Didn’t get best gas and electric deals? You lost €1,800

Switch to get the best deals on bills

HOUSEHOLDERS who failed to shop around for the best deal on gas and electricity have missed out on savings of up to €1,800 over the last four years.

The finding by the State’s Commission for Regulation of Utilities comes as gas and electricity prices are rising as much as 12.8% and 9.38% respectively.

CRU bosses said gas customers lost up to €670 and electricity customers lost up to €1,146 by failing to switch or renegotiate their deal over the four years. That is €1,816.

Dual electric/gas customers could have saved up to €1,417 over the period if they actively switched or renegotiated

Aoife MacEvilly of the CRU said it encourages customers to shop around for the best deals every year.

‘With 12 active electricity suppliers and eight gas suppliers, there is choice for consumers to exercise their rights and switch on to what competition in the market place can do for them,’ she said.

New gas and electricity cussaid Switch: Aoife MacEvilly tomers are put on a discount tariff plan for between 12 and 24 months. Once this expires, customers are charged a higher price. But customers can save a significant amount of money if they switch providers and take advantage of the introductory discount tariff plans of other companies.

However, the report says it may not be worthwhile to switch more than once a year as customers may be subject to fees for breaking their contract with their supplier.

The CRU’s 2017 Electricity and Gas Retail Market Report the end of last year saw electricity prices increase 6%.

However, this report does not cover the recent announcements that six Irish domestic energy providers will be increasing their gas and electricity prices over the coming weeks.

Electric Ireland, Energia, Flogas, Panda Power, Pinergy, and SSE Airtricity have announced rises in their standard gas and electricity rates as well as dual fuel bills.

Addressing recent price rises, Ms MacEvilly said: ‘While recent price rises announced by suppliers will have an impact on customer bills, the data from this report shows that active consumers who either switch or renegotiate with their supplier could more than beat the recent price rises and still see a significant saving.’

According to the CRU report, in 2017 Just Energy proved to be the cheapest supplier for both standard domestic gas and electricity with their average customer paying €675 for their annual gas bill and €961 for their annual electricity bill.

Just Energy is not one of the companies which have announced they will be increasing their prices.

For domestic dual fuel customers, Energia proved to be the cheapest option in 2017 with the average annual bill of €1,455.11. But Energia recently announced it will be increasing its dual fuel prices by 9.6% or an extra €176.92 a year.

The report also said that, as a result of more competition and customers switching providers, Electric Ireland’s market share has dropped below 50%, for the first time, to 49.5% in 2017.

Ms MacEvilly sees this as positive for the sector. ‘The continued downward trend of market share of the largest supplier is a good indication that competition has continued to grow,’ she said.

Bord Gáis remains the No.1 gas supplier with a market share of 47.2%.

The report found high levels of consumer satisfaction with suppliers but low levels of knowledge of tariff structures, offers and bill configuration.