# Can you switch to Bord Gais if participating in Esb smart meter rollout?



## beetroot (4 Mar 2009)

Hi just wondering if anyone else is participating in the Esb smart meter programme? And if so can you switch to Bord Gais during the 12 month programme or are you "tied in". Thanks.


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## bren1916 (4 Mar 2009)

You might wanna contact the ESB or CER to be sure but I'd imagine that since the software in your meter is not concerned with the name on the top of the electricity bill - it shouldn't make any difference..


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## Fnergg (5 Mar 2009)

Yes, you can switch but any incentives you have been offered by the ESB for participating in the smart meter pilot will no longer apply. The meter will stay in place and it will be used for recording your two-monthly usage just like the old meter. There will be no added functionality such as an in-house display, special web access to view your usage, and the like.

Neither will Bord Gais be offering any such incentives to customers with smart meters who switch to them: they already have allocated their portion of smart meter test customers (all business customers in their case as they had no domestic customers when the pilot went live).  


Regards,

Fnergg


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## eeyore2502 (5 Mar 2009)

Sorry for asking a still question but what is Esb smart meter programme?


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## askalot (5 Mar 2009)

eeyore2502 said:


> Sorry for asking a still question but what is Esb smart meter programme?




Google is a wonderful thing!


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## Fnergg (5 Mar 2009)

eeyore2502 said:


> Sorry for asking a still question but what is Esb smart meter programme?



The proposal is that all electricity customers in the Republic - regardless of which supplier they are with - will, over the next 5 years or so, be supplied with a "smart" meter.

This meter will provide a whole heap of functionality that existing meters can not. It will for instance be able to measure your electricity usage every half hour and the intention is to provide customers with an in-house display unit that indicates how much you are using at a given time and how much it's costing.

Suppliers will be able to apply Time Of Day prices so that during the period of peak demand - 5pm to 7pm - the price per unit used during those hours will go up. This, it is hoped, will encourage customers to reduce their usage. 

There will be no need for meter readers as the meter will communicate the readings back to base in Dublin electronically. So, no more estimated bills.

The smart meter will also allow for remote disconnection and reconnection thus avoiding the costs involved at present in sending a technician out to the premises. This will definitely encourage early payment as supply can easily be withdrawn for overdue bills. 

These are some of the proposed features. There are a few thousand being fitted around the country at present in order to test the communications technology and for assessing if they will, in fact, help to reduce usage. This assessment period will continue until late 2010 and thereafter a study will be done of their overall effectiveness. A decision will then be taken as to way forward.

Regards,

Fnergg


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## eeyore2502 (5 Mar 2009)

Thanks, sounds like it could be a good idea.


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## beetroot (6 Mar 2009)

Thanks for all the replies, I haven't received any of the incentives yet (was looking forward to the inhouse electronic display), it's early days yet though so maybe they're on the way, you do get a €50 credit for participating in the scheme + the other incentives might be worth staying with the Esb.


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## Gaothfar (6 Mar 2009)

If you are planning on getting a micro-generator (windmill etc) to sell electricity back to the grid, you won't get the favourable rate if you switch from ESB.


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## Fnergg (6 Mar 2009)

beetroot said:


> Thanks for all the replies, I haven't received any of the incentives yet (was looking forward to the inhouse electronic display), it's early days yet though so maybe they're on the way, you do get a €50 credit for participating in the scheme + the other incentives might be worth staying with the Esb.


 

You may or may not get an inhouse display. Part of the pilot scheme will be to test the value of these add-ons so that a customer with an inhouse display unit will be compared with one without one to see if the display unit had a material effect on the way customers use electricity.

As I understand it, all domestic customers will eventually get inhouse display units if and when the smart metering roll-out gets the go ahead.

I think there is still an "if" about the whole thing. It will, if it gets the green light, prove to be *VERY* expensive (and I undeline the "very") and of course the customer will end up paying for it.  I think a lot will depend on how the economy fares over the next couple of years.

Regards,

Fnergg


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