PrePayPower has just become the eighth supplier since June 1st to announce unit price hikes, effective from August 3rd. The supplier is increasing its electricity and gas prices, which will add around €75 and €61 to each respective annual bill.
PrePayPower joins the likes of SSE Airtricity, Bord Gáis Energy, Electric Ireland, Energia, Flogas, Panda Power and Pinergy in an unprecedented wave of price increase announcements over the last number of weeks.
How will this price increase affect my bills?
According to the supplier, for electricity customers, the increase will be approximately 20.6 cent a day (incl. VAT) or €6.38 per month. For gas customers, the increase equates to 16.7 cent per day (incl. VAT) or €5.17 per month.
This is the second increase from PrePayPower in the last year. Last December the energy company increased its electricity prices by 0.09 cent per day or €2.83 per month.
Why is PrePayPower increasing its prices?
As PrePayPower is the eighth supplier to make such an announcement in the last few weeks, we were unsurprised with PrePayPower’s comments on the matter; “in line with other players in the market, PrePayPower will increase its residential energy prices in response to rising wholesale energy costs.”
Cathal Fay CEO of PrePayPower commented: “We regret having to make this decision and are committed to keeping prices as low as possible. However wholesale costs required to supply electricity and gas have risen considerably and are continuing to rise. This has made the increase unavoidable. We work hard to provide the best value possible to our customers. Over recent years, we have passed on savings as a result of wholesale energy cost reductions and we will do so again when circumstances allow.”
Don’t worry, you can still offset rising prices!
With an unprecedented eight out of ten suppliers announcing price increases, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there’s no point switching suppliers as you’re going to get high prices wherever you turn. However, contrary to what you might perceive - this is not the case!
The quickest and easiest way to offset rising prices is still to switch energy suppliers every 12 months. How can this be? Well, it’s because nearly all of the suppliers offer substantial special discounted rates for new customers. These discount rates last for the duration of your 12-month contract before reverting to standard pricing. That means if you remember to switch suppliers every year, you’ll ensure that you’re always on a discounted rate and therefore never paying more than you have to!
Additionally, if you’re with PrePayPower for your energy, which is a PAYG energy supplier, it’s worth remembering that though the supplier’s unit rates are lower, PAYG customers typically pay much higher standing charges which means that PAYG energy can end up being a lot more pricey than metered energy.
It’s well worth doing a comparison over on our energy comparison page to see how much you could save across all of Ireland’s 10 suppliers.
