How a quick call knocked €800 off my energy bill
It makes sense to ask for a better deal (no switching required!)
How would like to earn €100 per minute? That’s how much I earned this week – €825 in total – by calling my energy provider to ask for a better deal on both gas and electricity. Tasty energy deals disappeared for a couple of years due to turmoil in the energy markets.
But they are now back with a bang – with discounts of up to 24% for switchers.
And all you have to do is ask to prompt your provider to offer you a better deal.
First look at our table (right) or use a comparison website, to see what’s on offer. Then contact your supplier and ask what they can do to match it to persuade you to stay.
I spent eight of the most lucrative minutes of my life on the phone to my energy provider, Flogas, on Wednesday, earning €103 for each one. How much you save depends on what deal you are on – and what your provider will offer you to stay.
But you could switch provider and earn as much as me.
Switching from the dearest dual fuel provider on Bonkers’ list (PrepayPower) to the cheapest variable-rate deal right now (Electric Ireland) would save €826.
You can get even cheaper fixedrate deals but these are not recommended as prices will most likely fall while you are locked in, like our case study (see top right).
PrepayPower is a bit of an outlier with particularly high prices, despite cutting rates recently.
The next dearest provider is SSE Airtricity (if you opt for no direct debits or postal billing).
If you switched from this deal to Electric Ireland, you’d save a less substantial (but still tasty) €576.
If you don’t have gas heating, you can still make big savings on electricity alone.
Switching from the dearest electricity provider – Pinergy – to the cheapest variable rate, Electric Ireland, would save €621, according to Bonkers. What will providers do if you threaten to move? Usually they will offer a deal that’s a bit worse than what you could get elsewhere but attractive enough to make you stay if you also avoid the hassle of switching. What you pick is up to you.
Yet sometimes they can do even better than that.
I was with Flogas on a fixed deal similar to our case study (but different to what’s currently on offer) which is halfway through my contract.
In January, I threatened to switch and was offered a decent deal, which I delayed accepting because rates were falling so quickly at the time.
I rang again this week and lo and behold, the deal had got sweeter. I was offered €100 in cash for switching each fuel to a much cheaper deal leading to overall savings of €825 a year.
If I switched to the cheapest variable dual fuel deal – from Electric Ireland – I’d save €714 minus a €50 break fee. I didn’t delay this time
and signed up straight away!
Here are three more ‘takeaways’ from our latest analysis of the energy market:
1. PrepayPower and Pinergy customers should review their deals
PrepayPower looks out on a limb charging hundreds of euros more than even the second dearest option for dual fuel – or even for gas alone.
PrepayPower owns Yuno, which is the cheapest electricity provider, albeit on a fixed rate. This makes it seem that, while Yuno scoops up new customers with competitive deals, its parent company lets its customers pay more than most.
Meanwhile, another pre-payment operator, Pinergy, also sticks out with the dearest electricity deal.
2. Accept online billing and payment
SSE Airtricity has the cheapest deal – but is also the second dearest for dual fuel.
The difference? Whether or not you accept direct debit payments and online billing. If you do, you’ll save €440.
On the one hand this seems to penalise non-digitally active older people. But until and unless that’s banned (which seems unlikely) it might be worth considering helping out elderly parents by getting them online or by doing it on their behalf.
3. Get a dual fuel deal
In the past, it was dearer to pay for a handy dual fuel option than it was to get your gas and electricity from separate providers.
That’s no longer the case. Now it’s cheaper to get a dual fuel deal. This makes it easier to switch – or get a better deal – as you only have to do it once a year for two fuels.