ESB Electric Ireland: "Pay as you Go" PAYG prepay electricity meters & arrears

The meter is in 12 days now and I've used 97 units up to a few minutes ago.
There was €5 on the meter starting off, which could have been the emergency credit and I've topped up with €20 near the beginning which all went to the meter.

I topped up this morning with a €10 top up and I noticed on the top up slip that €2.50 was going towards my bill arrears and €7.50 to the meter. Which is what I had been told by the ESB, 25% towards arrears and 75% to the meter. Or a 3:1 ratio which is the same ratio as the old school income to mortgage ratio.

I'm being rather miserly with my ESB units. Sometimes I switch off a trip switch for the house if leaving for the day.

I was averaging over€6 a day during the winter while on a bill and now I'm down to around €1.50 a day.
And I've now got a notebook in the meter box to record stuff. !
 

Thats great for you that you are being thrifty and using the meter to deal with the arrears, eliminating unneccessary wastage etc.

€2 a day usage is good. My bill is averaging €95 every 60 days. €6 a day in the winter is shockingly high, your bill was €360. What was the main consumer of power, electric heating presumably?
 
Yes, electric heating was the main culprit I think. But on the flip side I didn't use oil or other fuel so maybe the electricity usage wasn't over the top.
 
I've the washing machine and the immersion going at the same time now and I can see the meter red light blinking like mad. (The meter is in the kitchen).
I looked at the KW load and it's 5.29
Probably over €1 an hour.
 
Easy enough work out. 5.29kW for one hour is 5.29 units. Just multiply that by your unit cost.
 
price per unit is 0.1699 with electric ireland and the standing charge is 30.66 a day but if one is a low user with electric ireland they bump up the standing charge per unit up to 44 cents per day so they catch you with a decent enough bill whether your using electricity is used or not . i think this is a disgrace
 
This only applies to people who use an average of less than 2kWh per day to ensure they are paying an appropriate standing charge to cover the costs of providing the service. It was introduced so the rest of us aren't subsidising the costs of such low users (typically vacant houses, seldom used holiday homes, etc.)

If you want to rant about this, pleas post in LoS. Otherwise, let's keep this thread focused on PAYG meters.
 
EnergyElepht said:
Pre pay meters are the most expensive way to get you electricity. Avoid unless you have no other choice (or like paying alot more for stuff).
Click to expand...

You have an interesting site there Mr Elephant!

But some of the prices quoted are only available by direct debit which I hate with a passion.
With the ESB pre pay meter the unit price has a 4% discount off the 16.99 standard price.

And the thing I really love about the whole setup (at the moment) is I have an interest free loan off the ESB to deal with my arrears.
 
How does the Prepay meter impact on things like burglar alarms, smoke and carbon detectors. I assume it will run down their internal batteries. Does it effect home insurance?
 
AlbacoreA said:
I wonder does the insurance see it like that.
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T&Cs just say that if you claim a discount for having an alarm, is must be functioning correctly, and armed while away. The only issue that would arise is if you went to make a claim for a break-in while the power was out, and the alarm system backup batteries had been drained, you would not be insured.
 
Had a quick look at the meter this morning and it was down €4 from yesterday.
I've 2 electric heaters(oil filled radiators) running constantly but turned down very low. The cold weather must be causing them to come on more frequently.
I'm thinking of buying plug in timers for these to see if i can cut the electricity.
I'm keeping a good (paper ) record of the meter since installed and might post up a computer version here sometime when i get a chance.
 
RichInSpirit said:
I'm keeping a good (paper ) record of the meter since installed and might post up a computer version here sometime when i get a chance.
Click to expand...

That'd be interesting to see, if you need help formatting it to display well here, just let me know.
 
Is this still an active thread? I am on PAYG due to arrears but now have it sorted and am in credit on every bill. I got used to paying 30€ pw. I know it is the most expensive option so what should I move to and be able to continue to pay on line pw. Thanks.

I am using 5'080kw pa. approx 845kw per bi-monthly bill.
 
Last edited:
Hurray !! I've payed off my arrears fully recently. Wow 5 years since I got this meter. Time flies.
 
Well done. Not sure if you got the best deal considering the time. But sometimes you have to go with what works for you.
 
5 years after this thread was started, it is still the case that Pay As You Go is the most expensive way to pay for electricity, unless you stay with your supplier past the discount period (usually 12 months). The trick is to change supplier every year and pay by Direct Debit.
Sites like Bonkers.ie are great for comparing the best elec & gas rates of the day.
 
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