The era of big energy savings is here again
…but, be warned, the juiciest discount isn’t always the best deal
The energy market is hotting up once more after a shake-out triggered by the recent spate of price cuts. Juicy discount deals are back on the table that can save savvy switchers more than €1,100. The race to lure new customers stalled for more than a year after the market went into shock as prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
But it has now sprung back into action with tasty discounts of up to 20% – while the main players also cut energy prices in recent weeks by up to 30%.
But who has come out on top as the cheapest?
The answer may surprise you as it’s not the firm with that eye-catching drop of 30% in prices (see table, far right).
If you’re looking for a new deal, SSE Airtricity is the clear winner, according to a just-updated survey by Switcher.ie
That’s despite the fact that SSE dropped its prices by an unspectacular 10-12% lately.
However, SSE offers a dual-fuel package of gas and electricity for €3,096 a year.
That’s a discount of 20% off the standard rate for a year. Not as tasty as the 40% discounts we got used to before Mr Putin’s tanks rolled across the Ukrainian border.
But still, it’s a lot better than the moribund, no-discount-whatsoever market we have mostly had since then.
SSE’s offer would save you €1,121 a year if you were, say, an existing Flogas customer whose special deal has expired.
Next cheapest is Bord Gáis whose recent 15.5% price cuts highlighted its competitive intentions.
It is also offering a 15% discount on both gas and electricity to new dual-fuel customers.
The next best deal overall is surprisingly one for paper-billing customers. It’s basically the same aforementioned offer from SSE but without the discount for online billing. But you’d still stand to save €991.
It’s a bit annoying that you have to pay more if you are one of those digitally disadvantaged customers who can’t go online. But this is the best deal for you.
Energia and Electric Ireland complete the top five overall deals with potential savings of €988 and €833.
WHO CUTS WHEN – AND BY HOW MUCH?
Flogas gained the most kudos for absolutely slashing its unit price rates by 30%, thereby boasting of saving dual-fuel customers €1,673 on gas and electricity together.
Bord Gáis announced the next highest cuts this week of 15.5% in both, with claimed savings of €631, while most others came in between 10% and 12% saving us a couple of hundred less than that.
Smack in the middle of these was SSE Airtricity with gas and electricity cuts of an unspectacular 10% and 12% respectively.
So should we all switch to Flogas then? Not so fast. I spotted that the claimed savings by Flogas for its energy price reduction was disproportionately high.
How did it manage to save customers €1,673 with a 30% cut in pricing – while SSE saves its customers a mere €385 with a 10-12% drop?
I asked Flogas to explain. It responded: ‘The Flogas reduction is across standing charges and unit rates (not all cover both). It’s around 2x any other reduction, which accounts for some of the difference, but also we’re starting from a higher level of standard rates, so the reduction was more significant.’
Ah! So Flogas was able to cut by so much because – between the jigs and reels of energy market pricing changes – its standard rates were much higher than others before the cuts.
Also remember that there’s a big difference between the discount deals that are offered to new customers for one year only and the deal that applies to most customers who ill-advisedly stick around after that to be fleeced by much higher rates.
If your deal has finished and you are free to switch providers, then
look out for the best discounts for newbies.
And at this very moment, Flogas doesn’t feature in the top five, according to Switcher.ie (see table above).
If you are an existing customer of Flogas who doesn’t switch, then you’re not doing that great either as its highest standard rates are among the most expensive, though its customers will still welcome the sizeable cuts.
The energy market has been in a continual shake-up for the past two years with many companies chopping and changing their pricing structures.
And no doubt, competitive pressures will kick in during the next shake-out and Flogas will cut its rates again.
Yet as things stand it’s not the most competitive energy provider by a long chalk for new or existing customers – despite the recent spectacular price cuts.