Part ??? of ??? – almost there!
I get the keys of the house on Friday so I’m quite excited at the prospect! There’s still a lot to be arranged, and transferring utilities is one of those jobs. I rang The ESB, Bord Gais, and Eircom earlier to find out how.
- Using the 2003 02 area phone book I saw that the ESB had a number of phone numbers. Unfortunately the first sales number I tried went through to their emergency/fault line! Ring 1850 372 372 if you want to talk to a sales guy. I was kept on hold for less than a minute and told to get a meter reading on Friday, get a forwarding address, ring them again and the account will be transferred.
- I rang Bord Gais then. The phone was answered immediately. A meter reading has to be done by the current owners, they should ring Bord Gais on Thursday or Friday with their new address, my payment details and the meter reading. Their phone number is 1850 426200.
- Finally, I rang Eircom. I was kept on hold for a good 3 minutes. Different recorded voices came on from time to time saying there were delays, and sorry for holding, etc. I thought it was strange to have different people recording those messages but it’s probably cheaper than hiring more staff to man the phones. Anyway, story is much the same. They ring Eircom, give my name and payment details. Transfer of a phone account costs €12, and if I want a new number it’ll cost €24.59. Isn’t it strange how the ESB and Bord Gais can transfer an account for free? (or at least they never mentioned a cost, in which case, my apologies to Eircom!) Ring Eircom at 1901 and press 1 for a sales person.
Much Later … It’s much easier than that. The previous owners took meter readings, and rang the various utilities to transfer the bills over to their new address. Bord Gais and the ESB were informed of my moving in to their house, and I rang Eircom and got the phone line connected a few days later.
Lets play a game..
I call it “Which one isn’t a state owned utility provider, and has been “creative” with it’s balance sheet over recent months on the run up to a-not-so-public-offering? 😉
yes, privatisation makes things more efficient. though it seems like the “thing” made more efficient is earnings for a select few instead of what the business is actually supposed to be doing.