I got a reminder email today that my electricity/gas contract was due to expire in a couple of months.

I always change every year to get the best deals, so I took a quick look at what was available.

My current deal, signed almost a year ago, is :

  • Electricity – 25.94c/kWh (ex. VAT)

  • Gas – 7.27c/unit (ex. VAT)

Having a quick look at a supplier that I'm not currently on, the deal is :

  • Electricity – 24.52c/kWh (ex. VAT)

  • Gas – 7.31c/unit (ex. VAT)

So electricity is down ~3-4% year on year, and gas is up ~0.5% YoY.

If you haven't changed supplier in a year, and you're paying more than 25c/kWh, then this is a reminder to switch and save money. You can do it in 5 mins for no cost on e.g. https://www.switcher.ie or https://www.bonkers.ie/.

Note : All of the above are on a standard 24 hour tariff.



—
HighDeltaVee

13 comments

  1. Well done for changing suppliers in order to save! – many people still don’t do this. Just a question, for a fair comparison – what are the standing charges? As those can vary between suppliers.

    Just checked my bill:
    Gas 0.072775 per unit ex VAT + standing charges 0.331 per day + carbon tax 0.01148.

    Electricity 0.26712 per unit ex VAT + standing charges 0.6152 per day + PSO levy 2.01 per month.

  2. Always pay attention to the standing charge. Granted for heavy users it’s less important than a bit chipped off the unit rate but nonetheless it ranges from about 240 a year (electric only) to over 360. I noticed that it’s the EV rate packages that charge the most.

  4. This is not an ad, but I’ve been with Energia for about 5 years now because they keep matching the new customer offer. I never remember when my contract is up, but whenever I do I give them a quick ring and they switch me to the better rate and retroactively apply it to the day my contract expired. I’m just on a level pay with them so we don’t have any nasty surprises.

  5. I change annually funny enough today was my “changing” day, rang Airtricity and the best they’d do was 30 something so change to Flogas 20.7 ex. VAT.

  8. you have to use the calculators it’s too easy to be bamboozled by headline rates. I have an EV but an EV rate works out more expensive I wouldn’t have known that without using a calculator.

  9. In canada our rate depends on time of day. We range from 9.8 on a weekend off peak to 39 on a weekday between 4pm to 9pm

  10. +1 to OPs reminder. I just want to highlight that, to get the cheapest plan based on the usage rather than flat estimates, go to https://energypal.ie/ instead of Bonkers or Switcher. First, grab from ESB the usage file, and upload it to EnergyPal. It will analyze the usage, and tell exactly which plan would be the most cost-efficient.

  11. Switching is the illusion of choice. I have monitored the offers from all major suppliers over the last 7 years and can confidently tell you that there are no major savings. They get you to switch as the exhausting process of switching gives you the idea that you will get something out of it. To be honest, it’s not worth more than 70 to 100 euro over the year. It’s simply to keep you churning through suppliers and make it appear from the outside that customers are operating in a healthy competitive market. Thats not true. It’s all small few companies in a cartel imo.
    Edit spelling

  12. I just resigned with BG yesterday. 

    Old rate was 26c new rate is 29c incl VAT afaik with €250 discount applied on 2 months time (doesn’t say anywhere on website but phone operator assured me of it).

    Cheapest option I got on all other sites was 28c yuno but with no level pay. I love level pay. I’m willing to spend that 1c/kWh just to keep it. Gas was 7.93. overall not a bad deal for sticking with the same company. I shop around every year and BG seem to come out on top for me on a 24hr tariff 

  13. >Electricity – 25.94c/kWh (ex. VAT)

    better than mine , im at 32.6c /kWh

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