ESB ELECTRIC Ireland has refused to disclose how many of its existing customers have taken advantage of its recently discounted tariffs.
At the beginning of April, the newly deregulated company announced a range of discounted rates of up to 17 per cent, which it said were primarily aimed at stemming the flow of customers deserting it in favour of Bord Gáis Energy and Airtricity.
As a heavily regulated company it was unable to compete on price but the Commission for Energy Regulation lifted all restrictions on April 4th.
When it announced the discounts on the same day, the company said it would not automatically switch existing customers on to the cheaper rates and insisted they would have to make contact with the company directly and ask to be switched to its “rewards” package in order to make the savings.
ESB Electric Ireland said it was not automatically switching customers on to the cheaper rates because it wanted to incentivise them to make contact so they would opt in to direct-debit plans and register for online billing, moves that would save the company significant amounts of money.
The move was yesterday described as “appalling” by chief executive of the Consumer Association of Ireland Dermott Jewell. He said the company was “ignoring all of the customers who stayed loyal to them in the face of competition from its main rivals. The basic reductions should have applied to all customers. They could have done it at the flick of a switch.
“If they were introducing price increases you can be sure they would have impacted on all their customers immediately.”
Yesterday ESB Electric Ireland spokesman Brian Montayne declined to say how many of its existing customers had been moved on to the “Rewards” package, stating the information was “commercially sensitive”.
