Now that ESB prices are going up.....again....

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One word of warning that we got from an electrician was to be careful of the outside security lights as they use a lot of power especially if they are regularly set off by cats etc. or left on all night by forgetful husband!

esb

Ninsaga: No. More like a red beach ball, made of tin. My wife asked the plumbers mate (who did most of the work)what it was and he said it was sort of like a pressurised balloon and that it was for the overflow. Its connectged to the return pipe just before the boiler.Will revert when I find out more . Systems appears to be magic compared with previous. Put on the heating tonight at around 9.15 and full tank of hot water in immersion at 10.00 and probably a lot earlier. Rads have very easy to control valves and even the slightest turn from fully closed off brings almost instant response and appears to be easy to control individual rads. I'm starting to get worried.

Heating etc costs

Mac: Apologies for not replying earlier, but I was waiting for about a month to see how the system was faring and how much ESB in particular I was using. The system works on a pressurised system with an expansion tank in the boiler house, whose purpose is to absorb any water expansion volume ie overflow. There is a bladder inside this tank, and it this tank which is pressurised. There is also a pressure gauge in the hotpress on the pipe carrying the water from the mains pipe. I previously had a lot of problems with my system, I had an underfloor leak, which was losing approx 30 gallons a day which did not show up until the urban coucil cut the water off during the nights in 1990/1991 or thereabouts. it was only then when we heard the radiators filling up each morning that the penny dropped. Had to get in the insurance and the cause was a kinked pipe which was left by the plumber who worked on the house entension. Sod. Anyway I asked my plumber how would I know if I had a leak with the new system as the system is mains fed and pressurised and might put pressure on a leaky seal or joint etc and having no header tank to check out etc and he informed me that if I turned off the stop valve on the feed from the mains and I had a leak the pressure would drop to zero. Thats the only way to find out if a leak has occurred ,whereas with a header tank you can just tie up the ballcock and check the water level. There is also a air outlet valve in the hotpress and also in the boiler houe on new pipes he installed.The system is working fine but another consideration is that I dont have a dual system anymore. He cut the back boiler off completely and just emptied it. Said a pressured system can't have a back boiler. I will probably change this to a gas fire in the near future as we only light it for two weeks and Christmas and a few weekends in Jan/Feb before getting fed up carrying in coal etc. I can still light a fire but I will be heating only empty steel so effectively its only something to look at. My esb reading is just over 600 units for one complete month which is magic for me and I suspect I will benefit even more during the winter when the heating is on more during the day. The radiators are unbelievably hot and the valves on them have only to be turned on about 3/4 to 1 1/2 turns to get full heat, literally in minutes. And I have a full hot water tank from about 1/2 hour after the heating come on. I had to get a new copper cylinder as the coil in the previous one was completely gunged up . Cleaning out the radiators, new cylinder, installing new system and fitting new valves to 14 radiators cost €1100 which was more than I bargained for but if it saves me even €50 per two monthly esb I will recoup it in 3/4 years and this is the kind of saving I estimate I will be making. I will wait now until the Jan/Dec billing period to see if I am on course. My bill for this period last year as €240 and it was underestimated by 300 units.

Thanks for the update

Cuchulainn, thanks for the update. I'll print it and read it after the match.

MAC

Re: Thanks for the update

How do our prices compare with the rest of Europe ? From personal experience, I know that electricity and gas are far cheaper in the UK than they are here.

Didn't the ESB and Bord Gais get some sort of reprieve from the EU a few years back, such that the Irish market won't be open to the same competition as in the UK ?

Net winner ESB staff and management with fat profits and salaries: net loser the Irish consumer again !!!!

Opponents of the free market will point to the misselling problems that the UK used to have. The reposte to this is that the UK regulator has tightened up on these malpractices, and that if ever some form of competition were introduced into the Irish market, we should adopt similar safeguards.

Competition isn't the panacea to problems in the power markets - It [broken link removed]

I didn't say it was a panacea, but some form of competition would certainly be an improvement on the State monoliths that control our electricity and gas supplies at the moment if it brings low cost, highly reliable, utilities to domestic users homes as happens in the UK.

if it brings low cost, highly reliable, utilities to domestic users homes as happens in the UK.

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And all the non-value-adding sales activities, doorstepping of vulnerable customers, churning of users etc etc that provide lots of material for the Watchdog consumer show in the UK.

As I stated clearly in my original posting:

...the UK regulator has tightened up on these malpractices . . . if ever some form of competition were introduced into the Irish market, we should adopt similar safeguards.

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Wont reduce Prices

People,
Be under no illusion that the introduction of competition will reduce prices. It works like this:
ESB (or bord gais or whoever) charge x rate per unit of electricity or gas that goes through their network. The supplier charges the end user x amount plus profits (+running costs etc). The catch is this: ESB (+bord gais) have employed HUGE amounts of people to enable other users to have access to their network (not as simple as it sounds).
Surely the way to reduce the end price to the customer (which, incidentally is definately NOT the goal of introducing competition) is to shave every single non efficiency from the existing networks and charge the amount necessary for ESB(or Bord Gais) to break even, because every cent profit they make is an indirect taxation in my book.

Re: Wont reduce Prices

Be under no illusion that the introduction of competition will reduce prices.

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Except of course, when it comes to building schools, where the privatised competition open-market model results in increases of 8%-13% on the conventional approach. Is it just possible that the 8% represents the Jarvis profit margin?

Competition

Hello,
I agree 100% that competition in most marketplaces will reduce prices.
In the case where a physical network is required it will not reduce prices. The price is still controlled by ESB who can charge what they want (in fact the more they can roll into that tarriff the better for them) for access to their network. It is competition by name only.
The reason ESB are increasing prices is to create an incentive for companies to enter the market, this is also the case for gas.

ESB ripoffs

"In the case where a physical network is required it will not reduce prices."

Except that it has in the UK