14% potential increase, ignoring the rate increases from  late 2012.

Considering the number of homes in receipt of and dependent upon the Household Benefits Package, the saving to the State could be substantial and could result in  millions being taken from the pockets of the most needy at a time when Social Welfare benefits of all kinds have been slashed, e.g.


the Fuel Allowance was cut by 120 euro / annum in Budget 2012
Mortgage Interest Supplement cut in the same Budget
Phone allowance reduced in Budget 2013 by more than 13 eur / month
Presrctiption costs / item dispensed to  medical-card holders have trebled, etc.
The questions remaining to be answered are

when will the bills be issued?
what credits will be applied?
how will the decisions regarding credits by made?
will the delayed bills result in the realignment of the billing periods or will the next billing period be shorter as a consequence?
who decided to introduce this poorly thought-out and even more poorly executed means of raising money for the State by penalising Social Welfare recipients (yet again)?


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## theresa1 (19 Jan 2013)

I had terrible trouble before trying to sort out bills with Electric Ireland for my Mother when i got her to change to a cheaper tariff which initially by the way Electric Ireland didn't even want to offer electricity allowance customers.

The buck stops with the government - please remember this at the next general election.


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## Black Sheep (19 Jan 2013)

Joan Burton stated this would be  a straightforward 35 euro credit and customers should shop around themselves for the best value.

Her comment amused me slightly, and clearly she has never had the experience of trying to make contact with ESB or other suppliers. We are very aware and frustrated by the "press 1 if you wish to ... 2 if you want.....etc" and you may (if you are lucky) speak to a human voice half an hour later if you haven't given up in despair.

For a minister for SP to recommend this route to people age 66 or perhaps 80 surprises me


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## theresa1 (19 Jan 2013)

Agree Black Sheep and if you leave Electric Ireland before end of contract they want €50 - the treatment of our OAP's is disgusting.


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## mathepac (19 Jan 2013)

Black Sheep said:


> ... For a minister for SP to recommend this route to people age 66 or perhaps 80 surprises me





theresa1 said:


> ... the treatment of our OAP's is disgusting.


I'm not sure I understand the age-related comments.

The situation as described in my OP applies to all Social Welfare clients who are also ESB Electric Ireland customers and are in receipt of the much-reduced Household Benefits Package, HBP. These Social Welfare payment  recipients could be in receipt of the OAP, Disability Allowance, etc. and have qualified for the HBP as well.


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## gipimann (19 Jan 2013)

Just for clarification, recipients of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) do not qualify for the Household benefits package.


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## chasm (22 Jan 2013)

Mathepac, Thanks for highlighting this. I am a HHB recipient and reading  numerous articles in the press i assumed i wouldn't be affected as i  never have any free units to carry forward, but after reading your post i  realised that it wasn't as straightforward as i thought and unused  credits was not the only issue! 

After looking on the EI website i noticed this:
"From 1 January 2013 the Department of Social Protection set the rate  for the Free Electricity Allowance at €35.00 per month.  This allowance  will appear as a credit of €1.15* per day on your Electric Ireland  electricity bill. 
 				* This will appear on your electricity bill as -€1.15068493"

This  raises another issue with me, It would appear that EI will not be  applying a straightforward €35p/m (€70 bi monthly) credit to the bill.  Looking through some of my old bills i notice that some billing periods  are longer than others, one was 57 days one was 63, so if you are with  another provider you will receive €35 per month regardless but EI  customers will receive 1.15 per day credit, it's not a huge amount in  the difference but i thought i'd point it out anyway.

IMO  something more needs to be done regarding the HHB. When they brought in  the cuts to the line rental in the 2012 budget the govt struck a deal  with eircom and their customers had their line rental covered despite  the cut, yet customers with other providers still had the pay the €3.20  shortfall TO eircom. (it will increase alot more now since the allowance  was cut by about 60% in the last budget).

The Electricity  allowance has never been straightforward either since new providers came  on the scene. Rural Customers with these other providers got hit with  the higher standing charge as DSP only paid the EI urban rate  - and now  these rural customers, even those with EI will be hit again as they  will get the 1.15 p/day credit the same as urban customers.  I am not a  rural customer, thankfully, but i know a few people in receipt of this  allowance who live in the countryside and i'd say they will have a  noticeable increase in their bills this year.

My electricity bill was due around the 21st, no sign of it yet but after reading your post i will be reading it VERY closely!

SPUDZ, the christmas bonus has not been paid since 2008.


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## ajapale (22 Jan 2013)

Off topic rants have been deleted


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