Electric Ireland last raised its prices back in October when it upped the price of its electricity by 3.4%. The latest price increase by the energy supplier will affect no fewer than 1.1 million electricity customers nationwide.
It was only a matter of time, unfortunately, before we saw one of the main energy suppliers come out with a price increase this year, and a rather significant one at that.
Today Electric Ireland has announced it will be upping the price of its residential gas and electricity prices by a whopping 7.8% and 9% respectively.
The price change is set to come into effect from August 1st and will affect approximately 1.1 million electricity customers and 145,000 gas customers around the country.
The news marks Electric Ireland’s first price increase since October 2020, when it raised the price of its electricity by 3.4%.
What does the price increase mean for my bills?
As mentioned, Electric Ireland has announced it will be increasing the cost of its electricity by a whopping 9% and its gas prices by 7.8% from the start of August.
This means the average electricity customer will pay just shy of €100 extra per year for their electricity, while a gas customer’s average annual bill will increase by around €60.
As with the rest of the suppliers, Electric Ireland has said the price hikes are due to a significant increase in the wholesale cost of energy in recent months.
Speaking about the announcement, Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Electric Ireland said:
Electric Ireland is determined to keep prices as low as possible, but we are exposed to the price changes in the wholesale market – the price at which we buy electricity. In March, many suppliers increased prices, but we implemented a price freeze to ensure our customers were protected from the impact of rising costs for as long as possible. We also extended our disconnection moratorium to help customers struggling during the pandemic and are keeping it in place for another two months until the end of August.
We had hoped that prices might stabilise but unfortunately, wholesale energy costs have continued to increase and are significantly higher than this time last year. As a result, we must reluctantly pass on some of these costs to our customers from August 1st. We appreciate this may be a difficult time for some customers and are committed to helping customers who are experiencing financial difficulty. We encourage any customers experiencing trouble paying bills to engage with us and we will commit to putting in place an affordable and workable payment plan with them in the coming months.
Previous price changes
Electric Ireland’s last energy price change came into effect at the beginning of October 2020 when it increased its electricity prices by 3.4%. It also implemented a gas price freeze at the same time which lasted for the duration of the winter months.
Before that the energy supplier had decreased its electricity prices by 2.5% and its gas prices by 11.5%.
Electric Ireland also had a disconnection moratorium in place for the majority of last year and has said it will be extending it for another two months until the end of August 2021.
Customers should rest assured however as Electric Ireland has a number of measures in place for customers facing trouble paying their bills. Some of these supports include:
- A 5% discount to customers experiencing financial hardship, through industry prepayment meters and the Household Budget Scheme.
- The supplier works closely with organisations such as MABS and SVP to help individual customers who have difficulty paying their energy bills.
Electric Ireland reminds customers to make contact if they are experiencing financial difficulties.
Why are energy prices increasing?
There are a number of different factors at play that range from the price of fossil fuels (which we still heavily rely on to generate energy here) to the cost of maintaining and operating the country's gas and electricity networks. Reduced wind output in recent months due to good weather hasn't helped either.
For further details on why energy prices are increasing you can consult our blog on the topic here.
Switch and save money on your energy bills
How do you feel about this increase from Electric Ireland? Remember, if you want to offset the latest price increase, and rising cost of energy, a good way to do so is by switching your energy supplier today.
The average energy switcher could save up to €449 on their energy bills, so no small savings. You can switch easily on bonkers.ie within a matter of minutes to lower your bills.
Before making the switch however there are a few things you should know.
- Check out our energy guide on these 7 things to consider before switching supplier.
- Before making the switch you should also read what you need before switching.
- Take a look at some of the most common questions we get asked about the energy switching process.
- Also, make sure to run a quick comparison on bonkers.ie to see how much you could save across all 13 energy suppliers today.
It’s important to note that if you’re still in contract and you switch supplier, you could be subject to an early exit fee. Learn more about energy cancellation fees here in this blog.
If you decide to hold off switching, there are ways you can reduce your electricity consumption around the home to save money.
Get in touch!
If you have any questions related to Electric Ireland’s price increase or switching energy suppliers in general, we’d be happy to help!
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