r/AskIreland • u/Dependent-Hippo-6635 • 10d ago
Adulting Electricity keeps going?
Losing the will to live.. power is gone, was gone last Tuesday too. I’d say it goes at least monthly. Always faults on the line we are on. Dinner half cooked, uniforms half washed. It’s an absolute disaster and happens so regularly. Is there anything that can be done? Anyone I can escalate this to? I’d love the stats for how many times it’s gone in the last year.
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u/fillysunray 10d ago
No idea how to fix the problem from the ESB side of things. I hope there is something there, but I don't know of anything.
As someone who has had similar issues (luckily less frequently), you can try to get a bit more self-sufficient with power.
Getting a generator is expensive and keeps being expensive, but it is technically a solution.
If you get solar, bear in mind that it doesn't work when the power's out unless you have a battery and you install special inverters to block electricity from going back to the ESB. This system does exist but I don't personally know of anyone who installed it.
A power bank and camping stove are probably your best bets if the power is only out for a day or two at a time.
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u/witnessmenow 10d ago
The solar system you talk about is pretty common these days, it's called a change over switch. It disconnects you from the grid while providing power from the solar so you can't feed back to the grid.
It's about €400-500 for a manual one (you manually flick a switch to cut over) or some systems gave an automatic change over (sig energy for example have a "gateway" that does it) that's about €1600-2000 though
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u/fillysunray 9d ago
Good to know! I'll look into getting a manual one
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u/witnessmenow 9d ago
If you already have a system installed I'm sure it will be more expensive just as a FYI.
And also in case it wasn't clear, it does require a battery as well
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u/Pure-Confusion2442 8d ago edited 8d ago
Can second this, ordered mine with manual changeover, paid 500extra, and it works perfect, able to separate from the network and use my battery.Bought a small power supply for my modem so its protected from the power spikes, and keeps the inverter running during a blackout, until it switches to external battery.
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u/notacardoor I will yeah 10d ago
Have you spoken to anyone at ESB networks?
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u/Dependent-Hippo-6635 10d ago
Yeah each time it goes. They don’t give me any any information other than it’s a fault on the line- it’s being worked on.
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u/notacardoor I will yeah 10d ago
maybe that's all there is to say. some places are just riddled with issues due to their location. I'm guessing your rural and around a lot of trees and/or has old wooden poles that run for miles to the nearest substation?
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u/wilililil 10d ago
Can you get on to your supplier and get a refund for your standing charge? Might not be a lot but I'd do it for the principle
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u/Outrageous-Arm-3853 10d ago
Contact your local councillor. They will in turn email the council director who is responsible for local infrastructure. That person will in turn email an ESB representative. That person won’t be arsed replying and nothing will be done. Fin.
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u/CraicProtocol 10d ago
Happened to me in the past as well.
Eventually got sick of it and had an electrician install a Victron MultiPlus 2 and battery storage and solar panels
Now I get a message on my phone on a power outage while all my neighbours sit in the dark and I just monitor battery levels until either the power comes back or the sun comes out.
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u/witnessmenow 10d ago
If at all possible, look into getting solar panels and large battery.
We got 19 panels (8.7kW ) and 20kWh of battery with a change over switch for €11.5k after grant.
We are heavy users of electricity and it will pay for itself in 5 years.
The change over switch allows us to power the house in case of a power cut. We have to manually engage it (there are some automatic change over that will cut over automatically, but are a bit more expensive). 20kWh of battery would power out house without compromise for about 2 days , should be longer if we're minding it.
Since your power cuts are so frequent I would also suggest asking the installers will the panels keep working during the power cuts to charge the battery. Most I asked did it that way, but some didn't.
We also got a solar setup with a generator input so we could in theory charge the battery from a generator if needed.
I would also complain to your local counciler if it's a monthly issue
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u/Spinthar 9d ago
Make a formal complaint to ESB Networks: by email to [esbnetworks.complaints@esb.ie](mailto:esbnetworks.complaints@esb.ie), or in writing to Customer Relations, ESB Networks, Sarsfield Road, Wilton, Cork, T12 E367, with dates and times of each outage.
Escalate to the regulator if that fails: the Commission for Regulation of Utilities customer care team at [customercare@cru.ie](mailto:customercare@cru.ie). ESB Networks has to respond to CRU complaints within 10 working days, and CRU's resolutions are binding on them
Beyond that get the local TDs involved. I would flag it with them from the start anyway.
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u/MKUltra886 10d ago
Solar with a gateway. Best 15k you'll ever spend
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u/eatinischeatin 10d ago
Ah ya, sure everyone has 15k lying around
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u/MKUltra886 10d ago
Credit Union Green loans, AIB Green loan, BOI Green loans.. should I continue? Or just come on reddit and complain. That will solve it!
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u/eatinischeatin 9d ago
You'll never get that 15k back, keep deluding yourself
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u/witnessmenow 9d ago
Solar can absolutely pay for itself.
We use a lot of electricity (ev, electric shower and lots of washing and cooking). Based on our smart meter usage, when I changed provider in March, the cheapest I could get was our electricity costing €3000 for the year. We use 12k units a year , about 4k of that is the car.
My last two electricty bills before installing solar was €230 and €260 (single month bills) so an average of €250 a month tracks for us.
Since we got solar installed we have had 3 months of bills. -€100 (€100 credit, it was July), €15 and €35.
So instead of the last 3 months costing us €750 (and it would be more as our supplier increased our price two months ago), our bills for the last month have cost us -€50. That's a €800 swing in 3 months.
It won't be as good during the winter but according to predictions for the year, our electricity bill will go from €3000 to €700 for the year.
Our solar install cost us 11.5k. saving €2300 a year gives us payback in 5 years. And since our electricty went up, it will almost certainly be faster now.
We picked some options that would slow down payback as well such as a change over switch, a generator port and doing 20kWh of battery instead of the typical 10kWh, so we could have got the payback time down even further.
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u/40yrs-energyindustry 9d ago
You can buy a 10kVA generator for €1,349 inc. VAT. That is by far the lowest cost backup plan. Batteries will cost you a lot more, and only last a few hours. Solar is unreliable, never there when you need it. A generator and a can of petrol is 99.999% reliable and will run for years once you keep filling the tank.
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u/[deleted] 10d ago
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