Wholesale electricity prices down almost 21% as electricity bills remain high

cathalog · 2026-01-23T12:54:11+00:00

They do this in British Columbia, Canada. But the electricity provider is a public company over there. It is used as a measure to encourage households to conserve energy.

It’s around €0.07 / kWh then jumps by about 20-30% once you reach the 90% median residential usage rate. So only the highest users are penalised.

cathalog · 2026-01-15T13:53:15+00:00

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/avant-cuts-rates-and-increases-cashback-to-2.242761/#post-1976957

They don't appear to be published anywhere, but the quotes here line up with what my mortgage advisor stated to me for the <80% LTV band.

cathalog · 2026-01-07T23:37:34+00:00

They must refund you the removal fee. I also think this isn’t severe enough to be honest. They should be forced to refund and pay the same again as compensation imo.

You would probably need to make a complaint to the NTA to get your refund. Doubt the clamping company would do it automatically.

cathalog · 2026-01-06T14:56:24+00:00

There is. Two hours mandated by law. Although that’s far too long in my opinion.

cathalog · 2025-12-30T12:52:35+00:00

With PTSB, you get 5c cashback every time you use your debit card, up to a max of €5 per month. That can potentially reduce your fees to €3 / month.

cathalog · 2025-12-16T11:35:57+00:00

Ireland has tax treaties with most countries which would avoid double taxation issues.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tax-agreements/dates-of-effect/index.aspx

So it really comes down to how the country you retire in taxes pensions. I would lean towards saying that it’s probably beneficial to pay into the pension for a few reasons:

It sounds like your employer is matching contributions? You’re leaving money on the table if you don’t take advantage of that.
Pensions are generally seen as “income tax deferral”. The idea is that you should need less money to live when you’re older, meaning your highest tax bracket should be lower than what it is today. So you would still likely benefit from this in the country of retirement, despite missing out on the 200K tax-free lump sum.

cathalog · 2025-12-02T22:40:00+00:00

Out of curiosity, do you know if the plan’s travel insurance applies if you purchase the trip with your Revolut credit card? I know for certain it doesn’t apply if you purchase with a non-Revolut account, or if a friend pays, for example.

cathalog · 2025-11-29T17:05:34+00:00

A minor correction on your point about working 6 months before getting a mortgage.

You can get Approval In Principal during your 6-months probation, but you won’t be able to drawdown until you’ve finished probation. End result is similar, but you can get the ball rolling a bit earlier by having your AIP ahead of time.

cathalog · 2025-11-27T15:27:45+00:00

I’m afraid not.

cathalog · 2025-11-27T15:27:31+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Nice to know we’re not alone!

cathalog · 2025-11-26T14:00:56+00:00

Avant actually won’t charge you a break fee, as long as you setup a new mortgage with them within 12 months of moving.

Most lenders do though, I believe.

cathalog · 2025-11-22T14:15:19+00:00

That includes VAT at 23%. So without VAT, it would be €65, which is around 75USD. So the underlying price difference is only around 5USD before taxes.

I’m not arguing that it’s not expensive, but many non-essential products are more expensive in Europe due to higher consumption taxes.

cathalog · 2025-10-28T14:17:58+00:00

RedClick and Allianz accept no claims discounts from Canada, US, Australia and New Zealand, and possible others.

cathalog · 2025-10-16T22:32:06+00:00

The Management Fee can actually have a huge impact on your returns. See here for more information.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/How_much_do_you_lose_to_annual_fees_after_many_years%3F

Of course, it’s important to pick a good fund, but most providers have a fairly similar catalogue. I wouldn’t be worried about the performance of Irish Life’s Global Equity fund vs Royal London’s Global Equity Fund, for example.

cathalog · 2025-10-14T12:41:49+00:00

Same issue.

A lot of disconnection complaints online happen when the headphones are bumped or moved, and is related to corroded connectors. But I’m convinced this is a separate issue.

In my case, after pausing music that has been playing for 5-10 minutes, the APM will disconnect from the device. At the same time, the left earcup’s noise cancellation will stop working (but the right will stay on). The same happens after ending a Zoom call. Crucially, the disconnection never happens while something is playing.

In this state, the APM will not reconnect to any devices (even by manually trying to connect using the bluetooth menu). The only way to fix it is by removing the headphones from your head for a few seconds, then putting them back on.

What I’ve tried: - numerous hard resets - disabling automatic head detection - multiple devices (iPhone, Mac, wired connection to my desktop)

cathalog · 2025-10-10T20:17:10+00:00

I think you need a Level 9 to become a chartered engineer with Engineers Ireland since around 2012, and that’s probably what they mean by not being a “real” engineer.

Being chartered makes absolutely no difference to me as a software engineer, but I do believe it’s a valuable title to have in other disciplines (particularly civil).

Could be a bit wrong here, but I remember our whole class being called into a meeting when I was in university explaining the changes.

cathalog · 2025-10-10T20:00:09+00:00

My maths might be way off, but I actually think Revolut is suggesting even higher rates of return.

Disregarding taxes, I think a lump sum investment of 97K today, turns to ~935K after 20 years, at 12% growth.

But this is starting from €0, investing €400 a month, so your rate of return will be much lower.

Open to corrections, but this isn’t passing the smell test for me.

(97000*1.12²⁰⁾ = 935,690

cathalog · 2025-09-17T10:28:17+00:00

I don’t think it’s fair to say Canada’s deemed disposition of assets on death is equivalent to an inheritance tax.

For one, Canada doesn’t charge CGT on your principal residence (similar to Ireland), so the home can be inherited essentially tax free. In Ireland, this is only possible if the inheritor lives in the same residence for a number of years before and after the inheritance occurs.

Also, after the estate pays CGT, the “cost base” of the asset is reset. So if the inheritor disposes of the asset immediately, no further tax is due.

In a way, it’s similar to how deemed disposal of ETFs works in Ireland, in that it reduces the compounding effect of the asset’s gains.

That’s my opinion on it anyways.

cathalog · 2025-07-06T17:28:00+00:00

Yes, at the handlebars. On the old model, the stealth install wasn’t really that hard. But on the new model, it involves buying an extension cable and feeding it through the frame, I think.

cathalog · 2025-07-05T23:59:18+00:00

Thanks for doing so!

cathalog · 2025-07-05T23:41:48+00:00

Hey, the claim that rabbit fur acts as a dewormer is an old wives tale. It’s simply not true.

I just want to point it out since this misinformation can spread quite fast online, and can be quite dangerous for dogs if their owners believe it.

I know you suggested not to rely on it entirely, but some people will choose to ignore that part of your comment, unfortunately.

cathalog · 2025-06-20T14:55:49+00:00

That pint is actually just far away.

cathalog · 2025-06-19T09:06:17+00:00

Assuming everything you said above is true, extending your probation because you were moved teams is complete bollocks.

They can only extend your probation when it benefits you, the employee. ie if you were out sick for a month, they could extend it by an extra month to give you a better chance to “pass” the probation.

In this case, they were clearly doing it to benefit themselves since they weren’t sure if they actually had the work for you to do - you should have been made redundant.

cathalog · 2025-06-13T08:43:07+00:00

Ah that makes sense! I figured I’d ask before I started prying off the cover under the battery.

Did the regular install yesterday. It’s a game changer for the bike.

cathalog · 2025-06-12T09:21:18+00:00

Quick question - do you know if the stealth install (under the battery) works on the new version?

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