How did you heat the hot water bottles? Heating water uses a LOT of energy!

I find Airtricity bill estimates are crazy. Jump up and down the whole time.

I was ripped off by airtricity ,

My brother was had by Airtricity. He was away for the whole month of August 2011 and received a bill for approx €300 for a 1 bed apartment. He had nothing electrical plugged in as he knew he’d be away. He contested it but they basically said your lying and took it from the upfront payment..

I also got ripped off by Airtricity but got refunded a grand sum of €500 in the end. It took about a month of harassing them about how my bills were coming in higher than an industrial unit would and we both work all day so the usage would be minimal. I had to break it down into toddler lingo for them and threaten legal action. A bill for just under €700 for two months was a tad ridiculous.
Switched back to Electric Ireland and have now gone with the prepay for both and am finding it much better.

I too have had issues with Airtricity, taking money out of my account with no solid reason (bill was already paid). Their estimates seem to be double what they would be.. Bloody useless..

Electricity prices were increased, to get competition into the sector according to regulator. I think he studied at Bertie Aherns school of economics, inflate everything and have the customer pay!

Ah Jayus Lauren you mentioned the immersion, how we will have Des Bishop on telling us his immersion so called jokes.

same here but… when you have the misfortune to share with an Irresponsible flat mate that forgets all that and of course no surprise… ALWAYS the last to pay their share, it becomes a big problem. When the bill arrives you get the “oh dear surely its a mistake, how comes its so high?” eh HELLO! Some really careless idiots about.

The question is why are you turning it off.

Is it so that you can make Ireland a greener place or is it because the government has taken all your money in taxes to pay off the bondholders?

My immersion is banjaxed, happy days!!

I don’t have an immersion. I was just asking, electric showers are wonderful and i take my time. :)

No.
But we have been unknowingly eating a lot of Horsemeat these days.
We’ve heard that Horse Farts are a lot better for the environment than Cow Farts.
So I suppose you could say that we are doing our bit.

@Finipops Electric showers are wonderful, but they are only energy efficient if used for 5 – 10 mins at a time. Taking lengthy showers is a sure way to have high bills. Anything with heating elements will use a lot of energy, showers, immersion heaters, dishwashers, washing machines if used on high temp washes, heaters, irons, ovens, dryers etc. Reduce the use of these or the time they’re used for and the bills will drop too.

How are they for light compared to energy saver?

Better, IMHO.

better for light after they warm up. crap for the first two minutes.

No competition, energy wise, e.g. 1 or 2 watts with an LED bulb as opposed to 12 watts with a CFL.

They are not for everyone though, since they emulate natural daylight and the colour of the light isn’t quite right. Also the light tends to be directional, so the shadows the lights cast is a bit weird.

The technology is improving though.

Also if your house is hit with an power surge, it can fry the electronics in an LED bulb, unless you’ve got a circuit breaker or some other protection mechanism in place on your house’s electricial circuits.

Where did you get that monitor

Electric Ireland appliances is an app that with help you gage how much a particular appliance is costing you to run monthly Ex A 2000 watt fan heater on max for 7 hours a week will cost you between €40-€45 every two months

Although that is a fair point to make, it is also important to say that if everyone took that attitude we would be heading up shitcreek a lot faster than we already are!

And the Regulator approves of increases not sought !

Its supply and Demand – the company has to make a profit – so if u use less – u must pay more . Thats Capitalism .

Electric Ireland or ESB charge extra on your standing charge if you do not use a lot of electric they call it low usage. If you go on their website they encourage people to go green and show you how to cut the electric bill, but the snag is if you cut down you usage you ay extra on the standing charge they do not highlight this big con.

It is supply and demand.
The company demands payment and you supply it.

David can that masters of yours find me a way around storage heaters in an apartment? They cost a fortune and we’ve no other option!

Have you tried wearing a jumper.

You must have a masters too! Unconventional but I’ll give it a shot!

u need help from ur entire apartment block on this one …storage heaters are so inefficient its not even funny. A district heating system for a apartment block is a great way to get around that. One big boiler in the basement heating the entire building just like what happens in a hotel. the problem is how to fund such a project.. if the apartment block is owned by one person the tenants could do a power purchase agreement with the owner on the hot water…pay as you go for heat ..you personally would save huge money on the heat..the owner would have to spend money on retrofitting the building with rads/boiler but the owner would make nice money back after a few years then its all profit..if the apartments are owned by individuals you would have to sell the idea…but you could organise a co op on the idea i did work on this before it works in theory, a couple of contractors on existing housing estates loved the idea..but were scared shitless cos they feared not getting money out of people …who are currently struggling to pay bills as it stands…

ted, if ya could give me an ideal of ur annual electrical bill on that storage heater, plus number of apartments in the block i could give ya a better idea..iv done this calculation before

just to give idea how district heat would add up,
average heating bill for storage heater and hot water €1000/annually per apartment
take 50 apartments per block
50 x €1,000 = 50,000 apartment block bill annually
cost of Boiler €25,000
cost of Rads and plumbing per apartment €1,000 x 50 = 50,000
Total cost of investment €50,000 + €25,000 = €75,000
boiler running costs estimated @ 20% of original heating bill = €10,000 per year
year one €75,000 + €10,000 running cost = 85,000
annual savings €40,000
simple payback €85,000/€40,000 = 2.125 years
makes sense..in Denmark 85% of all buildings are heated by district heating systems…have a nice day

In older apartments storage heaters should be wired to a night time esb meter which is at a lower rate.
There are more Eco friendly storage heaters on the market , dimco supply a few different kinds. Your idea of district heating is good but it I’d say its a bit too late for ted.

I think your estimates on the heating and water are probably quite close to what we pay, the two bills during the winter are about €700 and I think it’s about 90% because of the heating. The rest of the year it’s just the hot water that is on so I guess it would easily make up another 3/400. Is such a district heat option even possible to retro fit, I can’t imagine how they would go about it other than running pipes around the outside the buildings and creating an awful mess. Also is there such a system ever used in apartment blocks in Ireland? Final question how would they bill people other than the management company including it in their management fees for the year or could they meter it?

there is one district heating system in Ireland but its a housing estate in Tipperary but it was a new build , no company in Ireland has done one to an existing apartment or estate as its much cheaper with a new build. I have all the suppliers lined up from a couple of years ago.. its not that much work.. bring pipes up via the stairs, create a loop on each floor at the ceiling level so it can pass over doors..have T pipes into each apartments. pipes can be covered with a suspended ceiling. all you have to do is dismount the storage heater and connect the new rad and connect to the Emerson tank…the banks are interested in the idea but they need letters of intention from potential customers.. its best if it was metered… f**k the management company they can just about look after the bins…its a gold mine if someone would take the risk..I would do it myself if I had a few bob to invest..
p.s im a quantity surveyor as well..haha

i forgot that my figures are for a boiler. if you are on the gas line you could install a CHP plant,(combined heat and power) that will produce electricity and heat at the same time. costs about €50,000 more but also creates electricity that can be sold on the the esb… ur situation sounds interesting. if u want to go any future on this ill help u out free of charge if ya like.. u could email the journal to get contact details….

A clothes horse in the bathroom is the best I can offer

I use 3 clothes horses in one room, it means I only need to have done heater on. Condensation can be a problem, a friend of mine bought a dehumidifier. She claims that clothes dry very quickly, needs to be in a small room. Ideal for a box or utility room

*one heater on

I have two clothes horses upstairs in a front room best to dry clothes, maybe dry in a day.

Buy a small polytunnel. Great for drying clothes and growing organic veg ;)

Roy, Have a look at the Dimplex Clothes Air Dryer. How it works- Place the blower flat on the floor with garments hanging over the unit. The room air is re-circulated towards your laundry reducing drying time with no added heat. The warmer and better ventilated the room the more effective the drying time. Very low running cost at less than €0.01 cent per hour. 25 watt.

Ok, nice advert there.

Do ye use Hemp Insulation?

It’s it amazing how all increases come in during the winter time when heat and electricity are needed more !!!

Take out the main fuse, in the fuse box and see how they cope without electricity?

are you guys using much woodchip from willow? big push on farmers to grow the crop but i dont know any figures on the up take…

Hi David, the vast majority of our pellet supply comes from a combination of Balcas and Leinster Pellets as we want to support Irish, but both of these companies use willow so I know that Willow is in demand as a result alright.

Was that cavity wall insulation or that cosy home thing?

Cavity wall yes ..the wrap around insulation costs a fortune ..and would look out of place as my house is in middle row, so would stick of further than rest by bout 4·5 inches

Luca, you can’t pump insulation into walls of a timber frame/super warm home. Air needs to circulate around the timber or otherwise it will get damp and rot. My friend has one of these houses and enquired about insulation and was not told this by the company. Fortunately, I was told when I had my insulation done and was able to tell her. Insulation companies have been known to insulate the walls of these houses. My friend told me her neighbours had their house insulated.

dish washer is more efficient at hot water usage then washing dishes by hand in the sink

@Jason Dishwashers can eat electricity, don’t be fooled. Depending on how you heat your water washing your dishes in the sink can be a lot more efficient, if you just put the immersion on the Sink setting for 15 minutes this can be considerably more efficient that a dishwasher heating water to a high temperature several times over the course of a cycle.

I understand your issue with high energy costs but how is it the government’s fault for what you used?