# Airtricity 20% Cheaper Gas 6% Cheaper Electricity



## Pauliwalnuts (22 Sep 2010)

Hi All,

Just signed up for Airtricity who are offering a 20% Discount on Gas & 6% on electricity. All seemed releatively painless to switchover.

I was with Bord Gais & getting 12% discount on my electricity versus the ESB.

Airtricity's offering is called 'The Biggest Save'
Looking up online reveals that this offer was only made available in the last 2 days.

I've read through everything pretty thoroughly & can't see any catch bar being tied to them for 12 months which seems reasonable anyway.

Thoughts ?? Am I better off ? I am always sceptical that somehow I'm getting screwed somewhere along the line.

I'll soon see I guess.


----------



## Joe Nonety (23 Sep 2010)

I notice another benefit...

Congratulations on making the better switch to Airtricity. To thank  you, KN home & energy services are offering a Boiler Service and  Safety Check for the Special Price of €59.00 (RRP €99.00)
 To avail of this offer - please contact KN home & energy services  by either, visiting their website at [broken link removed] or by phone on  1890 457500. Confirm you have made the switch to Airtricity by quoting  your GPRN and Sales Voucher Number, and schedual a date for your Boiler  Service and Saftey Check.


T&C
Boiler Service must be booked within 4 weeks of issue of voucher.

Anyone know what the T&C means?
Is it:
- The boiler service must be booked within 4 weeks but can be scheduled for months later
- The boiler service must be booked and scheduled for within 4 weeks


----------



## Conshine (23 Sep 2010)

I signed up with BG in Feb, now considering moving to Airtricity - Without referring to all the documentation, does anybody know if I am tied into BG for a period, or is there a penalty to pay if I break that period?


----------



## allthedoyles (23 Sep 2010)

Pauliwalnuts said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just signed up for Airtricity who are offering a 20% Discount on Gas & 6% on electricity. All seemed releatively painless to switchover.
> 
> ...


 
Can I ask how you pay - is it monthly DD or other method .

Can you come back in 2 months and let us know how you get on with meter readings matching invoices etc


----------



## PetrolHead (23 Sep 2010)

Pauliwalnuts said:


> I've read through everything pretty thoroughly & can't see any catch bar being tied to them for 12 months which seems reasonable anyway.




I was under the impression that one of the main tenets of opening up the market was the freedom to choose your supplier and therefore no company could lock you in with any more than a 30 day rolling contract. 

Am I mistaken?


----------



## RIAD_BSC (23 Sep 2010)

BG don't lock you in at all, but Airtricity do and it is perfectly legal for it to do so (in much the same way a mobile phone company can). Lock-ins actually result in bigger discounts for customers, so they can be a good thing. If you go Airtricity now, by the time your 12 months is up, ESB will be allowed to discount and will probably be offring fantastic rates to switch.

Become a utilities tart..... the ESB and BG screwed us all over for long enough.... it's now payback time


----------



## Pauliwalnuts (23 Sep 2010)

Yep sorry forgot to mention the 40% boiler service discount.
All you need to do is contact them witin a month of signing up & let them know you have a voucher. You can then book your service for whenever you feel like. I checked the terms & conditions on the asafeboiler.ie site & there is no timelimit on when you actually get the service itself scheduled. 

allthedoyles - The main reason I actually signed up this time is that Airtricity have removed the requirement which they previously had to pay by Direct Debit. One of the rules I abide by is never to pay anything by DD as you effectively hand over control of your accouint to somebody else.
They had tried to sign me on previously on a number of occassions but I wouldn't because of the requirement to pay by DD.

I will pay this bill by Online banking as I do with all bills
.


----------



## corkrebel (26 Sep 2010)

From the Irish Times the other day. the comments at the end of the article are most interesting 



[broken link removed]




> Dear Airtricity, last week you came to cut off our electricity. Can I explain to you the sick feeling in my stomach, the despair as I met the embarrassed look of the very kind gentleman you sent to do your work? Have you time to listen as I briefly endeavour to give you an explanation for my actions, for I can not understand yours. Both myself and my husband have lost jobs in the last two years, having worked all our lives. We have a mortgage and young children, like countless others.
> “We have renegotiated our bills continuously with the different institutions, including yours, depending on our finances. Thankfully my husband is back to work but we are still working hard to get through our backlog of bills. September for us, and countless others, is an horrific month. Back to school finances weighed heavily on our already strained resources. The day you came to cut us off was the same day we received your letter informing us that the bank debit had not gone through. I sincerely thank the gentleman you sent for having the compassion to allow me time to sort out a final payment of €300. Thank God we managed to scrape it together and he did not have to return


 _there is more_


----------



## korpy (2 Oct 2010)

Pauliwalnuts said:


> allthedoyles - The main reason I actually signed up this time is that Airtricity have removed the requirement which they previously had to pay by Direct Debit. One of the rules I abide by is never to pay anything by DD as you effectively hand over control of your accouint to somebody else.
> They had tried to sign me on previously on a number of occassions but I wouldn't because of the requirement to pay by DD.
> 
> I will pay this bill by Online banking as I do with all bills
> .



I was thinking to switch as well but there are a few things in t&c ( small print) which kind of put me off

1- credit card payment processing fee of €5 
2- a security deposit of € 300 for non Direct Debit payment customers ( I don't like to pay DD)
3- € 100 termination fee if you switch before 1 year


----------



## corkrebel (2 Oct 2010)

- 





> credit card payment processing fee of €5


THats a bit steep do they do credit card direct debit.
I notice that on the new Ad they do mention that their standing charge is different to other suppliers (they are dearer) but depending on a lot of things could be a good offer would just say they seem to be quick on the trigger in terms of disconnecting but if you can pay your oxo


----------



## pudds (2 Oct 2010)

I thought the embargo for want of a better word on esb charges was to run out at the end of this month.


----------



## corkrebel (2 Oct 2010)

According to a guy on Boards ESB can compete for business  since Friday I have no idea if they are cheaper dearer or whatever but as that poster says if your a business might be worth investigating


----------

