# Switching electricity providers this year?



## BrokeBroker (19 Dec 2022)

There doesn't seem to be as many/any options?

One provider called "Flo Gas", but the saving is minimal.

I'm with Energia currently and normally Electric-Ireland have great switch over deal but currently, nothing available.

Most folk switch annually to get a saving but is that not in effect this year?


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## ClubMan (19 Dec 2022)

Energy prices have skyrocketed this year for obvious reasons. But it's still worth comparing the different providers' tariffs using the likes of bonkers, switcher, the providers' own websites etc. to find the best deal for your specific needs.


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## iamaspinner (19 Dec 2022)

Hot off the press:

https://www.independent.ie/business...s-a-50-credit-and-forgo-profits-42229583.html


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## demoivre (19 Dec 2022)

Switching was well worth it when you could get a fixed price contract and a very big discount on standard rates.  I got a switcher discount of 39% on standard rates a few years ago, fixed for one year ! Without these two you are at the mercy of the supplier to whom you switch even if there is an initial saving .


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## BrokeBroker (19 Dec 2022)

As the government provided 200 additional monthly payment this year, when that money is credited to the account of your current provider, does it get switched over if you change provider?

As in, it's assigned through you MPRN number.

Not to the account of the electric provider themselves?


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## Leo (19 Dec 2022)

BrokeBroker said:


> As the government provided 200 additional monthly payment this year, when that money is credited to the account of your current provider, does it get switched over if you change provider?


No, if your account is in credit you will have to seek a refund.


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## ClubMan (19 Dec 2022)

Leo said:


> No, if your account is in credit you will have to seek a refund.


Yeah, it seems crazy that they don't just automatically transfer the money back to the account set up to pay the bill by DD where applicable. Instead the customer has to jump through hoops to get a refund. At least in my experience...


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## Sue Ellen (19 Dec 2022)

ClubMan said:


> Yeah, it seems crazy that they don't just automatically transfer the money back to the account set up to pay the bill by DD where applicable. Instead the customer has to jump through hoops to get a refund. At least in my experience...


Can you recall which company that was?  We were due a refund of in/around €30 and it was refunded by cheque even though we pay by D.D.  As far as I can recall it was El Ireland and it came through with no bother.


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## ClubMan (19 Dec 2022)

Sue Ellen said:


> Can you recall which company that was?  We were due a refund of in/around €30 and it was refunded by cheque even though we pay by D.D.  As far as I can recall it was El Ireland and it came through with no bother.


Bord Gáis. But I've had the same experience with other utility providers.


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## Roro999 (20 Dec 2022)

Have electric and gas with electric ireland.  Can I offset a credit balance on electric against gas account ?


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## RedOnion (20 Dec 2022)

Roro999 said:


> Have electric and gas with electric ireland.  Can I offset a credit balance on electric against gas account ?


Yes, but you need to contact them to do it. Theres a contact form on their website, rather than waiting to get through on the phone.


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## BrokeBroker (20 Dec 2022)

My annual usage is typically about 2600 kWh with a nightsaver meter.

Based on this, including a "welcome bonus" from Flo Gas, I could say 70 euro by switching from Energia.

That 200 euro government credit, was that a one time payment or does it come through every 2 months?

I just paid my last bill and am no longer in credit so getting that refunded won't be an issue.


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## ClubMan (20 Dec 2022)

BrokeBroker said:


> That 200 euro government credit, was that a one time payment or does it come through every 2 months?








						Electricity Account Credit
					

The Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme gives domestic electricity customers a once-off, exceptional payment of €200 in 2022. A further €600 credit was announced as part of Budget 2023.




					www.citizensinformation.ie
				





> The credit will be paid in 3 instalments of €200. The first payment will be made from *November 2022*. The second electricity credit will be made from *January 2023*. The third will be made from *March 2023*.


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## bitethebullet (20 Dec 2022)

Got 10% of the std rate with Energia. Not as much obviously as other years. Still something I suppose..... better than nothing.


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## PebbleBeach2020 (20 Dec 2022)

i have 41% but the years contract ends start of february. The cost of my electricity will go through the roof then.


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## iamaspinner (21 Dec 2022)

PebbleBeach2020 said:


> i have 41% but the years contract ends start of february. The cost of my electricity will go through the roof then.


I'm in the same boat, except my contract just expired. I was looking at Electric Ireland but the standing charge is about €100 more expensive. I am going to ring Energia and ask for a discount for another 12 month contract...


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## PebbleBeach2020 (21 Dec 2022)

iamaspinner said:


> I'm in the same boat, except my contract just expired. I was looking at Electric Ireland but the standing charge is about €100 more expensive. I am going to ring Energia and ask for a discount for another 12 month contract...


Let us know


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## MrEarl (21 Dec 2022)

I'd also be interested to know if you get a better offer from El. Ireland, over the phone - my contract expires in a few weeks time.

Electric Ireland sent me this offer(dual fuel) by email, but didn't look great tbh:

*Staying on the EnergySaver plan is simple*


If you are happy to continue on the EnergySaver Price Plan on a new discounted rate of 10%, simply click on ‘Sign up now’ below and we'll do the rest.


Sign you up for another 12 months on a discount of 10%**
Continue to pay by direct debit and receive your bills by email


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## iamaspinner (22 Dec 2022)

PebbleBeach2020 said:


> Let us know


I got the new customer discount of 10% (direct debit, online billing) and they have backdated the new 12 month contract a few days. Nothing else.

I have renewed with Energia even though the unit price is slightly higher because I use well under the national average and I prefer to have a lower standing charge. If they increase it within the next 14 days I will be revisiting my decision though.

I also have credit in my account from the last government handout and didn't want the hassle of claiming it, even though I haven't looked into how to do it at all.


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## BrokeBroker (23 Dec 2022)

By ringing your provider and mentioning you were considering a change, do they sometimes offer incentives to stay?

Lower unit rate?

Discount etc?

I'm in the 14 day cooling-off period currently before my contract renews with Energia.


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## twofor1 (23 Dec 2022)

My contract with Electric Ireland ended a few weeks ago, they emailed to say I would then default to their Value Reward plan which is an 8.5% discount off standard rates with no contract.

They followed up then with a phone call offering a 10% discount for a 1 year contract. I declined to see if they would improve their offer but  they did not. The agent confirmed that what he was offering was the same as the Electric Ireland 10% discount for existing customers on Bonkers.

There is nothing better available at the moment for me. I will get EI’s €50 credit in January and if nothing better is available then, either with EI or elsewhere then I  will probably take EI's 10% for 12 months.


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## Tobyboy (28 Dec 2022)

Having just spend the last 4 hours going through the providers I though I would share a couple of things.
We are about to come off a contract with Energia that had a 41% discount.

All providers seem to be offering a ten percent discount at best, but you need to pay attention to their kw/h rates as the variate alot. Flogas says it offers a 20% discount and €150 cash back but this is off a rate that is off the charts high (69c/kwhr for eg). Although the the cashback may mitigate some of this, it's excessive in my view.

There is a push out there to get people on tariffs that are night and day, but that also have an incredibly high rate for the (7-9pm) peak time. Some also have rates that have a simple night (11pm-8am) night rate and dayrate (8am-11pm) that in my view are better value, as they are a bit cheaper without the high peak rate added on top. So there are basically 3 rates, a 24 hr rate, Day and night rate and (so called) Smart rate, that has peak (7-9pm rate) on top of the Day/Night rates. Bord Gais don't do the Day and Night only rate, instead they have a convoluted 'smart' rate that give free usage on a weekend day of your choice. It's difficult to quantify the savings if any there.

The most important figure you need is your usage in kw/hrs for the last year, or even any average 12 month period. Your current provider can give you this if you can't calculate it. It may be on your bill some where. If your usage is lower than average then some providers will suit better than others. Perhaps with a lower standing charge maybe. Standing charges vary hugely not to mention the big difference between rural and urban standing order charges.

They all use the figure of 4200 kw/hrs as the annual average house hold usage to give you an estimate cost. If you are using a price comparison website like bonkers, make sure you click 'No' or 'view all plans' where it has the option 'only show available for sign up', as otherwise you will only get providers they can sign you up to, and not others that may be cheaper.

We have a heat pump and MPRV so I thought I should call up our provider to get an accurate figure. We were told our usage was 7,365 kw hours for the last 12 months. This is high but we don't have oil or gas bills on top.

In our case, even though Electric Ireland has a high standing order fee of €484, it's lower unit rate for (Day 43.68 and Night 21.55) is cheapest at €3156 per year. SSE with S/O of €377 and (Day 44.34 & Night 27.52) making total of €3229 came second. Their 24 hr rates would cost €3391 and €3499 respectively.
**All the companies that offer day/night rate as well as 'smart' rate split your usage, for the purpose of an estimation into a 50/50% split. I don't think this is real world so I split ours 67%/33%. I don't see how we could have half power usage between 11pm to 8am unless your lifestyle specifically lends itself to that.

There are 2 year contracts out there but not sure with such a small discount it's worth it unless you feel things will worsen even more. All I would say is it's important you do your own calculations on this as your level and type of usage are important to know to accurately make a judgment. SSE, Electric Ireland and Energia have pretty clear websites where Bord Gais and especially Flogas I found more cryptic. I also used Bonkers.ie and Switcher.ie. Bear in mind all this is a snapshot in time and rates may change.

If there is anything I am missing please add it on here. I'm all ears!


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## FANTANA (28 Dec 2022)

We went with the energias EV plan (didn’t even show up on bonkers), at 47.77 day and 13.77 night. Standing charge is also low at €297. We do have an ev and by charging the car, running our dishwasher, washing machine and immersion at night we average 70% night rate. With a heat pump can you not increase the temp say 2 degrees on night rate and then lower it again in the morning?


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## BrokeBroker (29 Dec 2022)

Energia extended my last annual contract for "loyalty", seems to be their new incentive.

So maintaining my former day/night rates of 47.77 and 22.99.

Standing charge is 297.


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## BrokeBroker (29 Dec 2022)

FANTANA said:


> We went with the energias EV plan (didn’t even show up on bonkers), at 47.77 day and 13.77 night. Standing charge is also low at €297. We do have an ev and by charging the car, running our dishwasher, washing machine and immersion at night we average 70% night rate. With a heat pump can you not increase the temp say 2 degrees on night rate and then lower it again in the morning?



Much lower night rate for the EV plan (Tesla?).

Presumably cause usage is so much more.


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## Tobyboy (29 Dec 2022)

I


FANTANA said:


> We went with the energias EV plan (didn’t even show up on bonkers), at 47.77 day and 13.77 night. Standing charge is also low at €297. We do have an ev and by charging the car, running our dishwasher, washing machine and immersion at night we average 70% night rate. With a heat pump can you not increase the temp say 2 degrees on night rate and then lower it again in the morning?


I looked into this and was told you have to verify you have an EV to use it. If you look at this rate there is a ceiling on usage beyond which you pay a higher rate. No idea if it's sufficiently high not to need higher rate if you have an EV. Standing charges given tend to be the lower Urban rate but like I said are much higher for rural.

However I did make the mistake of assuming you could get a Day/Night rate with a smart meter. You cant it seems as Day/night rates need a specific Day/Night meter. That said I did find a smart rate that gives the same as the Day/night rates I found, is also without the peak 2 hours high peak rate. better still this tarrif has what is called a 'night boost' rate between 2-4am of just 12.65c /kwhr, so we can probably put disherwasher/washing machine on timer, with the heatpump coming on full for that time as well.


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## FANTANA (29 Dec 2022)

Tobyboy said:


> I
> 
> I looked into this and was told you have to verify you have an EV to use it. If you look at this rate there is a ceiling on usage beyond which you pay a higher rate. No idea if it's sufficiently high not to need higher rate if you have an EV. Standing charges given tend to be the lower Urban rate but like I said are much higher for rural.
> 
> However I did make the mistake of assuming you could get a Day/Night rate with a smart meter. You cant it seems as Day/night rates need a specific Day/Night meter. That said I did find a smart rate that gives the same as the Day/night rates I found, is also without the peak 2 hours high peak rate. better still this tarrif has what is called a 'night boost' rate between 2-4am of just 12.65c /kwhr, so we can probably put disherwasher/washing machine on timer, with the heatpump coming on full for that time as well.




I don’t remember selecting I had an EV and definitely didn’t get an email or phone call to confirm. Even if you don’t I see no real issue telling a white lie. I am urban but don’t see a rural standing charge on their website but maybe I’ve over looked it.

There is a higher rate if use more than 3,000kWh day usage & 2,000 kWh night usage every two months. That would mean 12000kwh on night and 18000 kWh on day a year which is a massive amount. 

Since we got the EV we use almost the same amount of energy for the car as we do for the house, 8000kwh per year total.


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## Tobyboy (30 Dec 2022)

I just contacted Energia and the rep told me something I didn't know. I assume this would go for all suppliers.

As much as our contract is up today. The 41% discount we had will remain in place until the end of the current billing period which is Jan 19th.

This would make it crazy to switch until near then.


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## SPC100 (30 Dec 2022)

Ask them if they can change your billing cycle to get a bit more time! obviously this is a tongue in cheek suggestion.


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## Roro999 (Monday at 10:27 AM)

RedOnion said:


> Yes, but you need to contact them to do it. Theres a contact form on their website, rather than waiting to get through on the phone.


Just off the phone there to electric ireland.  Told me I cannot offset a credit balance on electric against gas.  Could they be wrong ? Is there a link to contact form you mention above ?


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## RedOnion (Monday at 10:34 AM)

Roro999 said:


> Just off the phone there to electric ireland.  Told me I cannot offset a credit balance on electric against gas.  Could they be wrong ? Is there a link to contact form you mention above ?


Sorry, I have mislead you.  I had overpaid electricity and underpaid gas when I was closing my account.  They refunded my electricity overpayment to my bank account, and then took a DD for the amount of the gas bill.  I know the credit arrived in my account a couple of working days after I requested it.
I'm not sure if they would refund if the credit came from the government credit.


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## Roro999 (Monday at 11:07 AM)

RedOnion said:


> Sorry, I have mislead you.  I had overpaid electricity and underpaid gas when I was closing my account.  They refunded my electricity overpayment to my bank account, and then took a DD for the amount of the gas bill.  I know the credit arrived in my account a couple of working days after I requested it.
> I'm not sure if they would refund if the credit came from the government credit.


Ok thanks Red Onion.


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