Energia has just become the fifth energy supplier since the end of September to announce an imminent price hike. From January 1st, 2019, electricity customers will see prices increase by 5.5%, gas customers by 6.3% and dual fuel customers by 5.9%.
By all accounts, it’s been a terrible year for energy customers. Over the summer, we saw eight out of Ireland’s ten energy suppliers introduce significant price increases and just when we thought things would cool down, a second run of hikes started up again in September, with Flogas announcing its second price increase of 2018.
Energia, which made its first increase of the year back at the beginning of August (adding an average of €180 to annual dual fuel bills) now plans to increase prices again, with the hikes coming into effect from the start of 2019. Happy new year anyone?
Energia’s price increase details
From January 1st, 2019, electricity customers will see their bills increase by 5.5% or an average of an extra €62 per year.
Gas customers can expect an increase of 6.3% or an average of an extra €56 per year.
Finally, if you get both your gas and electricity from Energia, you can expect an increase of 5.9% or an average of an extra €118 to your bill per year.
Speaking about the announcement;
Geoff Codd, Head of Marketing at Energia said: “We only ever increase our prices very reluctantly and we work hard to offer our customers the very best value possible. Unfortunately, this increase in prices is unavoidable due to ongoing increases in the broader wholesale price of energy. We’re keeping the increase as low as possible and we remain committed to being the most competitive energy provider where our dual fuel bundle continues to be the cheapest on the market and customers who switch online to Energia will still receive a €50 discount on their first bill”.
This round’s increases aren’t as dramatic as August’s but look at it this way; in January 2019, a dual fuel customer with Energia’s average annual bill will be €298 more expensive than it was in January 2018.
Five increase announcements in two months, when will it end?
So far we’ve seen Flogas, Panda Power, Pinergy and SSE Airtricity hike their prices for a second time in 2018.
It remains to be seen whether Ireland’s two biggest players in the energy market, Bord Gáis Energy and Electric Ireland will follow suit. Unfortunately, all signs are currently pointing to most probably!
You can still save money on your energy bills
The recent flurry of price hikes means that thousands of Ireland's energy customers are set to be hit with bigger bills coming into the Christmas season which no one will be cheery about.
The fact that the PSO levy decreased by 55% back in October will help to offset the new prices a little but the easiest way of beating the price hikes is still to switch suppliers.
Customers with average consumption can still save close to €300 by switching gas and electricity suppliers today. The process takes just a couple minutes can be completed entirely online.
