ESB customers who sign up for cheaper night-rate electricity are charged more than "ordinary" customers for electricity they use during the daytime, it has emerged.
Customers on an ESB NightSaver tariff also have to pay a once-off charge of €256 for a second meter, as well as paying a higher annual standing charge.
The situation has led to complaints from consumers who said they felt penalised for opting for the company's NightSaver tariff.
A caller to the RTÉ Radio programme Today with Pat Kenny yesterday said it would take her three years to recoup the initial €256 fee, while other callers said they disliked the higher daytime and standing charges.
The ESB later confirmed their tariff to The Irish Times. A spokesman explained the cost per unit of electricity for "ordinary" customers during the day is 13.24 cent, while for NightSaver customers it is 14.15 cent.
In addition, he confirmed the standing charge for a NightSaver customer is €126 a year, while the similar charge for ordinary customers is €92. He said the €256 fee was a standard ESB charge for the second meter which is necessary for the NightSaver account.
However, he maintained there were still substantial savings to be made by those who maximised their use of the NightSaver tariff, as the unit charge for electricity was just seven cent between 11pm and 8am in wintertime. In summertime, the night-rate hours are midnight to 9am.
The spokesman maintained that on a mix of day and night-time use, the NightSaver customer should still make savings on their bill compared to the ordinary customer.
The difference in daily rates for NightSaver customers and ordinary customers was calculated on the cost of producing electricity, he explained.
Charges for ordinary customers were based on the average cost of generating electricity during a 24-hour period, which would be expensive during the day and cheaper at night.
But NightSaver customers were already availing of the cheap night rates, so their daytime usage cost was based only on the cost of generating electricity during the day, he said.
Night-time electricity use is more environmentally responsible, as the ESB use their most efficient generating systems at that time.
