January 2012:

What are the Cheapest Options For Gas and Electricity

If you are “dual fuel” -  electricity and gas the cheapest  overall option will depend on your actual usage – but based on a fairly high usage  of 14219 Kwh of  Gas and 5600 kwH of Electricity a year – we have calculated the lowest   annual costs from the combinations of various providers…

The cheapest option is to use  Airtricity ( Direct Debit & Online Billing)  for Electricity and  using Flogas for your Gas (Pay by DD) . This would work out at a total of  €1784  for the year.
BUt – the Airtricity price involves you signing a 2 year contract with a €70 fee to break out of it – if that sounds a bit risky then the  next best option is probably  to go for a combination of Electricity from Bord Gais (DD and eBilling too)  with gas from Flogas (dd) – the overall total for both fuel bills would then come to €1796 a year

If you want to get both fuels from the same energy provider – then the cheapest bundle is from Airtricity –   but it also has a 2 year contract and  works out at a total of  €1819  a year for the usage shown above.
If you don’t like the idea of being tied to Airtricity for 2 years – then the next best priced dual fuel bundle is from Bord Gais  – which would work out  at €1902 – which is   €83 more than the cheapest option from Airtricity.

Avoid :  The most expensive dual fuel option from one provider  is the Airtricity bundle  – (Not DD and postal bills) costing  €2055  for the usage shown.

The most expensive combination is to have Gas from Bord Gais  at their standard rates and Electricity from ESB  at standard rates – that works out at €2071 a year – which is  €289 per year  more expensive than the cheapest option in this example.

Electricity Only Comparison

If you only have Electricity  – then the lowest price is  from Airtricity (But On a 2 year contract) . The cheapest  non-contract electricity price is from Bord Gais.
See  more details here on our page :   Electricity Price Comparsion

Figures  were calculated  January 2012  using published tariffs and standing charges on suppliers websites and including the PSO Levy on Electricity  and Carbon Tax on Gas.
The prices given are for new customers. It may be possible that your current energy supplier  tarrif is cheaper than the ones mentioned here – especially if you signed up to a deal within the last 12 months.

You could also  save more money on your electricity bills by doing things like switching to these Low Energy Bulbs (Savings as much as 90%  compared to Halogen 50 watt!)

Lowest Gas Prices in Ireland  (For New customers)

Bord Gais  has three competitors for the supply of Natural Gas in Ireland – Flogas and Airtricity and  ESB (Electric Ireland)

Airtricity, ESB and Flogas can set their own gas prices  – while Bord Gais are still bound by the Regulator and cannot change prices without agreement from them.
All the gas suppliers in Ireland increased their prices from October 1st 2011
Shown below are annual figures for GAS ONLY based on the cheapest tariffs from each provider – and the most expensive for comparison. (Assuming 20000 kwH per year)

Figures  correct as at   January 31st 2012
( including VAT ,  standing charges and carbon tax) Rounded to the nearest Euro

As you can see from the comparison above -  a Bord Gais  customer using  20000 kwH of gas a year would save  €162 a year on gas if they switched to  Flogas and paid by Direct Debit.
This represents a 13% reduction in gas bills .

Note:  It is possible that gas customers who changed suppliers in the past year will be still on special lower tarrifs or fixed rates. The figures shown above are the prices charged for new customers.

NB – 20000 kw/h  gas usage anually would be typical for  a 3 or 4 bedroomed detached house that uses gas for both heating and hot water.
See our page on Cheapest Electricity in Ireland here

If you have an older gas boiler – you could cut your bills even  more by upgrading to a new efficient condensing boiler. There are grants available to help – and you could cut your gas usage and bills by as much as 23% . In the example above – with usage of 20,000kwh – a new boiler could reduce gas bills by €245 a year.

See more here about Grants for new Gas Boilers and more here about  Financing of New Boilers

ESB – who are now known as Electric Ireland can now set their own Electricity prices and are no longer ruled by the Energy Regulator.  Thousands of housholds switched to Airtricity and Bord Gais for lower bills – and in April 2011  ESB finally dropped their prices.

So – Who has the Cheapest Electricity in Ireland in 2011?

Well – it’s complicated ……  it depends , if you have gas , if you pay by direct debit, if you have electronic bills. There are several combinations variations that make comparison tricky. All suppliers are raising prices in September and October – so the figures will be changing  a lot .

The  adverts and sales people saying ” 12% discount ” and “14% savings”  – might hide the fact in the small print that the standing charges are higher.  The discounts the energy suppliers are referring to – are discounts on their own standard rates.

You can  check out our page    Comparison of  Electricity Prices where we show you actual figures from ESB , Bord Gais and Airtricity and tell you who is the cheapest. (Updated regularly)
Also see our  Gas Price  Comparison and Dual Fuel Prices

ESB have confirmed they will be increasing Electricity charges by 14% from October  1st 2011 . The ESB dropped prices back  in April - undercutting both Airtricity and Bord Gais.
Our recent comparison of Electricity prices showed that after the latest Bord Gais electricity price increase -  ESB were the cheapest for electricity.
If both ESB and Airtricity increase prices by the same amount-  then ESB will still have the lowest price for electricity.
Check back here  in October when all the tarrifs have been published to see who is the cheapest  then.

Airtricity recently announced plans to increase gas prices by 21 per cent and electricity prices  by 12 per cent from the end of September.

Bord Gais are also increasing gas prices in October by 22% . (They have already put up Electricity prices in July  by 12 %

Flogas is the only energy supplier that have not announced price increases – but we are sure they won’t be long.

With the deregulation of the home energy market in Ireland came an increase in hard sell tactics and expensive advertising campaigns.  In the UK – where there are many more energy suppliers – there is evidence of doorstep salesmen  pressurising consumers into signing up for unsuitable gas and electricity tariffs. MPs are calling for  energy companies to  pay compensation to customers who were mis-sold gas and electricity contracts.

In the UK the  energy regulator  estimates that 40% of people who switched did  not get a better deal. Here in Ireland doorstep and on-street sales are often used by some of the energy companies – sometimes using commission-only staff  who are under pressure to sell.  They can easily persuade potential customers that they are the cheapest – when the opposite might be true.

For the facts on energy prices – check out the cheapest gas prices here – and cheapest electricity prices here

Airtricity – who are already in competition with ESB for Electricity supply – have started accepting customers for GAS .
You can see the various energy suppliers prices here :
Electricity Prices ::     Gas Prices

You can only get gas from Airtricity if you get electricity from them too. Airtricity prices for gas are about 10% lower than  Bord Gais  – but they are only slightly lower than Flogas.
Flogas have been supplying natural gas nationwide for a while now and prices are about 8% less than Bord Gais.  Up to now – the cheapest option for a dual fuel customer has been to use Airtricity for Electricity and use Flogas for Gas. It now looks like the cheapest option is to go with Airtricity for both.

From October 1st 2009 – all the electricity suppliers in Ireland have reduced their prices for residential customers. See the latest comparison of electricity prices here.
ESB , Airtricity and Bord Gais charges have all dropped by about 3%  with effect from October 1st 2009.
Bord Gais and Airtricity are still actively promoting their services and trying to persuade people to switch from ESB . In all cases – you can save money by switching from ESB. Someone using 800 units a month could save as much as  €215 Euro a year by switching . See Airtricity , Bord Gais and ESB comparison here .

An average price reduction of 10% on Electricity and  12% on Gas is on the way in  Ireland
The Irish CER (Commission for Energy Regulation) announced it’s proposal to get suppliers to drop fuel prices from  May 2009. The reduction has yet to be confirmed – but it applies to all suppliers including Bord Gais, ESB and Airtricity.

See our Electricity Price Comparison