Given the state of the economy and the privations being visited on us all the Regulator should lift the shackles imposed on ESB and allow it to compete on an equal basis with BG and Airtricity. There are thousands of customers who could benefit from lower electricity prices but who cannot avail of the BG and Airticity offers due to (a) being unbanked and so direct debit is not an option and (b) being unable to pay the security deposits required by those suppliers. The regulatory restrictions on ESB are therefore a form of social exclusion - the better off can benefit from BG's and Airtricity's lower prices but others can't. That is unjust and it needs to change. Customer service should be the differentiator that determines whether a customer switches supplier or not.
Your incorrect here with that. You dont need a bank account for both BG and Airtricity and Airtricity only charge the security deposit when you dont pay by DD. There are a host of methods for paying your bills of both suppliers so this 'social exclusion' theory of yours is a misnomer.
Also as a point of information Airtricity still offer over 5% reduction in year 2.
You are being very misleading there in your post for some reason....