ENERGY COMPANY AIRTRICITY has announced today that it is increasing its standard household energy prices from 14 July.

The company said the decision was made in response to “sustained increases in wholesale energy costs on global markets”.

A typical household dual fuel bill will increase by 8.9% on average per week or €140 per year. For single fuel customers, the standard price of electricity will increase by 6.4% per week or €58.76 per year while the standard price of gas will rise by 12.3% a week or €81.64 per year.

“This is the first increase in SSE Airtricity’s gas prices since 2013 and only the second in electricity prices in the same five-year period. It follows a period of successive price cuts from 2015 during which SSE Airtricity reduced its standard gas and electricity prices for customers by 9%,” the company said in a statement.

“However, continued volatility in wholesale energy markets has seen sustained increases in fuel costs outside the direct control of SSE Airtricity, with the price of gas rising by over 20% in the last 12 months.”

David Manning, Director of Home Energy at SSE Airtricity said the decision to increase prices is never taken lightly and the company had done everything in its power to protect customers from wholesale market volatility.

“The decision to increase energy prices is never taken lightly. It is in direct response to rising global energy costs outside of our control, and especially the sustained increases in wholesale gas prices over the past 12 months.

“We’ve kept our gas prices as low as possible, particularly during the recent harsh winter and we’ve worked hard to reduce our own internal costs at the same time. However, we continue to experience sustained increases in wholesale costs and regrettably these eventually have to be reflected in our prices.”

The price change applies to 286,613 household electricity customers and 94,576 household gas customers.

Robyn Hamilton, a spokesperson for Bonkers.ie, said the price increase will “come as a significant blow to customers”.

“The last time SSE Airtricity announced a price hike, last September, six other suppliers followed suit in the proceeding weeks. Customers will be hoping that this isn’t the first price hike of many.

“Customers should take measures to reduce their consumption or switch to a cheaper supplier to offset the pending increases.”