Many people over-rate low-impact changes like switching off lights and unplugging chargers and under-rate the real biggies like insulating your attic, insulating your immersion heater and reducing your dependence on guzzlers like tumble-dryers.
You can get substantial grants to help on insulation from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. These apply to new as well as old houses, some of which, unfortunately, won’t have been built to the highest standards.
But there are others ways to save money very easily - mainly by switching your energy provider and potentially saving hundreds of euro.
It is a fairly painless process and either involves nothing more than a phone call or filling in a form. No change of equipment is needed in your home.
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RTÉ.ie Tip: If you’ve already switched provider, make sure after the first 12 months you pick up the phone and switch again to get a second year of discounts.
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Gas Price Comparison Table - Correct as of October 2010
Useful links
www.thebigswitch.ie
www.airtricity.com
www.esb.ie
www.esbstore.ie
www.flogasnaturalgas.ie/
Useful numbers
ESB: 1850 372 372
Bord Gáis 1850 474 474
Airtricity 1850 40 40 80
Flogas: 1850 92 81 00
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Gas and electricity
Bord Gáis offers a 14% discount for year one and 10% for the second.
In September 2010, Airtricity made a major bid to capture more customers with an offer of a 20% discount to those who switch their gas supply and 6% for electricity.
The company said the combined 26% discount would help the average family spending €2,160 (£1,847) a year for gas and electricity to reduce their bill by €234.
Flogas is the cheapest in Ireland for gas. It is offering discounts guaranteed until September 2011 - you can save 7% by switching from Bord Gáis and 11% if you choose direct debit – that’s 1% below Airtricity.
So for electricity the choices are ESB, Bord Gáis, and Airtricity.
For gas the competition is Bord Gáis, Airtricity, and Flogas.
The Commission for Energy Regulation sets prices for ESB, but allows competitors to undercut them. The electricity market will be further deregulated when ESB’s market share drops to 60% – expected in early 2011.
Halve your electricity bill at night-time
Install a night night-time meter.
Lots of people have heard of this scheme, but how many of you use it? Only 15% of ESB customers are on Night-saver. Lots of people apparently use it in the mistaken belief that the night-time usage is discounted. It’s not, unless you have a meter installed.
If you haven’t already got a meter installed for night-time and daytime usage, get one in. The rate of every electricity unit consumed at night is roughly half of that consumed during the day.
ESB don’t charge for a meter but Bord Gáis charge €274.67 if you’re not the first user of the meter (ie, not the first owner of a new build).
There are some caveats, but they don’t impact negatively on your pocket if your bill comes to around €100 a bill.
The normal ESB tariff is around 16 cents per unit but if you switch to a night-meter, you’ll get charged slightly more for your daytime use – around 17 cents - but only 8.5 cents at night. Bord Gáis charge slightly less – 12.9 cents and 6.4 cents for night-time and daytime consumption respectively.
ESB charges an additional standing charge of €7 a month. But if you’re a typical family or if you have a tumble-dryer in the house, you’re a definite candidate for a night-meter.
'The big users of electricity are families and I would strongly recommend that if your electricity bill is in excess of €200 every two months, they should consider signing up for a Nightsaver,' says Jim Curran, ESB’s energy-solutions expert.
Typically you would want to be using more than three units of electricity every night to make it pay, he says.
To help you make a decision – here’s some typical appliance consumption rates.:
One washing machine load = 1 unit
One dishwasher load = 1 unit
Fridge and freezer = under 1 unit
Immersion = 5 to 8 units
Tumble-dryer = 2.8 to 3.5 units
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your immersion will be on during the winter, however – most people switch to gas or oil-fuelled central heating and water during the winter.
To find out how much you consume at night check your meter at 11pm and then first thing at 8am (during the summer the ‘night’ period goes from 12am to 7am).
Or phone ESB’s 1850 372 372 and they will look at your last year and calculate your consumption on a daily basis.
So start putting your dishwasher and washing machine etc on at night and save hundreds.
Know your kilowatts – from dishwasher to kettle, what costs what
Most expensive:
Electric heaters
Electric immersion
Tumble-dryer
Lighting in winter
Electric shower
Mid-range:
Large TVs
Computers and peripherals
Fridges and freezers
Keep a tab of the usage of your appliances and you could save a fortune. If you’re unlucky enough not to have central heating you’ll already know the astronomical cost of keeping warm using something like a fuel-effect electric heater. Having it on just one hour a day will cost around €10 a month.
Having it on three-and-a-half hours a day – probable enough in the midst of a big freeze – will cost a whopping €35 a month. That mightn’t seem like a lot to keep warm, but when the cost of your washing machine, fridge and other essentials like TV, kettle and computer are thrown in, it easily mounts up.
The second most expensive appliance is a tumble-dryer. Stick in five loads a week and you’ll have a bill of around €20. If you have a young family with dirty or wet clothes several times a day, it can be difficult to do without in the winter months. But you could invest in a bigger clothes horse, or an old- fashioned Sheila maid – you know the old clothes airer that hangs from the ceiling and is accessed via a pulley.
The immersion heater is another big guzzler. It might as well be boiling your money. It is the single heaviest consumer of energy in the household, especially if it’s not insulated.
The cost of heating it just ONCE a week from cold to hot is a fiver a month – that’s just over a euro every single time. If you use this as your main source of heating water and heat it five times a week (again from cold to hot), you’re looking at a bill of up to €30 a month. Again it all tots up.
An electric shower is also heavy on juice. If you use it an hour a week – a shower a day lasting just over eight minutes, will cost around €6 a month. If you’re a family of four showering every day, that’s around €25.
A power shower (pumped from the immersion) is far more economical at just 30 cent a month for one hour a week’s use. But of course you’ve already paid to heat your immersion, so you can’t view the power shower in isolation.
Still, nothing compared to a bath.
One final word of warning from the ESB: Large TVs and computers left on consume unnecessary amounts of power. The cost of games consoles because they are used for long periods of time can also be a bit of a shock.
'The wattage is typically 160 watts,' says a spokesman for the ESB. 'And they tend to be used over long periods. In fact the biggest growth in electricity usage within a family home is with entertainment and PC equipment – it could be up to 20% of electricity usage in a family home.'
Tips for saving energy
A recent survey showed that Americans believe that line-drying clothes saved more energy than changing the washing machine’s temperature setting.
The key thing is not to confuse energy conservation with energy efficiency. The first means getting the same results through more intelligent use of appliances; the second means using less.
So efficiency is not turning things off; it’s changing how you use them to consume less fuel.
Here’s your check list:
- Is your roof insulated? If not, get this done this winter
- Doors and windows fit properly? If not buy a roll of insulating tape at your local DIY store. It’s cheap and will fill the draughty gaps
- How efficient is the boiler? Does yours need servicing?
- What kind of lightbulbs are fitted? You can save up to 80% on low-energy bills
- How old are the appliances? Older appliances generally consume more
- What temperature do you use your washing machine on? 30 degrees is most efficient and is warm enough for everyday use
- Most energy is used in the autumn and wintertime so this is when you have to be most vigilant
- Change incandescent light bulbs to the most energy-efficient versions (not just CFLs). This is easy and will save money immediately
- Put all computer peripherals onto one power block and switch off the block when not in use. Usually people have their computer, their printer, speakers and other peripherals cabled at the back of the desk which can be difficult to reach. Put them all on one plug board and it’s easier to switch off
- Check your tumble-dryer. There are two filters. Clean the fluff filter before each load. Change the condenser filter at least once a month. Many people don’t know where this is – check you manual or go online and check for it.
- When buying a new appliance, get one with the highest energy rating you can afford. Lifetime running savings may outweigh the initial purchase cost
Standby – the real cost
Over the last few years, manufacturers have been forced to massively reduce the standby power requirements of electrical devices by EU and US regulators.
So this is not as big an issue as it was in the past.
Modern mobile phone chargers use very little power and use practically nothing when plugged in and are not charging. In fact, ESB, says 'in the list of energy-consumption in the home, they are practically at the bottom'.
Leaving on computers and peripherals like monitor, speakers, modem, printer and scanner are one of the biggest wastes in the home. Typically they use about 30 watts when not switched off.
In many homes sockets are often out of reach behind the computer desk. The solution is to get a power block and plug all your peripherals into that. Then switch that off when the PC is not in use.
TVs – the real cost
Over the last few years we have seen consumers move from old-style CRT televisions to LCD flat screens. But the size of TVs has also crept up, and the number of TVs in each home has increased - all leading to increased energy consumption. Plasma TVs guzzle power (up to 450 watts); the latest LED versions use much less.
Many times I visit homes where at least one TV is switched on in the background with no one watching it - are you one of those people that leave the TV on? If so, think of the cost!
Getting cut off – the law
If you have had your power cut off because you couldn’t afford a bill you will know all about the high cost of reconnecting once you can afford to pay again.
The fee for having your ESB supply reconnected is just over €197, while for gas the charge is €140.
The regulator, the Commission for Energy Regulation, said in September 2010, however, that the ESB and Bord Gáis could waive the reconnection fees in cases of difficulty.
This was after it was criticised by the Society of St Vincent de Paul which claimed it was the Commission that insisted that the fees were paid.
The number of people falling behind on their payments for electricity and gas more than doubled in 2010.
More than 110,000 households have entered payment plans with Bord Gáis and the ESB because they have difficulties meeting their bills.
Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins said that changing circumstances meant that over half of those in trouble paying their power bills could be described as middle class, and were mainly people already having difficulty meeting mortgage repayments.
