The increases follow on from price increases in 2018, which added over €100 to the average energy bill.
Over one million energy customers in Ireland will be impacted by increased energy bills from Monday (1 April), as the largest electricity supplier in the state, Electric Ireland, and competitor PrePayPower, both increase their prices.
From Monday, Electric Ireland will increase its gas and electricity prices by 4% each while PrePayPower will increase its prices by 3.9%; both increases had been flagged by the energy suppliers earlier this year.
The average Electric Ireland electricity bill will increase by approximately €38 a year (incl. VAT), while average gas bills will increase by approximately €30 a year (incl. VAT).
Electricity and gas bills for PrePayPower customers will increase by approximately €50 and €35 respectively.
Explaining the rationale behind the price increase earlier this year, Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Electric Ireland said that the decision to increase prices was taken “reluctantly” and that it was “against the backdrop of much higher wholesale energy costs”.
PrePayPower offered a similar explanation when announcing the forthcoming price increases at the beginning of March.
The increases come on the back of further price increases from both suppliers last year, which added well over €100 to the average annual energy bill.
Electric Ireland has just over 1.1 million electricity customers and around 140,000 gas customers. PrePayPower has around 140,000 electricity customers and 40,000 gas customers.
The price of energy on wholesale markets still remains elevated compared to last year and, according to Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at bonkers.ie, further increases can’t be ruled out.
“A few weeks ago, Electric Ireland and PrePayPower both announced that they’d be increasing their gas and electricity prices having frozen them over the winter months,” Cassidy said.
“Well unfortunately those changes come into effect on Monday. And although the increases are at the lower end of what we’ve become accustomed to, they still come on the back of large increases last year, meaning customers are paying hundreds more for their energy compared to a few years ago.”
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