When all of this year’s price hikes are taken into account, households will be paying around €300 extra a year for their electricity.
SSE Airtricity has announced it will increase its standard household gas and electricity prices from 1 December 2021.
The supplier is increasing the price of its electricity by 9.4% and the price of its gas by 9.8% and blamed the price increase on sustained increases in wholesale energy costs that have affected all energy suppliers.
It's the third time this year the energy provider has increased its prices, the most recent being in September, when it upped the price of its electricity by 10.6% and its gas by 10.7%.
The latest increase will add around €115 a year to the average household’s annual electricity bill and €86 to the average annual gas bill.
However when all of this year’s price hikes are taken into account, households will be paying around €300 extra a year for their electricity and €200 more for their gas.
“The decision to increase our prices has not been taken lightly," Klair Neenan, Managing Director, SSE Airtricity said.
"We made every effort to delay this announcement as long as we could but unfortunately, as we have seen with other suppliers, sustained increases in wholesale energy costs are driving consumer prices upward.
“We know price increases are never welcome news for our customers and we will continue to monitor the situation closely with a commitment to reducing our prices as soon as it is possible to do so.
“SSE Airtricity has a longstanding tradition of working with our customers, especially those who may be experiencing financial difficulty. We recently contacted a number of SSE Airtricity account holders to offer additional help and support with their energy bills, and we would encourage any customer who is struggling to contact us. We will do everything we can to find a solution together.”
Households looking to offset the price increases are being advised that the quickest and easiest way to save money on their energy bills is to compare prices and switch to a cheaper supplier.
“Despite the rising prices, there is still huge competition among many of the energy suppliers in Ireland for new customers right now and they’re all offering huge discounts to those who switch," Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at
bonkers.ie said.
"For example, the average switcher could save over €500 a year just by changing supplier which would more than offset the price hikes."
