PREPAY POWER IS increasing its electricity prices by 9.9% from December, after a 19% hike in August.

The company is not changing its gas prices.

A spokesman for the company said: “While we are pleased to be able to hold gas prices at current levels as a result of our extensive hedging operations, unfortunately, even though there is some volatility on spot prices at present, the fact remains that longer term wholesale electricity and gas prices are 4 times their historic norms.

“That has left us with no option but to increase prices for our electricity customers.

“We believe that this will be the last increase necessary for Winter ‘22.”

The increase will be applied only to the unit rate of electricity. There will be no change to the standing charges.

Prepay Power has set up a support fund of €750,000 to help customers struggling to pay their energy bills.

Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at bonkers.ie, said the price hike “will come as a blow to households as we head into winter, especially as there has been a lot of talk about falling energy prices on global markets in recent days”.

“But we need to remember that prices have fallen from astronomical highs and are nowhere near the price for us to see household energy bills come down,” he said.

“At one stage during summer the price of gas was up by over 1,200% compared to early 2021. It’s now up by around 500%, though it’s very volatile. However energy bills have gone up by around 140% over the past 18 months. So you can clearly see that although prices have fallen, it’s really only protecting us from further price increases.

Cassidy said the €600 energy credit and the €400 fuel allowance top-up payment, which will both be paid from next month, “will help take the sting out of rising prices for households, as will the double social welfare payment that was announced in the recent budget”.

“Most suppliers have also set up hardship funds which will provide financial support to those most in need so I’d encourage anyone who is worried about their energy bills to chat to their supplier too,” he added.

“Even after today’s news, Prepaypower’s average bills remain among the lowest in the market, which is highly unusual for a prepay energy provider and it’s welcome to hear that it doesn’t expect to have to increase prices again over the coming months.”

Irish energy prices are estimated to have increased by 13.6% in the past month and are up by 47.6% since October last year, according to the EU harmonised index of consumer prices.

Additional reporting by Press Association