The CER has renewed its accreditation of bonkers.ie for a fifth consecutive year
Mark Whelan
Staff Writer

The CER has renewed its accreditation of bonkers.ie for another 12 months, ensuring that we are an “accurate, reliable, transparent and impartial” provider of energy price comparisons.

In 2012, bonkers.ie became the first energy price comparison website in Ireland to be accredited by the Commission for Energy Regulation (now known as The Commission for Regulation of Utilities), and today, that accreditation has been renewed for a fifth consecutive year.

After the Irish energy market was deregulated in 2011, the CER created a framework for the accreditation of price comparison websites to ensure that customers could have complete confidence in the information they were using to help them with their choice of gas and electricity suppliers.

The CER's framework consists of 11 principles, which include strict regulations on areas such as independence and impartiality, tariff and price comparison, the calculation of cost comparisons, the accurate update of tariffs, the treatment of green tariffs, consumer information and accessibility, customer care and data protection.

Every year, the CER conducts a rigorous and thorough audit of bonkers.ie to ensure that we meet each of these strict criteria and are continuing to provide a service that is accurate, reliable and impartial. We’re pleased to have had our accreditation renewed after our annual audit every year since it was first achieved.

A service that customers can trust

Commenting on the good news, our MD, David Kerr said, “We’re pleased with the news that the CER has renewed our accreditation for a fifth year running. We’re a service that consumers can trust and the CER’s stamp of approval makes that official. With savings of over €400 now available to householders that switch suppliers, it’s essential that consumers know with certainty that they can trust our calculations and information at all times".

The CER Commissioner with responsibility for the retail sector, Aoife MacEvilly, also emphasised the importance of shopping around; “price comparison websites can be a really valuable tool in delivering cost savings to consumers by helping them choose a tariff or supplier that is suitable to their energy needs and ensure that they have the best deal possible. The CER continues to encourage consumers to check whether there are better value offers available, including from their own supplier."

Ireland's switching numbers

Over 303,000 Irish people switched electricity suppliers in 2015, and more than 106,000 switched gas suppliers in the same year. This made Ireland the top country in the EU for gas switching and second in the EU for electricity.

These figures may sound impressive in isolation, but the CER's recent Energy Consumer Survey revealed that only 40% of Irish people are aware of the discounts and special offers that are out there. With cashback offers of as much as €180 and massive new customer discounts now available, customers who haven't switched recently could be missing out on savings of over €400.

At bonkers.ie it is our job to shine a light on the savings that are available and to encourage more and more households to shop around and take advantage of the competition in the marketplace. The CER's latest accreditation renewal helps us with this mission, as customers know that they can have complete trust in our information and calculations.