ESB Networks €50 refund due to overcharging

It took a freedom of information request to uncover this , the energy regulator didn't flag this up themselves which begs the question what is the point of the regulator if they are ignoring charges like this.
What other charges are being hidden, the wind energy sector gets alot of subsidies aswell from the pso levy, but I think that is being abolished
 
I suspect there is a lot of trickery going on with the Pay as you Go meters also.

I inherited a Pay as you Go Gas meter at one stage when I moved into a house. The previous resident was with one of the most expensive providers in the market so I switched to another provider. Months later I figured out how to check the rate on the meter and I was still being charged the rate the previous customer had being paying and not the advertised rate for my own provider. I managed to get a refund out of them after a protracted complaint.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of gas and electricity meters are not set at the correct rate.
 
A €50 refund for 11 years of "overcharging", that's €4.54 a year or approximately €0.75 cent a bill
I know it's not the point, we shouldn't be overcharged, but why bother refunding us ??
I'd much rather see the money donated to the state to help sort out in some other area that could do with a bit of extra funding
 
A €50 refund for 11 years of "overcharging", that's €4.54 a year or approximately €0.75 cent a bill
I know it's not the point, we shouldn't be overcharged, but why bother refunding us ??
I'd much rather see the money donated to the state to help sort out in some other area that could do with a bit of extra funding
There are a lot of people in the country for whom the €50 will be an important single windfall boost to their household income. There's nothing stopping you from donating yours to a good cause.
 
The scheme itself seems highly questionable to me, even aside from the overcharging.

Increasing charges on ordinary users to subsidise large commercial users. And that was sanctioned by the authorities.
 
A €50 refund for 11 years of "overcharging", that's €4.54 a year or approximately €0.75 cent a bill
I know it's not the point, we shouldn't be overcharged, but why bother refunding us ??
I'd much rather see the money donated to the state to help sort out in some other area that could do with a bit of extra funding
It was taken from electricity payers by stealth, therefore it needs to be repaid to the people it was taken from. Aswell as that any other stealth charges and levies need also to be rooted out and exposed. There are enough charges and taxes there already without hidden ones aswell
 
I'd much rather see the money donated to the state to help sort out in some other area that could do with a bit of extra funding
But it belongs to those from whom the money was taken, not the government
 
I'd much rather see the money donated to the state to help sort out in some other area that could do with a bit of extra funding

Allowing the government pocket what State companies overcharge customers actually incentivises it to not only tolerate but facilitate overcharging.

And it's rolling in money - see the latest exchequer returns - and struggling to spend it.
 
Last edited:
The reimbursement will be about €50 according to the video in the news story. I lived in 3 different properties over that time but I doubt I'll get any reimbursement apart from my current live account.
 
€600m overcharge over 12 years, €50 refund?

Would love to see the maths on that!
You'd probably need a doctorate in SF mathematics to understand the answer though...
Senator (Lynn) Boylan repeated her calls that the total cost of the scheme be clarified, noting that figures including €600m have been mentioned.
 
There are a lot of people in the country for whom the €50 will be an important single windfall boost to their household income. There's nothing stopping you from donating yours to a good cause.
It was taken from electricity payers by stealth, therefore it needs to be repaid to the people it was taken from. Aswell as that any other stealth charges and levies need also to be rooted out and exposed. There are enough charges and taxes there already without hidden ones aswell
Allowing the government pocket what State companies overcharge customers actually incentivises it to not only tolerate but facilitate overcharging.

And it's rolling in money - see the latest exchequer returns - and struggling to spend it.
Whoops, forgive me for been so "altruistic" just thought it would be better going to some worthy cause
I know €50 is €50 but is it really going to be missed or make a real difference to a persons life in the long term
 
True and my crude sums would indicate that €600M / 1.2M* = c. €50 per household plus the interest on the capital sum accrued over 11 years, compounded.

@Harvard, unless you had active ESB accounts in parallel over the years, the one crispy €50 is all you'll get, if the speculation is correct.

Mind you, the compound interest on €600M @ 1% over 11 years is close to €70M (69.7M). I'd have no objection to the interest being used for good elsewhere.

[EDIT] *The number of household accounts ESB steals from deals with
 
Last edited:
True and my crude sums would indicate that €600M / 1.2M* = c. €50 per household plus the interest on the capital sum accrued over 11 years, compounded.

@Harvard, unless you had active ESB accounts in parallel over the years, the one crispy €50 is all you'll get, if the speculation is correct.

Mind you, the compound interest on €600M @ 1% over 11 years is close to €70M (69.7M). I'd have no objection to the interest being used for good elsewhere.

[EDIT] *The number of household accounts ESB steals from deals with
I thought the same at first, but it didn't look right.

Re-did the calculation and it's €500 per household!
 
€600m overcharge over 12 years, €50 refund?

Would love to see the maths on that!
The decision taken by Govt 12 years ago was to rebalance how ESB collect charges from customers. The rebalance favoured large energy users (LEUs) over domestic customers. It was meant to be a fixed amount of €50m a year, which times 12 is where the €600m came from. In terms of how it was implemented my understanding is that the €600m was not a mistake or overcharge - it was Govt policy. The issue was how the rebalance was done. It seems that instead of rebalancing by a fixed amount of €50m per year, ESB used a percentage. This led to domestic customers providing an even greater subsidy to LEUs than the €50m per annum. ESB have said they think that this extra bit on top equates to a c.€50 overpayment per domestic customer, hence the recharge.
 
Whoops, forgive me for been so "altruistic" just thought it would be better going to some worthy cause
I know €50 is €50 but is it really going to be missed or make a real difference to a persons life in the long term
Feel free to be altruistic with your own money.
 
Back
Top