This energy increase is SSE Airtricity’s second price hike of the year and will affect over 300,000 customers across the country.
SSE Airtricity has introduced yet another increase to its prices for residential customers, and a significant one at that.
It's increasing the standard unit rate of its gas by 46.3% and its standard unit of electricity by 45.2%.
The new hikes will come into effect from October 1st 2022.
This marks the second increase from the supplier this year alone, and will affect around 250,000 electricity customers and 85,000 gas customers.
But by how much exactly? We take a look.
Cost of the increase
As mentioned above, SSE Airtricity’s gas and electricity prices will be going up by 46.3% and 45.2% respectively.
On top of this, the energy supplier is increasing its gas and electricity standing charges by 8%.
This means that the average electricity customer will be paying almost €600 extra a year, while the average gas customer will be paying over €500 more from this increase alone.
SSE made the decision due to continued volatility across global energy markets, and ongoing market uncertainty which has impacted energy suppliers across Ireland and Europe.
Speaking about its increase, Klair Neenan, Managing Director of SSE Airtricity said:
We know this news will be disappointing for our customers. It was hoped market volatility would ease, but the global energy crisis continues to impact gas and electricity costs for all energy suppliers.
However, we are acutely aware of the impact this has for households and are working hard to help where we can. This includes our €25m support fund offsetting today’s announced price change for our existing financially vulnerable customers for the winter period. It also includes a €1m donation to a national charity partner that provides invaluable assistance to households, regardless of their energy supplier.
SSE Airtricity has a longstanding commitment to working with our customers. Our customer support fund is aimed at helping customers experiencing financial difficulty through the current cost of living and energy crisis.
As always, we encourage any customer who is having difficulty with their energy bills to contact us. We will work with them to find a solution together, including flexible payment plans, budget plans, and different payment methods such as pay-as-you-go options.
While it is difficult to know when wholesale prices will begin to improve, we are committed to reducing our prices as soon as we can.
Previous price hikes
This is SSE’s second price increase of 2022, previously upping costs for customers back at the beginning of May. You can read all about it here.
SSE also increased its prices three times last year.
When all these increases are taken into account, electricity customers will be paying over €1,100 more a year. Gas customers will be paying over €1,000 extra!
Apropos of recent price increases and the cost of energy, there has been much discussion about whether the Government should place a windfall tax on energy companies. You can read our analysis of it here, or you can listen back to our Head of Communications on Claire Byrne here.
There has also been talks of introducing a price cap on the amount of money energy companies can make. Here’s our detailed analysis.
Save on your bills this winter
As winter approaches, and it being a time when energy demand is at its peak, many of us will feel the pinch from soaring prices.
However, despite the cost of energy, there is still competition among many of the energy suppliers in Ireland for new customers and they’re all offering huge discounts to those who switch. For example, the average switcher who switches on bonkers.ie could save over €900 a year just by changing supplier. However some switchers could save well over €1,000!
It's super quick and easy to switch and it can all be done online in the space of a few minutes online on bonkers.ie. Use our energy comparison tools here to switch and save with ease!
Get in touch
Are you affected by SSE Airtricity’s latest price hike? Is it justified? Will you be switching your supplier? Let us know in the comments below. And if you have any questions you can reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
