Giving with one hand…

Apparently people who sign up for night-saver electricity with the ESB are charged a higher tariff for their day time usage than customers who don’t bother with the “money-saving measure”. Customers using the NightSaver tariff also have to pay higher annual standing charges and €256 for a second meter to measure the night time electricity usage. callers to Pat Kenny yesterday were understandably furious with one pointing out that it would take at least three years before she would recoup her initial investment. Apparently the cost per unit of electricity for “ordinary” customers during the day is 13.24 cent, while for NightSaver customers it is 14.15 cent. The standing charge for a NightSaver customers meanwhile is €126 a year, while the similar charge for ordinary customers is €92.

Here’s the rest of the story from The Irish Times:

A spokesman maintained there were still substantial savings to be made by those who maximised their use of the NightSaver tariff, as the unit charge for electricity was just seven cent between 11pm and 8am in wintertime. In summertime, the night-rate hours are midnight to 9am.

The spokesman maintained that on a mix of day and night-time use, the NightSaver customer should still make savings on their bill compared to the ordinary customer.

The difference in daily rates for NightSaver customers and ordinary customers was calculated on the cost of producing electricity, he explained.

Charges for ordinary customers were based on the average cost of generating electricity during a 24-hour period, which would be expensive during the day and cheaper at night.

But NightSaver customers were already availing of the cheap night rates, so their daytime usage cost was based only on the cost of generating electricity during the day, he said.

Night-time electricity use is more environmentally responsible, as the ESB use their most efficient generating systems at that time.