To Activate Or Not Activate The Smart Meter ??

There is stuff in the Yuno terms and conditions about accepting that a smart meter will be installed and possibly that it is "activated" (haven't checked in detail) but it sounds like you may have inadvertently agreed to the "activation" (from MCC02 to MCC12) even if you understood that it would remain on MCC02?

I still maintain that the CRU, ESB Networks, individual providers and the media have made a complete hames of explaining the details of smart meters to consumers giving rise to confusion like this. As I mentioned elsewhere "activation" seems to mean different things in different contexts (and may have three different potential meanings).

Just wondering what people opinion on fixing the Gas and Electricity prices for the coming year
Airtricity are offering a discount of 20% off the variable standard rate or a fixed price for the 12 months


My thinking is that the fixed price might be worth a gamble as rates would have to be cut by more than 10% in the next year for me to be losing out but then I'd also have to factor in how long I'm into the 12 month contract before rates drop if indeed they drop at all

Other things to consider

1. You may get a better deal by taking electricity and gas from different providers.
2. Breaking out of a 12 month contract early costs €50 per supply and can sometimes be worth doing in order to switch again.
3. Are you sure that the smart time of day tariff above best matches your actual usage profile? Use EnergyPal to check this if possible.

Thanks for that Mr Clubman but not really what I was looking for
1. I'm moving to Airtricity so other suppliers are not relevant to this particular question
2. The break out fee for the variable rate is €50 but for the fixed is actually €100, not a huge difference in the greater scheme
3. I've already done a year of free electricity on Sundays and am coming off BG's EV package so now we're just reverting to a standard smart plan
4. EnergyPal is of no help here with this question!!

Well, your question is effectively "what is going to happen with gas and electricity prices over the next year?" and nobody can answer that.

Which is why I asked for an opinion

extopia said:

I got on to ESB Networks and they told me that the supplier (YUNO) had changed (reconfigured?) the meter to MCC12, and this happened about two months into my day/night plan with them (at which point a smart meter had been installed but I had not changed to a smart plan).

So I asked the supplier to revert me back to MCC02 as I had not authorised any switch. They told me they can't do that and it was in terms and conditions etc etc. They only accept smart meter customers, apparently, although I did not have a smart meter when I signed up! Either way (they tell me) ESB Networks will not revert the designation to MCC02,

So supplier and ESB Networks are effectively blaming each other. I don't think I have the bandwidth to fight this - I know a back and forth when I see one.

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I have just discovered I have the exact same problem. Previously, day/night meters and storage heating, switched to Yuno, they upgraded me to a smart meter. I have now discovered this was 'activated' without my knowledge and I can now only switch to smart plans which are more expensive. I rang Yuno and was told all this is in the terms and conditons. I have read their terms and conditions and it states "If we are taking over from another Supplier as the Supplier of Energy to the Premises, you hereby authorise us to:
(a) contact your existing electricity Supplier/ESBN for the purposes of coordinating the removal of any legacy Meter and the installation of a ESBN Smart Meter;"
No mention of 'activating' the smart meter from MCC02 to MCC12. Does anyone know if I complain to the CRU/YUNO/ESBN can this be reversed or is it true that once activated this can't be reversed (personally think this is a con we are just being told to stop us all switching back). Also any advice on if i'm wasting my time complaining as we are all shortly to be moved to smart meters and smart plans anyways??
Thanks for any advice, I'm so very annoyed about this.

Malteaser said:

No mention of 'activating' the smart meter from MCC02 to MCC12. Does anyone know if I complain to the CRU/YUNO/ESBN can this be reversed or is it true that once activated this can't be reversed (personally think this is a con we are just being told to stop us all switching back).

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Have a read of this item which was covered some time back on RTE Prime Time as it may throw some light on the whole mess that is Smart meters. Personally I prefer to have the Smart meter as I find access to the information helpful when choosing supplier and www.energypal.ie is a great resource.

This is the relevant section that might give you some advice:

The main electricity suppliers told Prime Time that customers could never revert back from smart tariffs due to "market" or "industry design", however the CRU said the configuration of meters "does not prevent the customer from moving back to a flat-rate tariff or stop energy suppliers from offering customers on (smart meters) a flat rate tariff."

ESB Networks added while tariffs are a matter for each electricity supplier, "there is no requirement to change the meter configuration if a customer decides to move back to a flat tariff from a smart tariff, the supplier is not restricted in how it prices each period."

The Regulator caused a lot of these problems from the outset. They pressured the suppliers to switch users to smart tariffs while at the same time stating publicly that consumers could switch back to non-smart ones. They also severely restricted the number of smart plans the suppliers could offer to the point that none of them initially offered simple 24h or day/night plans, instead opting for combinations of day/night/peak or day/night/discounted night/ peak.

Electric up for renewal this month so had a look at current deals.

Was surprised at a change in the smart time plans on energia. The 8am - 11pm (excl peak) rate was much the same as the 24hour rate at 25c

The peak 5pm - 7pm rate was only 2c higher, but night rate was substantially cheaper at 13c

Previously the day rate was 5/6c higher and peak rate was 30% higher than this.

A little planning and a decent saving is to be had for my usage pattern.

At long last, a Smart Meter Offering has emerged that appeals to my wallet!

My year's commitment with EI will end shortly and, after the usual extensive and tedious research, I'm 99.9% certain that I'll be switching to the following Energia Smart Meter package next week:




At current rates, I reckon that this will save me about €270 annually on the price of my electricity.

To avail of this offer people need to sign up to One Big Switch which is a free Irish website which has absolutely no strings attached.

(I have no connection whatsoever with OBS, but I am a member and I have previously availed of one of their discounted insurance offers.)

Marsupial said:

At long last, a Smart Meter Offering has emerged that appeals to my wallet!

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How can you tell when that banner says absolutely nothing about the important details - the unit rate(s?) and standing charge?

ClubMan said:

How can you tell when that banner says absolutely nothing about the important details - the unit rate(s?) and standing charge?

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I'll be charitable and assume that you missed my earlier reference to my having carried out "the usual extensive and tedious research"!

I also made the reasonable assumption that anone else interested in saving money in their annual energy bill would do the same.

Marsupial said:

My year's commitment with EI will end shortly and, after the usual extensive and tedious research, I'm 99.9% certain that I'll be switching to the following Energia Smart Meter package next week:

Click to expand...

That mentions 28%, but the AXA Plus offer as mentioned in this previous AAM thread, mentions 34%. Lightning also mentioned that from posters on www.boards.ie it seemed that you might not even need to be insured with AXA to avail of that offer.

We have been availing of that scheme with Energia and all good so far.

Marsupial said:

I'll be charitable and assume that you missed my earlier reference to my having carried out "the usual extensive and tedious research"!

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Huh?

So what are the unit and standing charges for the offer that you mentioned?
28% discount is meaningless in isolation.

Sue Ellen said:

That mentions 28%, but the AXA Plus offer as mentioned in this previous AAM thread, mentions 34%.

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Thanks; I've just checked it out. Looks good, but the annual standing charge is €77 dearer, also one doesn't get a €95 welcome credit.

So it would be €110 dearer p/a for me.

Marsupial said:

So it would be €110 dearer p/a for me.

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Did you input the numbers on the www.energypal.ie site where you can set up your own calculation by inputting the Energia figures for the year under the 'Add Smart Plan' or 'Add 24 Hr Plan' section? I found it very handy.

Yes ma'am, I did. And the OBS-Energia plan that I referenced above turned out to be the winner, although only by a small margin.

(Note that the energypal model doesn't include the One Big Switch offering, , although if offers a very similar option, with a lower cashback amount).

ClubMan said:

28% discount is meaningless in isolation.

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Agreed. And it doesn't factor in the €95 discount. That's exactly why others consumers should carry out their own research!

All that I was doing above was revealing that, after quite a number of earlier posts by me criticising the poor value of the Smart Meter packages on offer, I have now found one that makes financial sense to me.

The one reservation that I have in making the Big Switch is that once I go Smart, I can't go back (at least that appears to be the situation.)

So after 2 months, BG finally decided to issue me with my final bill and now I can update this thread with how I got on with the EV plan
But and it's a big but, in another discussion another poster, Dr Strangelove pointed out that my savings of €600 on the free electricity on Sunday during '23 will have little or no relevance to the energy rates going forward in '25

So I've decided to do a chart for the upcoming year using the current rates form BG as of this morning with our usage from last year
I've also included the fixed rate plan that I'm now on with Airtricity


My usage for last year was 5089 broken down 2507 Day, 2175 Night and 407 Peak
My EV usage is in night and was 1395 Kwh and I allowed 1000 Kwh for the "free electricity" which is close to what I used the year before
While there is no usage limit on the EV rate there is a maximum on the free electricity of 100Kwh per month
We also moved as much usage into the Free and EV time slots so as to maximise the savings while on these plans

As you can see going forward the cheapest plan from BG is the Free Sunday but it comes at a cost of the Sunday
The next cheapest is the Standard smart plan and then the non smart, so that to me proves for us the smart plans are cheaper
The dearest plan was the EV but as we don't have an EV yet it might have been the best plan to be on if we did

But the thing that I've really learnt from this is there's very little difference in the BG plans cost wise at the end of the year
And as Mrs C said when we were renewing this year "After 2 years, I want my life back, just go with the standard smart plan"
So my advise is just stick with the standard smart plan and forget about all of the others and the gimmicks they are offering

The fixed price plan from Airtricity will all depend on if and when rates fall as to whether it was the correct and cheapest plan to go for