N.Ireland Economy 7 users and Airtricity

dieselglider

Hi, Just a word to the wise for N.Ireland residents, who use Economy 7, and receive a cold call at their doorstep from an Airtricity sales rep. They've been covering East Antrim lately.

We switched our Economy 7 billing from Power N.I. to Airtricity a few months ago. The rep was fully aware we had Econ 7, as we had queried if the discount also applied to the Standing Charge (he had to make a phone call to check), and he took photos' and details of all three meters (Day, Night ,Heat).

Now to the point of the matter. He offered us two choices, a 2-year contract with 14%/8%, yr1/yr2 discounts, or a monthly contract with 12% discount applied for 1 year. We opted for the 12% option. I was slightly surprised however, when the first bill showed savings of approx 9% on the Day units, and only 4% on the Night and Heating units...

Cue complaint letter, basically using a template from a consumer website, which received a vague reply stating, "Your discount has been applied to your account we do not show the discount on the bill it is included in the rate". After prolonged contact via a consumer help group, Airtricity did state that I was on a 9%peak/4%off-peak discount tariff plan (this is on their website if you look hard enough..) and that is how it is.

But also, and it's a big but, Airtricity have stated at least twice that my 9%peak/4%off-peak means I am actually getting a 13% saving... yes, they are adding the two discounts together! I tried to show them their error with some simple primary school arithmetic, to no avail.

The consumer help group concluded this case as they judged they couldn't make any more headway, and Airtricity had offered a massive £10 gesture of goodwill.

So be aware of what is actually on offer, and hope you get confirmation of your deal, we never did. To end on a positive note though, we are making savings, even if not what was expected.