Electric Ireland launches four new smart electricity plans for smart meter customers

The roll out of smart meters has well and truly begun with approximately 250,000 of all households in Ireland now fitted with the smart technology.

And with smart meter services officially switched on for customers as of 26th February, it’s now possible to sign up to smart meter tariffs should you already have a meter installed.

Leading energy supplier in the Republic, Electric Ireland has become the latest energy company to announce the launch of a range of brand new smart electricity tariffs, with four unique ‘lifestyle oriented’ plans available for smart meter customers to sign up to.

All four ‘Home Electric+’ plans on offer are designed to make the best use of your newly installed meter, with one plan even offering free electricity usage on weekends.

Interested in hearing more about the new smart tariffs? Just read on…

Home Electric+

The four new smart electricity tariffs are collectively known as ‘Home Electric+’ and are available to all customers who have a smart meter installed in their homes.

Each new plan will harness the capabilities of customers' new smart meters, providing insights (via an online account portal) that will help energy customers better understand their energy consumption - not to mention enabling customers to use less electricity and make savings as a result.

Here are the four plans available:

*Day: 08.00 - 23.00, Night: 23.00 - 08.00, Night Boost: 02.00 - 04.00

**Day: 08.00 - 23.00, Night: 23.00 - 08.00, Peak: 17.00 - 19.00

As can be seen from our table above, Electric Ireland’s Weekender plan offers customers free electricity on either Saturday or Sunday. However, its standard unit price, even with the discounted rate is still slightly higher than the other plans on offer.

Meanwhile, the Night Boost plan allows customers to avail of big discounted rates from 2am until 4am at night, meaning those who own Electric Vehicles can charge their cars for as little as 5c per kWh.

The introduction of smart meters will see an end to estimated bills for customers, as the new technology allows your energy supplier to take a minimum of three meter reads (day/night/peak) automatically per day.

About the introduction of the new price plans, Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Electric Ireland, said: 

As Ireland’s leading energy provider, Electric Ireland is committed to providing our customers with transparency so that they can better understand what is driving their electricity usage. The introduction of our new Smart Meter offerings is a landmark day for us and our customers. 

Less consumption of energy at peak times means reduced carbon emissions, as well as reduced bills for households and businesses. Customers can use the insights we provide to discover how and when they use electricity so that they can change their usage patterns to make savings.

As it stands smart meters have been installed in parts of Dublin (North, South, Central), Sligo, Limerick, Cork City, Bandon, Portlaoise, Navan and Drogheda.

The National Smart Metering Programme will eventually see up to 1.3 million Electric Ireland customers avail of Smart Meter technology and services by 2024.

Smart meter/tariff benefits

Customers who have smart meters installed, and who avail of smart tariffs can, over time, better understand their energy usage thanks to the insights available.

The new technology will also enable energy users to lower their overall energy consumption, particularly during peak times of the day, helping to reduce the overall cost of electricity bills.

Electric Ireland’s new plans, outlined above, have some of the following benefits:

• No longer a need for manual reads and estimated bills.
• Personalised insights on electricity usage via an online account portal (insights build incrementally over time).
• Monthly emails that communicate which appliances are using the most electricity (available after four months' data).
• A monthly billing option and bill prediction alerts (billing is currently bi-monthly).
• Regular reviews to ensure customers are on the right plan.

Electric Ireland was the winner of three awards at the annual bonkers.ie National Consumer Awards 2021, which included being named the winner of the Grand Prix: Best Consumer Business 2021.

Want to find out more about smart meters? You can read our in-depth guide right here.

Switch on bonkers.ie

Over the past few months, numerous suppliers have started introducing smart meter tariffs to coincide with the rollout of smart meters. 

Pinergy was the first supplier in Ireland to offer smart meter tariffs.

Bord Gáis Energy also recently announced a range of new smart electricity tariffs, with free weekend electricity on offer, too.

If you want to learn more about smart meter tariffs, we wrote a blog on everything you need to know.

Here at bonkers.ie, you can use our energy comparison tool to compare the best deals today across all 14 energy suppliers nationwide.

Switching is quick and easy and could save you over €400 on your annual energy bills. You only need a few things to switch, so it’s well worthwhile!

Let’s hear from you!

Do you have a smart meter installed in your home? Are you interested in signing up to one of the new smart electric tariffs from Electric Ireland above? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

You can always reach out to us on social media with any questions you may have. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.