Airtricity..Has anyone switched?

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elkii

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Has anyone switched to Airtricity and if so did you have any problems?

They claim their daytime rate is cheaper than Eircoms 12.06c per unit (13.69c inc VAT) with a standing charge of €3.44 (€3.90 inc VAT) which I assume is per bill.

Their night rate is 5.80c (6.58c inc VAT) per unit.

Would be interested in any info! Thanks
 
even more competition

Are Airtricity competing against Eircom in telecoms??

I assumed they just sold electricity to businesses, in competition with the ESB.
 
Re: even more competition

Ahh,,,you KNOW I meant ESB!!!!!!
 
I'm very bad

Yes, I did, sorry.

Anyway, can a DOMESTIC household now choose who to buy power from?

Or is it just COMMERCIAL customers?
 
Re: I'm very bad

Yes, they started doing domestic a couple of months ago. I would have switched, but you could only pay by direct debit, and my budget is way too tight for any variable direct debits.
 
Re: I'm very bad

Yes indeed they have now started to offer the service to us domestics! Anyone used them in any capacity..commercial or domestic??
 
Re: I'm very bad

Sent a couple of enquiries through their own website, but good oul Airtricity have failed to respond to any of them. A bit like Charlie McCreevy really, they just don't seem to be into responding to questions.
 
Re: I'm very bad

Just compared Airtricity's and ESB's prices for daytime domestic customers.

Airtricity's price per unit is 13.69c, that's only 0.12c cheaper than ESB. Their standing charge is the same. I don't think it's worth changing for a 0.8% saving per unit.
 
Re: I'm very bad

0.12 cent per unit is a small difference yes, but better in your pocket eh? AFAIK it doesn't cost anything to change, correct? And I'm just wondering if Airtricity would be better placed to resist inflationary pressures like oil price going forward, and thus offer better value in the long term. On the other hand maybe they'll just get greedy in the future and track ESB's prices to keep up profits. Either way, 0.8% of a saving is a SAVING!
 
Re: I'm very bad

0.12 cent per unit is a small difference yes, but better in your pocket eh
Click to expand...
I'm afraid I'm not convinced. According to a recent ESB bill, I used approx 500 units over a two-month period. With Airtricity I would have saved only 60c. That's far from the saving I would need to switch to any service.
 
Re: I'm very bad

When you did your calculation did you factor in the difference in the standing charges and PSO? I compared my last bill and Airtricty was more expensive over the two months. Perhaps I haven't seen the latest ESB price rises yet.

Nogser
 
Re: even more competition

I compared the standing charge and PSO, and I think they were the same. I assume the PSO should be the same for all operators.

I think Airtricity will only be encouraged to lower their domestic prices if consumers fail to switch to them in significant numbers while at their current level.

Personally, I wouldn't switch to them unless I was going to save at least 5%.
 
Re: Airtricity V ESB

Urban Domestic Case, including PSO:

Airtricity Standing Charges (per month): €7.45

ESB Standing Charges (per month): €6.32

Stick with ESB 4 moment
 
Re: Airtricity V ESB

I changed about a few months ago. Just printed the form from the web and sent it in. Received a final bill from ESB and first bill from Airtricity. No problems so far.
 
Re: Airtricity V ESB

I sent airtricity an email asking them what kind of outfit they were running when they couldn't get around to publishing prices on their website. Well, I put it nicer than that. They haven't responded.

Mrs zag is determined to help the environment and is going to make the move, but given the effort in trying to find out what I was going to save/lose financially I wouldn't be too bothered.

I rang them up and the helpfull person on the phone told me their prices are exactly the same as ESB.

z
 
Airtricity

Thanks,zag.(I had the same experience with them.)
 
With respect to all the arguemens here about cost differentials - isn't the primary reason for switching for enviromental issues - it costs us nothing, but saves the world a little?
 
Out of curiousity, do Airtricity produce enough energy to cover all their customers ? AFAIK they operate windfarms which produce about 5% of the national needs.

If no, do they sell the excess to ESB? If yes, are they buying the excess from ESB (which would negate the "green" element of buying from them?
 
We switched to Airtricity some time last year. Needless to say, since the distribution network didn't change everything operates just like it did when we were with ESB.

There seems to be some tomfoolery going on between Airtricity/ESB/enery regulator/government . . . but I haven't been able to keep track of it. From what I can remember, Airtricity aren't allowed to fully join the grid (could be wrong) and so end up exporting some of their capacity to the North. As I say it could be wrong, but it's along the lines of "You can generate it, you can sell it, you just can't sell what you generate", so it's some type of Catch-22.

All I know is that Airtricity has a dig at the ESB & the energy regulator at every opportunity.

z
 
Now you can compare all three -

For a basic unit in an urban 24 hour package
ESB charge 16.4c + VAT,
Bord Gais Energy charge 10% (+2% with DD +2% with gas) less then this for one year (i.e. maximum 14.75c) and 5% less for years 2 and 3 (i.e. 15.58c.)
and Airtricity charge between 14.76c and 15.91c depending on the package.

Obviously there are other differences - standing charges, PSO rebate from ESB (not sure you get this with the other guys), etc.

ESB prices - [broken link removed]
Bord Gais prices -
Airtricity prices -
 
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