Electric Ireland customers set for spike in electricity and gas prices

Electric Ireland has become the latest energy company to announce a price increase, which will hit hundreds of thousands of customers across the island.

The energy company said that home electricity prices will rise by 23.4% from May 1 for customers in the Republic of Ireland.

Gas prices will also jump by nearly 25% from the same date.

Electric Ireland on Wednesday also said that the average home electricity bill for its 103,000 customers in Northern Ireland will rise by 30% from the start of May, equating to an increase of £4.21 per week.

The company has blamed the move on the “unprecedented and sustained volatility of wholesale gas prices”.

The move had been expected and follows price increases from other energy suppliers.

It comes as the war in Ukraine has only worsened soaring energy costs, which have hit cash-strapped consumers hard amid growing concerns about rising inflation and the cost of living.

Electric Ireland said that for customers in the Republic, the price increase will mean an extra 24.80 euro per month on the average electricity bill and an extra 18.35 euro on gas costs per month.

Marguerite Sayers, the executive director of Electric Ireland, said: “We are acutely aware that the rising cost of living is causing difficulty for households across the country.

“Unfortunately, the unprecedented and sustained volatility of wholesale gas prices over the last 12 months means that we now need to increase our prices.

“We delayed the increase as long as we could in the hope that wholesale prices would drop back to early 2021 levels, but regrettably this has not happened.” 

Ms Sayers said that she understood this would come as “unwelcome news”.

“Electric Ireland had the lowest cumulative price rises in the past 12 months,” she said.

“We continue to deliver the best value we can and will maintain one of the lowest standard rates in the market, even after this increase.

“We know that this is unwelcome news, but international gas prices are beyond our control and have a huge impact on our costs.

“We appreciate this is a challenging time and are committed to helping any of our customers who experience financial difficulty.

“As always, we encourage any Electric Ireland customer who has difficulty in paying their energy bill to engage with us and we will work with them to put in place a manageable payment plan.”