This afternoon Airtricity announced that they would be increasing standing charges for nearly all of their customers on April 1st. It’s the second time this week that an energy supplier has hit the news for hiking standing charges.
Electricity customers will see their standing charge go up to €153.04 from €132.61 per year - an increase of €20.43.
Gas customers will see their standing charge go up to €95.15 from €81.52 per year, an increase of €13.63.
Airtricity boss Stephen Wheeler said that the increases were necessary because there was a “considerable deterioration in [our] debt profile”. Airtricity reports that around 10% or 65,000 of their customers are currently behind on their bills.
Standing charges, which used to be the same for all suppliers and were earmarked for the upkeep of the networks are increasingly being targeted as a means to generate extra revenue.
Although these increases represent just 2% extra on Airtricity’s best dual fuel deal, they could result in as much as €1million in extra revenue every month.
Despite this price increase, Airtricity will remain the cheapest dual fuel supplier for customers who haven’t switched before. However, it does knock them off the top spot as the cheapest electricity only supplier.
We’ve already incorporated these changes into our tariff calculator. You can compare your current electricity and gas rates against all other suppliers and tariffs here.
So how much are we paying every year in standing charges every year?
Current Gas Standing Charges
Airtricity €81.52
Flogas €81.52
Bord Gais €82.44
Electric Ireland €82.67
From April 1st
Airtricity €95.15
Gas standing charge increase of €13.63 - 16.7%
Current Electricity Standing Charges
Airtricity €132.61
Electric Ireland €119.84
Bord Gais €116.60
From April 1st
Airtricity €153.04
Electricity standing charge increase of €20.43 – up to 15.4%
