The last date to register to pay the Household Charge by installment is tomorrow – 29th February.
There have been some reports of people having problems  registering on the Household Charge website today – maybe it can’t cope with the extra people trying to beat the deadline for setting up installments?

If you register before March 1st  – you will have the option to pay by Direct Debit – with 4 installments of €25 spread from March to September.
Anyone registering after March 1st will have to pay the €100 charge in one lump sum.

To avoid penalties – the Household Charge 2012 needs to be paid before the end of March  2012 .
Penalty charges are as follows :
Payments made from April 1st to June 30th  – a 10% penalty.
Payments made between July 1st and Sept 30th  – a 20% penalty.
Payments made on or after October 1st  2012  – a 30% penalty

All late payments also get charged  1% interest per month on the amount overdue.

More Information about the Household Charge

There have apparently been a few “teething problems” with the recent transfer of Dublin City Council’s refuse collection service to Greyhound . Reports of late collections and missed collections have been making the papers , online forums and radio phone-ins.

At the moment there are some other companies that are offering bin and refuse collections in Dublin.
Which company has the lowest bin collection charges in Dublin ?
(Prices shown are for black bins. All the companies empty green bins for free if you put them out with the black bins)

Greyhound charge a €100 annual service charge and €6 for each bin emptied.
Thorntons charge €50 annual fee and €7.50 per bin with a 5% dicount if you pay online.
Oxigen have 3 options
a)  – a €20 per month fee with no further charges
b)  €60 annual fee and €8.85 per bin
c) No annual fee but €14 per bin emptied.

Ozo charge €20.42 a month.

Based on a bin being collected every 2 weeks – that is 26 bins a year – the cost would work out the cheapest at  Thorntons at €233 for the year.
Next cheapest would be the €20 a month option from Oxigen – coming in at €240 for the year.
In third place in the price comparison is Ozo at €245.04. If you want to pay the whole year up front – Ozo will charge €220.50 – which works out the cheapest overall.
In fouth place in the price comparison is Greyhound at €256 a for 26 bins in a year.

Coverage
Thorntons coverage areas in Dublin according to their website are Dublin: Ballyfermot, Chapelizod, Citywest, Clondalkin, Crumlin, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Lucan, Palmerstown, Rathcoole, Rathfarnham,Saggart,Tallaght,Templogue.
Call 1850  946 200 for more info.

Oxigen say they are rolling out coverage to all parts of Dublin very soon. Call 1890 943 130 for more details.

Ozo say they cover  Adamstown , Newcastle Paddocks ,  Dublin 4 & 6 , Dublin 8 & 12 Dublin 11 , Dublin 14 Dublin 16 Dublin 20 . Dublin 24 Leixlip – Lucan – Clondalkin Rathcoole – Saggart – City West . Call 1890 247 020

Greyhound cover all of Dublin and can be contacted on 1890 98 99 98

The start of a new year is always a good time to make changes  – and with cuts in child benefit and the introduction of the  household charge – many people will have less to spend in 2012.
Below   we have highlighted a few suggestions  to help you save money and cut bills and spending  in 2012.

Switch Electricity Supplier
If you are still on the old ESB rates you could easily save around €100 a year by switching to Airtricity or Bord Gais for Electricity. You could save money by just paying by Direct Debit and opting for electronic billing.
See our  Electricity Price Comparison

Switch Gas Supplier
If you are still with Bord Gais for gas – you could save  as much as €150 a year if  you switch to Flogas for your natural mains gas supply. See Gas Prices Compared

Switch Your Current Account :
Many people in Ireland are still paying  fees to their banks for operating a current account. Bank fees are easily avoidable – just switch your account to a bank that doesn’t charge transaction fees or doesn’t make you jump through hoops to avoid them.   Some BOI customers could save around €200 euros a year in bank charges by switching to a fee free bank   See more here about Current Account Fees

Get Grants towards Insulation or new Boiler.
Grants of up to €4000 are available for insulation of your property.
Grants of €560 are also available to replace a central heating boiler with a more efficient one and upgrade the heating controls at the same time.  Most old boilers could be costing you hundreds of euros a year in higher fuel bills – so replacing it will save you money in the long run too. (Condensing  boilers could save as much as 18% in oil costs for heating and hot water)  See more here about Grants for New Boilers and Insulation

Shop Online to get lower prices. Use discount codes and vouchers for online shopping – See some Discount Codes here

Switch Your Savings Account.
Ifyou have savings you should check if you are getting the best interest rate. See our regularly updated list of the Best Interest Rates Here.   Some deposit accounts are paying rates as low as  0.01%  – but you could get a rate as high as 4.1% . On a balance of €20,000 – that would be an increase in interest of   €818  a year (before DIRT )

Switch Phone and Broadband
You could save about €70 a year by switching your landline and broadband provider  – see more here about the cheapest broadband providers.    (This is for anytime calls and 8Mb broadband)

0%  Interest  Credit Cards

If you have a credit card balance that you are finding hard to pay off -  you could try and transfer the balance to a credit card  with 0% Interest introductory offer. On a balance of €1000 -  going interest free for 10 months could save you as much as €80 in interest charges.  See our list of 0%  Interest Credit Card Offers

Get cash for your old Mobile Phones.
You might be pleasantly surprised at the amount your old phone is worth. See our page about cash for old phones here.  It might not be a lot – but every little helps !

Online Surveys
Don’t waste all your time on Facebook – you could try and make a few Euros instead from online  market research surveys . You won’t make loads of money   -  but every littlehelps . Register here for  Online Surveys

You can keep up to date with Moneyguide Ireland on Facebook too.

Ryanair baggage charges seem to change quite a lot .  There were some increases towards the end of 2011 -and Ryanair  now have baggage charges ranging from €15 to €40 per checked in bag . The amount of the  charge depends on the weight of the bag, the destination and the time of year you fly .
These are the options for checked in baggage fees with Ryanair . (Feb 2012)

Bags up to 15kg cost €15 per flight ( Off Peak Shorter Flights)
Bags up to 15kg cost €20 per flight ( Off Peak Shorter Flights)
Bags up to 15kg cost €25 per flight (  Peak  + Shorter Haul)
Bags up to 15kg cost €30 per flight ( Peak  + Longer Haul)

Bags up to 20Kg cost €25 per flight (Off Peak Shorter Flights)
Bags up to 20Kg cost €30 per flight ( Off Peak Longer Haul)
Bags up to 20Kg cost €35 per flight ( Peak – Shorter  Haul)
Bags up to 20Kg cost €40 per flight ( Peak  Longer Haul)

(Longer Haul :  These destination are Canary Islands and all  Greek Routes excluding Thessaloniki (SKG)

Peak times are classed by Ryanair as  1 June- 30  Sept inc.    &  21 Dec- 4 Jan 2013 inc.

Aer Lingus charge €15 baggage fees for most one way flights in Europe. Aer Lingus do also have a higher rate of  €20 Euro per one way flight for some longer distances – such as the Canaries.  Aer Lingus charges are the same all year round – they don’t increase baggage charges in the summer.
For a family with 4 20kg suitcases going to the Canaries in August   – Ryanair’s baggage fees would be €280 Euro. The same bags on Aer Lingus would cost €160 – a  saving of €120 .

Flybe – who also do several routes out of Dublin – charge just  £12.99 per flight for bags up to 20kg.  (About €15 )

You could avoid all baggage charges by using the Ferries  to the UK instead.   See Irish Ferries or Stena

You can also still avoid those Ryanair “booking fees” by paying with a Prepaid Mastercard – available in Ireland from Moneybookers. This will save you €12 per person for each return ticket booked (Irish residents Only)  This is due to end in March 2012

Another zero baggage charge option is to stay in Ireland – there is plenty of good self catering accommodation available at  Accommodation Ireland

It’s not too early to  book a package deal abroad for Summer 2012 – Try James Villas for self catering deals .  For flight and hotel packages try  Expedia or Ebookers

In Ireland there are a few choices for  telephone directory enquiries. The  numbers you can call for an enquiry about a telephone number (landline) are : 11850 , 11888, 11827, 11824, 11890 and 11811.

These directory enquiry companies rely on advertising and the hope that their number  will be the easiest  to remember when you need it. When people are away from a computer and need to get a telephone number quickly – they will usually call the first directory enquiry number they can remember – but which number is the cheapest to call?

The cheapest Irish telephone directory enquiry line to call  from an Eircom landline  eiis  currently  11890 “Eleven Eight Ninety”   are offering free calls frcom rom landlines  (Feb 2012 ) . Their charges were previously set at  a minimum fee of  €1.99 that covered the first minute  and a charge of  60c per minute after the first minute .  The free directory enquiries offer will probably boost the recognition of the 11890 number – and they will probably revert to charging for calls in the future.

Before 11890 introduced their free calls offer – the cheapest directory enquiry number to use was 11888  – they charge a flat rate of €0.30 per minute  with no minimum fee and no call setup charge.
So a 30 second call  from an Eircom  landline to 11888 would cost you just  15 cents.  The most expensive 30 second directory enquiry would be from 11811 – it would cost €1.49

Even if they take longer than 30 seconds to answer your enquiry – 11888  still work out cheaper. A 270 second call  to 11888 would cost €1.36 – the next cheapest would be to 11827 at €1.79. The same call to 11811 would set you back €5.49.

Some landline telephone companies charge different rates for calls to directory enquiries – but when we compared the cost of an 80 second call using different landines  – the 11888 number was the cheapest in 7 out of 11 cases.
The charges varied quite a lot – with the lowest charge being just 5c when calling 11888 from an IFA landline. The highest charge for an 80 second Directory Enquiry call was from a Digiweb phone line to 11827 – it was €3.48 .

Eircom provide the 11811 “Eleven 8 Eleven” directory enquiry service. They have a minimum charge  of 99c (inc VAT) per call and €1 (inc VAT) per minute thereafter.

11827 Charge  €1.03 for the first minute and 22c per minute thereafter.

11850 ” One One Eight Five O”  have a minimum call fee of 1.39 cent and a call rate of 69 cent per minute.
11824  have a minimum call fee of 97 cent and a call rate of 66.6 cent per minute.

Calling Directory Enquiries From a Mobile :
It doesn’t matter much which  directory enquiry number you call  from  your  mobile  – they charge will nearly always be the  same  no matter which one you call. Some mobile networks charge more than others though.

Cost of an 80 second call to Directory Enquiries from a pre-pay mobile phone  ( 11890, 11888, 11827,11824 or 11811)
Tesco : varies from  €1.17 to 11888 but €3.32 to 11850
Three :  €1.85
Vodafone :  €2.19
Meteor, eMobile, O2 : €2.31
Postfone : €3

TIP: If possible – write down the number they give you and ring it yourself. They may offer to connect you – but the charge for connecting the  call will be higher than calling it yourself.

Of course – if you have access to the internet  – the Eircom Telephone Book is free for finding residential and business numbers – so you might be able to avoid using expensive directory enquiries. (Although – we have had several problems finding numbers on the Eircom Phonebook website)

Charges updated February 2012

The legislation that brings in the requirement to register septic tanks is in the  Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011

Basically all properties that are not connected to the mains sewage will have to register  before April 2013.
In the legislation a “domestic waste water treatment system“  means a system involving physical, chemical, biological or thermal processes, or a combination of such processes, utilised for the treatment or disposal of domestic waste water, or the sludge derived from domestic waste water, and includes—

(a) all septic tanks and waste water tanks and systems receiving, storing, treating or disposing of domestic waste water and all drains associated with such  tanks or systems, and

(b) all drains associated with the discharge of domestic waste water, whether or not they discharge to a septic tank or waste water tank;

It will be an offence not to register – and a conviction will result in a Class A fine – (Max €5000 ).
Read more information about Registration Charges for  Septic Tanks Here .

In comparison – non registration for the Household  Charge is an offence that could result in a Class C fine (Max €2500)

Saorview ( Saor meaning Free in Irish) – is the name of the digital TV service provided by RTE. The changeover to digital television in Ireland began a few months ago – and by October  2012 all the Irish channels (RtE , TG4 and TV3) are expected to be  transmitted in digital format and the current  analogue transmissions will be switched off.

If you currently subscribe to a digital TV service such as Sky Ireland or UPC and you use them to watch RTE , TG4 and TV3 – then you can continue to do this after the changeover to Saorview.

BUT – If you are one of the  340,000 households that currently just view TV via an aerial –  then you will probably have to buy some new equipment to carry on watching these channels after the changeover to Saorview.

Beware of door to door sales people who are trying to persuade people to buy new aerials and receivers. Some of these people are even claiming to be from RTE or Saorview – and could be getting you to pay for something you don’t need.

Will I need a New Aerial ? ……Probably Not.

Don’t be conned into paying for a new TV aerial if you don’t need one. If you currently can receive TV3 through your aerial then your aerial is most likely fine for Saorview – and is pointing in the right direction. You should not need to do anything with your aerial.

If you currently receive RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TG4 through your aerial but do not receive TV3 then your aerial is most likely fine but it may just be pointing in the wrong direction.

If you receive only RTÉ One and RTÉ Two through your aerial and do not receive TV3 and TG4 then you will probably need a new UHF aerial for Saorview.  Get quotes from 3 suppliers before you go ahead with any work.

What other Equipment will I need to get Saorview.

You will need a digital decoder (set top box)  which can recieve the Saorview signal OR a television with a Saorview compatible digital reciever built in.

Set Top Boxes :  There are some Saorview approved boxes – but any Freeview HD reciever should work too. As long as the receiver has MPEG4 it should be fine. (UK Freeview boxes won’t work – just Freeview HD)  . The price of these  set top boxes start at about €80

Televisions
You don’t have to buy a new TV to get Saorview – your existing TV will work with a set top box as mentioned above. But -  if you are thinking of upgrading your television soon — you should get one with a Saorview compatible digital receiver built in. (Then you won’t need a separate set top box)

Freeview televisions from the UK will not work with Saorview. But Freeview HD televisions should be able to pick up the Saorview signal.

These televisions listed below are all Saorview approved  and you can buy them online with delivery to Ireland.

Sony KDL-40CX520 40 Inch LCD Television

Samsung LE46D550ZF  46 Inch LCD Television

Philips 32PFL5606H/12   32 Inch LED Television

Another option is to Join Sky and get TV via a satellite. The monthly charges start at €25 and  installation and equipment are FREE when you sign up online. Visit Sky Ireland here

SKY will work with your existing TV – you won’t need to buy a new aeriel or a set top box. You will need to pay a monthly subscription ( min €25) – but for that you will also get access to Sky1 , BBC digital channels (BBC 1 BBc 2 BBc3 BBc4) as well at ITV channels  (1,2,3,4)  Cbeebies, CBBC along with Sky 1 , Sky Atlantic, Gold Dave and several others.

This year the government hopes that the new Household Tax  will  bring in €160 million extra income for the government – which they will pass on to local authorities.

We have dug out  some other interesting  figures to put the  €160m  figure into perspective ……..

€160 Million is the same amount as the losses made by Quinn Insurance  in 2012 .

€160 Million is the same amount as the State’s contribution to the  Rathcormac to Fermoy toll motorway on the M8.

Just under €160 million was wasted on the Metro North project – which has now been abandoned.

€160 million is equivalent to just o.1% (1/1000th) of the combined profits of AIB and BOI from 2004 to 2008 (approx 18 Billion)

€160 million is just one tenth of the 1.6 Billion that Sean Quinn was ordered by the Commercial Court in Dublin to pay back  to the former Anglo Irish Bank.

€160 million is less than half of the average annual  property related tax relief given to developers and owner occupiers in Ireland between 2004 and 2009 (€381 million a year )

€160m is the amount of asset transfers by developers (mainly to family members)  that were reversed by NAMA or were close to being overturned by Nov 2011. (To try and stop NAMA  getting at them)

€160 million is the estimated annual cost to the state of Diesel Laundering

€160 million is roughly twice what  Real Madrid paid  Manchester United for Ronaldo.