The new range of ‘Lifestyle’ energy plans available from the smart energy supplier are designed to help families with smart meters better manage their energy usage.
If you’ve been following our blog of late you might have been reading our piece on the rollout of smart meters and tariffs.
Smart meters are the “next generation" of electricity meter. Unlike older meters, smart meters can communicate directly with your energy supplier and send them real-time data about your energy usage. Once you have a smart meter installed, your energy supplier can provide you with a smart tariff, which can charge you different prices for your electricity depending on the time of day and help you to save money.
And the good news is that thanks to Pinergy they’re finally here!
The Irish energy supplier has officially launched its brand new range of smart tariffs called ‘Pinergy Lifestyle’ and in so doing has become the first supplier to market.
The three new tariffs on offer coincide with the rollout of the national smart metering programme by the ESB which so far has seen 240,000 smart meters installed in homes across the country.
The new tariffs from Pinergy will also be supplemented by Pinergy’s updated app, which will help households to manage their energy usage in the home more effectively and efficiently.
There’s a bit to unpack with Pinergy’s latest announcement so let’s take a closer look at what’s happening below.
New time-of-use tariffs
Pinergy has announced three brand new time-of-use tariffs, a first for Ireland, which are designed to go hand-in-hand with the installation of smart meters currently being rolled out across the country.
The new tariffs include a ‘Work from Home’ plan, a ‘Family Time’ plan, as well as a ‘Drive Time’ plan and provide discounted electricity charges depending on the time of day.
Consumers may also be interested to know that the new tariffs have been designed around ‘a newly enhanced Pinergy app’ - but more on this shortly.
Here’s the difference between the three plans:
- Work from Home - 30% discount off standard tariffs, Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm.
- Family Time - 40% discount off standard tariffs daily between 6pm to 10pm.
- Drive Time - a plan for those with electric vehicles operating from 2am to 5am with a unit rate of just 5c.
The new plans have been developed based on how families have adapted their lifestyles in the last year due to the pandemic. Pinergy was able to harness its expertise and relevant insights as a smart energy company to tailor its plans for different types of energy customers.
If you have a smart meter and are considering signing up to one of the plans you should be aware the new tariffs operate using 'level-pay' which effectively allows customers to spread the cost of their annual energy bills over 12 equal monthly instalments.
As it stands 240,000 homes currently have smart meters installed and are able to sign up to Pinergy’s new plans. However, Smart Meter Services aren't expected to be switched on until the end of February.
If you're wondering what the timeline for the rollout of meters is like, ESB Networks is committed to having 2.25 million meters installed in Irish households by 2024.
However, if you'd like one installed as soon as possible, customers can request a smart meter from either ESB Networks or from Pinergy.
Chief Executive at Pinergy, Enda Gunnell pictured with the new Pinergy Lifestyle App.
New Pinergy App
To supplement the introduction of its new smart tariff range the energy supplier has also revamped its Pinergy App.
The app works by fully integrating your smart tariff with your new smart meter and presents all the relevant energy data on a customer’s mobile phone.
Developed using consumer insights and in collaboration with a behavioural scientist the app provides a number of useful features for customers, including:
- Daily energy costs
- Breakdown of home electricity used every 30 minutes
- Clear graphs related to your home’s energy consumption
As we discussed on this blog before, smart meters will help to eliminate the need for taking regular meter readings, and allow supplier to provide energy customers with a much clearer picture of their energy consumption.
With the Pinergy App customers will have much more access to key information about their energy consumption, how much they use, when they use it, and how to be more efficient.
Commenting on the launch of Pinergy Lifestyle, Enda Gunnell, Chief Executive at Pinergy said:
We have timed the launch of our new lifestyle plan & app and offering to be first to market and ready to coincide and support the rollout of the national smart metering programme. We have significant experience in Smart Metering over the last number of years, and we want to bring these insights and experiences to the under-served residential bill pay market. Pinergy is committed to supporting consumers through our smart technology, particularly at a time when they are becoming increasingly aware of the energy they use.
Families and those working from home are the type of consumers that we have been building this product around. With children home more often and parents having to deal with higher energy consumption, we wanted to be able to offer families a way of making habitual changes so that they can adapt to a more sustainable energy future in the home and allow them to see the true impact of their energy behaviours, and adjust them accordingly.
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Do you have a smart meter and are interested in Pinergy’s new plans? You can find out more about Pinergy’s new plans right here.
More recently, Electric Ireland followed in Pinergy’s footsteps and also announced four new smart electricity plans for smart meter customers.
If you don’t know much about smart meters and want to learn more, you can read our guide to learn about the advantages of smart meters.
If you're in the market for switching energy suppliers you can also conduct a thorough comparison using our online energy comparison tool today.
The average energy customer could save up to €501 on their energy bills if they switched on bonkers.ie today.
Before making the switch, it’s vital to be well informed. We’ve compiled a list of articles that you may find useful:
- While price is obviously an important factor, there are other aspects to consider when switching. Here’s a list of 7 important things to keep in mind when looking into switching.
- If you familiarise yourself with these 10 important terms, the switching experience will be less daunting.
- Here is a list of some of the most frequently asked questions about the energy switching process to help you switch with ease.
Get in touch!
If you have any questions about Pinergy’s new smart energy tariffs or switching energy supplier, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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