Your bill is one of the main ways your supplier will communicate with you, and contains a lot of helpful information. You should check:<ul><li data-block-key="42ibi">your contract end date</li><li data-block-key="9f81k">whether the tariff you are on matches what you signed up for, including if you received any credits/discounts you were expecting</li><li data-block-key="64j3j">how much energy you have used, and whether you are being billed on actual or estimated usage, and if your price is changing</li></ul>If anything doesn’t look right or doesn’t make sense to you, contact your supplier.If you are having difficulty paying your bills your supplier is required to support you and agree an affordable payment plan that takes account of your ability to pay and circumstances. Other sources of support include the <a href="https://www.mabs.ie/en/">Money Advice and Budgeting Service</a> and <a href="https://www.svp.ie/">St Vincent De Paul</a>.There are additional protections if you are registered as a vulnerable customer with your supplier. Contact your supplier to discuss being added to their register. If you switch supplier, you will need to re-register with your new supplier. Prepay and ‘pay as you go’ meters are generally not suited if you are medically vulnerable. If the meter is not kept topped, up it will self-disconnect, and you will lose supply until it is topped up again.

Bill Information

Your supplier or network provider is required to follow their own complaint handling process. Suppliers are allowed to take up to two months to ensure they have investigated your complaint properly. They should keep you updated during this time. You are welcome to refer the complaint onto the CRU if you are not happy with the resolution. We are unable to accept complaints until they have completed your provider’s complaints process, even if your provider takes longer than two months, under our <a href="https://www.cru.ie/make-a-complaint/complain-to-the-cru/">legislative remit</a>.

If you have an energy or water complaint

Uisce Éireann (UÉ) is responsible for maintaining the public parts of the water network. If a leak or any damage to pipes occurs on this part of the network, UÉ is responsible for repairs. The water infrastructure within a customer’s property or on the private side of the network is the property owner’s responsibility to maintain.If you experience a leak on your external supply pipe, you may qualify for a free leak repair under <a href="https://www.water.ie/help/leaks/first%02fix-free/">UÉ’s First Fix Free Scheme</a>.

If you are a water customer and have a leak

Providing regular meter readings is important to ensure you are billed accurately. We see cases where customers don’t read their meter for a period of time, a meter reader cannot gain access to read the meter, and when an actual meter read is provided the customer ends up with a large bill. If energy was consumed while you were the account holder, you will be liable to pay for it. If you are unsure of how to read your meter, you can visit the websites of <a href="https://www.esbnetworks.ie/services/manage-my-meter/how-to-read-my-meter">ESB Networks</a> (electricity) or <a href="https://www.gasnetworks.ie/home/gas-meter/submit-meter-reading">Gas Networks Ireland</a> (gas) for advice.

Meter Readings

Take a timestamped photograph (a picture of your meter with either a newspaper or shop receipt showing the date you are taking the photo) to send to your supplier, so they have proof of your closing and opening meter read. If your meter has more than one dial (for example, a day and night dial), make sure you take photos of each.

Moving out of or into a property

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The CRU offers a free and independent complaint resolution service.

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Through our handling of customer queries and complaints, we have identified key learnings for customers to be aware of.

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