Fnergg how is the job with the Esb going for you
If someone was clsoing an account with me I would send a meter reader.
regardless of what info BG or anyone else gave me.
Hi Frank,
The job with ESB? I wish. Isn't everyone in the ESB from the cleaners up on a minimum wage of €250,000 or something? I'd be so lucky.
The most pragmatic and practical approach when opening or closing a domestic/business account is to get the applicant/customer to provide his/her own meter reading.
Meter readers are contracted to read on a two- monthly cycle , not to take special reads in between times. If a reading had to be taken outside of the scheduled dates an ESB Networks Technician would have to do it at a cost to the supplier - ESB Customer Supply, Bord Gais, Airtricity - of about €100.
Given the very low profit margins in the domestic sector in particular that cost would be unsustainable. Hence the obvious solution of getting the customer to do it. ESB Customer Supply has adopted that approach for years, likewise Airtricity, and doubtless Bord Gais will as well especially when their domestic customers open and close accounts when moving house.
The vast majority of people are honest and give the reading as it is on the meter. There may be a tiny minority who will change it in their favour if switching supplier but the overall cost to Bord Gais, had they adopted that approach, would have been minimal. Instead, they have gone for the next scheduled read approach which has caused long delays for customers switching to them (60+ days appears to be the norm). The customers also of course have to pay the higher ESB cost for the units consumed in the meantime.
Maybe they should shoot a coda to their Big Switch ad ...I would suggest Lucy Kennedy speaks to the camera as follows: "By the way, we think that most of you are lying farkers and so we will not trust you to give us an honest meter reading. We still want you as a customer though". (I can see a career in advertising beckoning. It's time to grow that ponytail).
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Airtricity accept customer reads and the switching process with them is efficient and quick.
Regards,
Fnergg