4th April 2011: bonkers.ie welcomes Electricity Market Deregulation and calls for National Average Consumption Figures

• ESB Electric Ireland SuperSaver price plans offer lowest priced electricity tariffs available to Irish households
• ESB Electric Ireland adds to tariff complexity launching 9 new tariffs and up to 42 price variations
• Bonkers.ie calls for introduction of national average consumption figures to help consumers compare prices for increasingly complicated energy deals
• Quick comparison – what is the cheapest way to get home energy? All ESB Electric Ireland price plans now available for comparison on bonkers.ie

SuperSaver Price Plans

Analysis by independent price comparison service Bonkers.ie, of ESB Electric Ireland's offers and tariffs verifies a 14%-17% discount off standard electricity units rates on its headline SuperSaver tariffs offers, making it the cheapest electricity tariff currently in the marketplace for average households.

However, for SuperSaver dual fuel customers, the tariff’s 6% gas discount means that it is unlikely to be the cheapest way to get gas and electricity for most customers as they would need to have extremely low gas consumption to compensate for the low gas discount.* According to Bonkers.ie, customers with a mains gas supply would make the greatest savings by taking ESB Electric Ireland’s SuperSaver deal for electricity only and Flogas's New Customer Option B.

David Kerr, Managing Director of bonkers.ie said ""As the Irish energy market has matured, we've seen a move towards dual fuel deals where suppliers bundle gas and electricity together. ESB Electric Ireland’s new SuperSaver dual fuel deal does just that and is the cheapest dual fuel deal for average households, but is not necessarily the cheapest way to get your gas and electricity. As the complexity increases consumers could be in danger of analysis paralysis or blind leaping. The good news is there are genuine savings to be had but consumers need to take a second look at offers and test against their own individual circumstances."

Complex Price Plans – Need for National Average Consumption Figures

"With ESB Electric Ireland launching 9 new tariffs and up to 42 price variations to the market today, the level of complexity and confusion for home energy customers has hugely increased making it even more difficult for householders to compare tariffs without assistance from comparison services such as bonkers.ie", commented David Kerr.

Continuing, Mr Kerr said "ESB Electric Ireland's new SuperSaver deal does not require a one year contract as we've seen with other suppliers' price plans, and ESB Electric Ireland should be commended as they have not increased the standing charges to compensate for the unit rate discounts - a practice that is becoming increasingly common. However, customers signing up should be aware that prices will revert to ESB Electric Ireland's Standard non-discounted rates after one year."

To receive the maximum discounts offered by SuperSaver Dual Fuel, ESB Electric Ireland's leading new tariff, customers must take gas and electricity together, receive bills online and pay by direct debit. Existing customers must apply for lower rates.

"Irish consumers would now greatly benefit from a set of national average consumption figures agreed by the Commission for Energy Regulation and all domestic suppliers. These could be used to compare products, increase tariff transparency and help consumers get the best deals", commented Mr Kerr.

Energy suppliers and comparison services in the UK use agreed national average figures when making savings claims. These figures help consumers compare energy deals on a like for like basis. Currently in Ireland, consumption figures used to make savings claims vary from one supplier to another making it difficult for consumers to accurately compare competing offers.

Quick Comparison – Cheapest Home Energy

Electricity Only - ESB Electric Ireland's SuperSaver deal is now the cheapest electricity tariff available for average households using 5,300 kw/h of electricity per annum.

Dual Fuel - Gas & Electricity - Customers with a mains gas supply would make the greatest savings by taking ESB Electric Ireland’s SuperSaver deal for electricity and Flogas’s New Customer Option B for gas.

*All comparisons assume urban standard tariffs and metering. Calculations based on consumption of 13,800 kw/h gas and 5,300 kw/h electricity per annum.

Comparing ESB Electric Ireland Price Plans on bonkers.ie

All of ESB Electric Ireland's new price plans have been added to the bonkers.ie gas and electricity comparison service. Energy customers can now easily compare these new plans to all other deals in the marketplace, find the cheapest deal for their home and quickly save money by switch suppliers.

"Buying home energy has become much more complicated and customers must be active to benefit. If customers do not seek out better deals, the will not receive lower prices" said David Kerr. "However, Irish energy customers are now the biggest switchers in Europe having made over 1 million switches over the last 2 years. We think their willingness to seek out better value will help keep prices down".

About bonkers.ie

Established in November 2009, bonkers.ie is a free personal financial comparison service that allows people to compare electricity, gas & dual fuel suppliers, broadband & home phone packages, savings accounts, current accounts, credit cards and personal loans.

The service was established by David Kerr and Simon Moynihan who have attained expertise and a combined 15 years' 'experience in the UK price comparison space, the most mature price comparison market in the world.

bonkers.ie empowers consumers to find the best deal and make real savings, for free.

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