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.

Today -August 1st 2011 – saw an increase in Electricity prices from Bord Gais.
This increase was announced a few weeks ago – and it means that ESB (Electric Ireland) are now even cheaper for Electricity than Bord Gais.
Bord Gais increased the standing charge from €104.40   to €116.92 a year  as well as raising the unit charge by 12% .

See the latest Comparison of Electricity Prices here

Bord Gais advertising used to compare it’s prices to the ESB rates – stating how much percentage savings you could make by doing the “BiG Switch” .
They now still claim to save you money by swithcing – but the savings shown are calculated based on switching from the Bord Gais standard rates!

The energy regulator has proposed  a price increase of around  22%  in Bord Gáis gas prices.

Bord Gáis has to ask permission from the regulator to change its gas prices.
Bord Gais had asked for  a 28% increase in residential gas prices earlier this month – after  a 39% increase in the price of wholesale gas over the past year

The regulator will not makea a final decision until the end of August. The price increase will take effect around October.

Bord Gáis has 475,000 residential gas customers and around 80% of the gas market share.
Electric Ireland amd Flogas also supply gas – but they are not bound by the regulator.

See our Comparison of Gas and Electricity Prices here

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

Bord Gáis have confirmed they are increasing  residential electricity prices in Ireland by 12 %t from August 1st.    Bord Gais currently has around 435,000 residential electricity customers  – many of those will have switched from ESB in the past year to get lower prices.
The price rise  will add about  €120 a year to the average  Bord Gais electricity bill.

Bord Gais customers may think that they are getting the lowest price Electricity at the moment – but they may have missed out on the recent news of price drops by ESB – Electric Ireland which means that ESB are the cheapest supplier.  Bord Gais customers should be thinking of switching back to ESB – Electric Ireland .  ESB customers need to contact ESB to get moved to the lower rates – it is not automatic and will involve signing for Direct Debit and ebilling to get the lowest rates.

See  our page on the Cheapest Electricity Ireland