Airtricity..Has anyone switched?

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anotherdub said:
.....Obviously there are other differences - standing charges, PSO rebate from ESB (not sure you get this with the other guys), etc.....
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The Standing Charge will be the same for all suppliers and the PSO rebate will apply to everyone as well. The differences are the unit charges.

Regards,

Fnergg
 
Got my final ESB bill yesterday....apart from the cheaper units from Airtricity and Bord Gais...that ESB payrsie was the last straw!
Thank God for competition!!
 
Surely even if there is no great saving to be made by switching to AirTricity we should all consider it anyway because, afaik, they generate all their energy from renewables, so it would be better for the environment.

I checked their site, and it doesn't appear to be any hassle at all to switch, so why not? The only thing that would stop me switching is there was any doubt that it might be more expensive.
 
bren1916 said:
Got my final ESB bill yesterday....apart from the cheaper units from Airtricity and Bord Gais...that ESB payrsie was the last straw! Thank God for competition!!
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Are you sure Bord Gais and Airtricity have not paid the 3.5% under the pay agreement? As successful and profitable companies they almost certainly have. The media gives the impression that the ESB is the only company in the land to have paid it (it is, after all, "bash the ESB" month) . That is definitely not the case.

Regards,

Fnergg
 

The only thing to monitor at the moment is the fact that the various discount rates being provided by both Bord Gais and Airtricity are based on Year 1 or for the moment rates. Although I think Bord Gais have said atleast 5% cheaper than ESB for up to 3 years.
If Great Britian is anything to go by, the way increased regulation works is initially competitors compare themselves to the monopoly provider for a period and then as people become more comfortable with switching the tariffs they offer to customers increase in complexity so you will forced to pay a lot of attention to really work out which offering is the cheaper for you.

Its like anything I guess, but constantly comparing between any of the providers would always be sensible..
 

From Last wednesdays independent:

"Mr Mullins (Bord Gais CEO) has also been keeping a keen eye on Bord Gais's cost base and has not paid staff the 3.5pc instalment of the national pay deal which rival ESB paid in November last year"

Personally, I decided to go with Airtricity as they seem to have a longer term commitment than Bord Gais to stay 10% under ESB prices and they have green credentials, mind you if everyone did suddenely start switching to Airtricity their limited input to the national grid could not make the numbers, so in the short term at least, I guess they would be forced to buy power from carbon burning generating plants, I'm sure a problem they would not mind having, ;-)
 
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According to the Airtricity website "79% of the electricity that we supply is renewable compared to only 9% being supplied by the ESB."
 
scallywag said:
According to the Airtricity website "79% of the electricity that we supply is renewable compared to only 9% being supplied by the ESB."
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Thats based on current volumes, if that increases significantly as suggested, they would have no option than to buy from the wholesale electricity pool, so in effect buying electricity generated by the likes of ESB, Viridian and even from the UK via the interconnector.

Just FYI more than anything, the regulator has set some required standards with regards to the generation of energy using renewable sources so Im sure as competition increases so will the advertising relating tomany of the suppliers with regards to their "green" energy
 
Agreed SLS, those percentages for green energy could easily change. There's no guarantee, just as there isn't with the prices.

I was trying to decide who to switch to: Bord Gais or Airtricity. In the end I chose Airtricity because
1) they at least present themselves as favouring green energy, so of all the suppliers I think they're likely to be "greener"
2) Bord Gais pretty much promise to reduce the price benifit in years 2 and 3 to be only 5% less than ESB, whereas Airtricity don't say that. So Airtricity just might maintain a greater price difference.

It's clutching at straws but these were the only significant criteria I could think of.
 
I switched to Airtricity yesterday through their website. It was pretty straight forward and when it kicks in I will update this post.
 

Actually in the latest information available on the Airtricity website they say the following on their faq:

"What happens if the ESB increase or decrease their prices?

We will endeavour to remain at this percentage discount on ESB tariffs."


While I agree "we endeavour", is no cast iron guarantee that they will stay 10% under ESB rates, it looks like the discount might last longer than the Bord Gais one year commitment.

I guess if the regulator is soon to force a drop of residential gas/electricty prices by up to 20% we could find out pretty soon,

In any case given there seem to be no contracts or limits associated with switching, it looks like inertia is the only anti-churn force, so pretty easy to "change sides" at will.
 

This is the already case with telephone and broadband costs in Ireland - the packages from all operators have become quite complex it's very hard to make direct comparisions. This is exactly the intention of the operators once they achieve a reasonable market share.
Expect to see the same happen in the electricity market in the coming years.
 

Perhaps, but in the meantime I'll take the 10% saving on offer, along with doing a bit more for the environment... no brainer really.
 
I just a guy from Airtricity in my shop. Told him that I just changed to Energia and now he tells me that they are based in Northern Ireland and that the VAT rate is more expensive? Is that true?
 
Bubbles34 said:
I just a guy from Airtricity in my shop. Told him that I just changed to Energia and now he tells me that they are based in Northern Ireland and that the VAT rate is more expensive? Is that true?
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Energia are based in NI, so therefore are subject to UK vat rates which increased in their last budget so yes that would be correct.
Im assuming you are speaking as a commercial customer because I didnt think they did domestic? Please correct me if Im wrong however..
 
Bubbles34 said:
I just a guy from Airtricity in my shop. Told him that I just changed to Energia and now he tells me that they are based in Northern Ireland and that the VAT rate is more expensive? Is that true?
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Reply from SLS: Energia are based in NI, so therefore are subject to UK vat rates which increased in their last budget so yes that would be correct.I'm assuming you are speaking as a commercial customer because I didnt think they did domestic? Please correct me if I'm wrong however..

Are you guys for real?

Do you not realise that VAT is levied by the exchequer of the jurisdiction in which the company operates and therefore Energia's ROI VAT rate will be no different to any other company's operating here.

The Airtricity rep was either stupid or else was telling a porky. My bet's the latter. Nobody could be that thick, could they?

Regards,

Fnergg
 
yes you are correct, its commercial. They start domestic only in April 09

So I have nothing to worry about so.

As I am new to all these VAT things I must looked like a complete idiot when he said they were based in Belfast and I didn't know
 
SLS said:
Energia are based in NI, so therefore are subject to UK vat rates which increased in their last budget so yes that would be correct.
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Wrong on both counts I believe:

  • The standard rate for Britain & NI was reduced to 15% in December.
  • And as Fnergg pointed out, if they are trading in ROI then you'll be charged the prevailing VAT rates here.
 
local said:
Wrong on both counts I believe:

  • The standard rate for Britain & NI was reduced to 15% in December.
  • And as Fnergg pointed out, if they are trading in ROI then you'll be charged the prevailing VAT rates here.
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Let's just hope so. He just said that the bill will come from Belfast with their VAT rate. Thanks for clearing that up
 
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