Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
PEOPLE WHO ARE experiencing energy poverty are less likely to shop around and switch energy provider.
That’s according to a consultation paper on energy affordability published today - Towards a New Affordable Energy Strategy for Ireland.
It found that the current regulatory focus on encouraging consumers to save money by switching energy suppliers is not working for those in energy poverty.
A person who is unable to heat or power their home to an adequate degree is considered to be energy poor.
The paper wants to hear opinions on whether the energy market is working for people- particularly those in energy poverty.
Minister for Energy Alex White said, “I will be asking the Commission for Energy Regulation to ensure that the market is actually working for all consumers and to explore ways of significantly increasing the number of households that benefit from the discounts that arise from switching energy suppliers.
I am particularly concerned that people experiencing, or at risk of, energy poverty appear not to get these benefits.
“This needs to be addressed and the regulator needs to ensure that the market works for all energy consumers.”
The outcome of the energy affordability consultation will inform Minster White’s medium-term energy strategy, which will be set out in a White Paper later this year.
People are able to make submissions on the paper until February 27. E-mail: affordable.energy@dcenr.ie.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
One of the biggest rip offs are the so called long life light bulbs, they are so expensive and last about as long as an ordinary one!
And use a lot less energy too! Baxtards!
Yes but the cost of the bulb outweighs any saving, 12/15 years my arse, lucky if it lasts 2
Switching suppliers saves nothing in the medium to long term. Their prices change far too often.
Colette if you can replace them with L.E.D bulbs they are way more efficient than the energy saver bulbs pictured and last way longer
The life of the light bulb comes down to the deliberate process otherwise known as planned obsolescence.
In layman terms: They are built to last only “2 months” so that you can purchase another one and keep the fake monetary system ticking over and then also desecrating the planet with more garbage at the same time.(This applies to most electronic devices)
Perceived obsolescence is even worse but I’ll let the readers do their own research on that one.
Exactly. It’s all cloak and dagger stuff, contained in the small print.
That comment ^^ was @ deer hounddog
I know a few people that have that same problem with CFL’s . I must be doing something different, as I have some of my bulbs that have been going for over 7 years, and only had 1 fail, and I’ve moved house twice so can’t be supply voltage issues. I’ve been waiting for them to go so I can upgrade to LED’s.
You bring the lightbulbs when you move house?
most defiantly at the price you pay for them. just go and buy a few of 40w incandescent bulbs to replace them and take my cfl’s and led’s with me. The amount of times i’ve moved house and there are missing bulbs or they are incandescent. As the original op posted, they ain’t cheap. but I am.. LOL
Doesn’t everyone little jim? Why would I pay for a landlords responsibilities?
I don’t know… I replaced all our lightbulbs with LEDs 3 months ago and it cost €230… But my electricity bill is down €30 a month and I’ve not had to replace any bulbs… I was replacing 2 a month on average before.
If I turn on all my lights I use less than 100w compared to years ago when all bulbs were 60w and 100w and would run well over half a kw to light the house.
LED’s are just the best. LED’s also pave the way for solar, My back utility room is south facing and I have a LED array which runs off a small solar panel, battery and sensor so that it only comes on when I go in the room. cost €30, and has yet to run out of power even in the winter. Thinking of putting more a few more in.
Like most people I try to save money and do my bit for the planet, I’ve bought CFL bulbs over the years and I don’t think one of them has ever lasted more than a couple of years, in fact I’ve just replaced 5 of them over the past weekend. They’re a product that has always been sold on the premise that their increased cost will be recouped by the saving the user will make over the extended lifetime of the bulb, you pay more initially but they use considerably less electricity and last for many years. Allegedly. In reality you pay more for them, they use less electricity, for as long as they last, which is usually no longer than an incandescent bulb in my experience.
It’s for this reason I’m reluctant to spend a large amount of money on LED bulbs, I’m familiar with them in industrial applications but I’m sceptical of similar promises that they’ll last for years just like their CFL predecessors.
The energy saving bulbs are designed to be left on. If you use them in rooms where you only switch the light on and off like say hallway they burn out like a normal bulb. If switched on they need a few minutes to warm up. I replaced all the hallway and sitting room bulbs with LEDs and have no complaints so far
@bigmac I’ve just examined the packaging of a CFL bulb from a well known manufacturer, it claims to be an A rated energy product and clearly claims an expected life expectancy of 10 years, but nowhere does it say it must be left on all the time. Surely to do this would contradict their energy saving properties, and if they happened to be in a bedroom for example it would be bloody inconvenient. I know they take a few seconds to “warm up”, the original ones were slower but the CFL bulbs available now are quite fast at this.
I could go out tomorrow and replace every bulb in my house with LED bulbs, but as I said, in my experience with manufacturers claims regarding the life expectancy of CFL bulbs what they claim and what actually happens are two different things.
Make sure you buy bulbs designed for Ireland.
The UK power supply is 240v. The Irish one is 230v. You can get bulbs that cover 220-240v but they will have a shortened lifespan, although not as short as trying a 240v bulb in a 230v socket.
A lot of the bulbs in tesco are for the UK market. I used to find they buzzed when they had been on a short while, they would always blow out within a year. Bought some in Supervalu when it was Superquinn and they lasted much longer (plus they had the right voltage marked on them!)
@Shanti Probably a bad time to say I’m an electrical engineer. Since the 1990′s both the UK and Ireland’s electricity supply have both been standardised at approximately 230v, prior to that the UK was 240v while Irelands was 220v. Any bulb sold here, in Tesco’s or anywhere else, must be safe for use with the Irish electricity supply, and of course they are. The slight buzzing you heard is normal with CFL bulbs, particularly with older models, its due to an integral part within the base of the bulb. We sometimes forget that five foot florescent lights and a CFL bulb are essentially the same thing and operate the same way.
I’ve seen bulbs that cost over €1,000 and some that cost a few cent, LED bulbs appear to be replacing most incandescent bulbs, they last longer and are cheaper to run. BUT, in domestic applications I’m still dubious that manufacturers will produce a bulb that will genuinely last for up to 10 years, maybe more. They can, they’ve been doing it in industry for many years, I’m just not sure that they have produced the same thing as a domestic product to replace CFL bulbs.
Well then, the person who told me that was obviously talking out their arse!!
I still find the bulbs from tesco blow quicker..
@Shanti No worries. As I said I find the damn things don’t last very long either despite the 10 year promise on the box. I’ve been using LED’s for decades and I know how good they are so I’m probably going to have to swallow my pride any day now, just not today.
Energy poverty? People who switched over to metres were conned into paying double tax, double standing charge etc. It is the taxes and charges that are causing energy poverty among people on low income. Meantime the ESB made 700 Million profit last year.
€120 on my last elecy bill and €73 was from the unit charge. electric is not expensive, the government is though.
it’s also not fair on people who get into arrears with their bills due to poverty, they probably get moved to the standard rate, not allowed to avail of any discount and not able to switch. Very little help for them .
Coin meters are another double taxation on the least well off. That has to be illegal, and unconstitutional, but finding a liar, I mean Lawyer, in Ireland, willing to take a case against the state, would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
The thing about prepay is that it’s aimed at those who have trouble paying bills, so they penalise them with higher costs! You couldn’t make it up.
It’s like when you go over into the red by accident, obviously the reason being because you’re so broke you have very little in your account, so hit them with an extra charge! (of course there’s no fees if you can afford to have a minimum balance of €3000, because those people need help paying their bank charges don’t they?).
These comments are my submission to the Minister for Energy Poverty. The Government had done nothing to alleviate such poverty, but has increased the poverty by placing a double taxation on the poor.
Last year I went on to Uswitch to see if I could make any savings on my electricity, the absolute most that i could have saved was ONE euro over the year, made me wonder f there was price fixing going on
I did better than that. €7 saving over the year but I had to tie into a 1 year contract with early exit fee.
I remember switching to airtricity and saving for the first year. By year two it was back to the way it had always been.
The incompetence of some of these companies is what bothers me most, like when you submit your meter reading and they claim to have not got it, then refuse to amend your invoice. They’ll happily take a partial payment, but then they will show you as arrears until the next bill. One would hope they are not sources for data on your credit rating!
The government wants to hear from me ok .”gfys “government .have a nice day now
Is this a similar commission to one which was set up to discuss political reform ???? Any ideas involving more citizen involvement was quickly vetoed by majority government numbers…….So here’s another toothless exercise that is rolled out to gullible and complicit media
Switching suppliers will not take anyone out of energy poverty.
I have paid my electricity bill by standing order in all the years I have owned a house. Since myself and the other half are getting on in years, and our income is getting smaller, I decided to investigate all the various “pay as you go” schemes. What an instructive process that was. The ESB will only supply a pay as you go meter to people in substantial arrears, will charge them handsomely for the meter, and they pay a premium for the electricity used. What a fantastic help to people on their uppers!! The other private firms I investigated are happy to supply a meter (but you will pay handsomely for it) and they also charge above the rate which should apply. Presumably the Energy Regulator and, indeed, the Government are fully aware of these facts. Therefore, why insult struggling people even further by this pretence at “a consultation”?
It’s also very expensive to get those meters removed too
Hey, I’ve a great idea. Get The Regulator to increase the price of electricity again to encourage more competition. More competition cheaper electricity. It worked out better for the consumer last time……….Not!
Not happy with just ‘energy poverty’, an Irish Water spokesman was heard to mutter…..
…. “we’ll give um ‘water poverty’, lets see them chant ‘no way we won’t pay’, with dry mouths”……
Fine Gaels spokesman for ‘enriching bondholders at the expense of the poor’ refused to comment on the story.
Ends….
Go to the north and buy a bag a coal and a gallon of oil and see the difference from here in the south. It’s disgusting that the government will talk about energy poverty yet they are the ones that caused it through taxation of the basic needs
I’m always tired: does that count as energy poverty?
Why just electricity? I have no heating, can’t afford oil. Every thing is electric, house is at most 10^c above outside temperature. Have to wear coat and hat indoors these days. I’m just thankful that I’m still young enough to survive the cold. I have less than €5 a week for food after paying all the bills. After the rent, electricity is by far the most expensive bill. I mostly don’t use lights, I really can’t save anywhere else.
You should perhaps speak to your community welfare officer. You shouldn’t be that broke (don’t get me wrong, I realise it’s quite possible if you happen to be unemployed or in a low paying job). Surely there has to be some help out there for you until you can sort out something better? There are supplementary payments based on your means. It’s not a lot, but when you’re in as dire straits as you describe any little extra would presumably be welcome.
Done all that. Nothing doing. No help available. I just get given more multi-page forms to fill out, they just do that to get rid of me for yet another week or two, then nothing comes of it. Waste of time even if I am unemployed.
I’m single, over 50 no children so being unable to get on the child benefit gravy train I fall into the group that get minimal help from the government. It doesn’t matter that I have paid my stamp for nearly 40 years. I get virtually nothing back.
I’m really sorry to hear that. No fuel allowance even? I know what you mean about the forms though, they want tour whole life story! And after that you’re left waiting almost 3 months to hear back.. I really hope something more suitable comes up for you soon. Have you tried citizens info? Maybe there’s something neither of us thought about? There’s got to be something. €5 for food for a week is ludicrous.
If anything goes wrong the €5 goes seriously negative. I live in a cr*** privately rented place that heamorages heat. Can’t get local authority house, apart from the fact that Meath has no houses available, I come a long way down the list, and keep dropping, any time someone with a child/children applies, they go to the top of the list. There are zero properties available to rent for €390 that is the maximum allowed, and too many landlords now state “no rent allowance” so catch 22. Things get better in Summer but winters are miserable.
I hot my bill last week and it was €340 euros for two months. Thankfully I don’t go into.arrears as I make regular payments through mybills.ie all through the year. It’s my biggest expense and I do shop around but it’s really not worth switching. I couldn’t opt for prepay as my son has medical machines he uses and I would be afraid of getting stuck with no top up. It’s my dream to live off grid but not likely to achieve that anytime soon
“the government wants to talk to those in energy poverty” its thanks to the policies of this and the previous government that people are in ‘energy poverty ‘ to begin with, just last november they again raised the cost of the pso levy, align that with all the extra little ‘tax’s’ the state takes on every energy bill, pso levy, standing charge, carbon tax’s and then vat on top of it all and its clear to see where the high prices are coming from . add to all that the incredibly lax ‘regulation ‘ in the energy sector (esb/,board gas, “we need a price hike, regulator well ok discussion over ) and you need look no further for the reasons people find themselves in poverty ! anyway whats the point in talking to a government that doesnt listen to the people ?
Will check them out . Funnyman, thanks :-)
Landlord recently switched us all to pinergy. What a nightmare its much more expensive there’s a standing charge of .49 Ct per day that’s before any top up.this doesn’t include the vat etc.,
Double taxation of the poor as usual.
That’s about 80% of the population.
It would be one way to see who haven’t paid their property tax I suppose???
have your say