Many Irish households have been hit with a huge increase to their energy bills this year with some families struggling to pay them.
However, one woman has claimed that she managed to instantly knock 50% off her electricity bill.
Wendy, who lives in a flat in the UK, says she got her monthly bill down from €226 to around €112 - simply by disputing the cost with her electricity provider.
She felt she was being overcharged as she lives alone and under closer inspection she realised they had miscalculated the cost of her meter readings and were charging her for using day rate electricity, rather than both day and night rate electricity.
She took to Twitter to share the 'hack' with others writing: "Please dispute [your] electricity bills. I’ve disputed all of mine!! called multiple times and then my bill magically reduces to 40-50%. These people are robbing us blind so get ur money back. If your bill don’t make sense fight it."
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Wendy continued: "All this time they were charging me the same rate for a day when I provide both day & night readings. The rate differs when you provide 2 readings. They first sent me a bill which averaged £190 (€226) a month I said it’s impossible. After a few calls & investigations, it’s around £94 (€112).
"Imagine being told multiple times it’s correct and then all this time they’ve miscalculated, The only reason why I even discovered the issue is because I asked for advice from someone who works with another provider and she noticed this issue. It’s all mad."
Her tweet went viral with over 90k people liking it and asking her for advice on how to reduce their own bills.
One person asked: "Can I have more details. What did you say??? What did you notice??"
She replied: "Everyone’s situation is different but I felt like I was paying way more for someone who is living alone. I was even providing meter readings so they insisted it was accurate.
"I had to get someone I knew with some knowledge to look into it and they discovered my tarrif didn’t reflect the metre readings I was providing. I learnt to just give meter readings every month and check that I’m on the correct tarrif or it’s pointless!"
In Ireland, using electricity at night will be cheaper for some people - but you have to fulfil certain requirements to take advantage.
You need to have a night meter installed at your property and be signed up for a NightSaver tariff with your energy provider.
Under the NightSaver tariff, your electricity rate will be cheaper at night but more expensive during the day so you will only make big savings if you use a lot of electricity at night.
According to moneyguideireland.com, from April to October, electricity is cheaper between the hours of midnight to 9am.
From the end of October to the end of March, electricity rates are at their cheapest between the hours of 11pm-8am.
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