LAST UPDATE | 2 Sep 2022

BORD GÁIS ANNOUNCED today that it will increase the prices of its electricity by an average of 34% and gas by 39% from 2 October.

This means that the average residential electricity bill will rise by €48.25 per month* and the average residential gas bill will rise by €43.80 per month*.

The energy company has blamed reduced gas supplies from Russia, military action in Ukraine, and low storage levels driving significant volatility and rises on wholesale markets for the price hike.

In April the average electricity bill with Bord Gáis rose by 27% and the average gas bill went up by 39%.

Bord Gáis has pledged 10% of operating profits to its Energy Support Fund during the energy crisis.

In late July a report from Bord Gáis’s parent company, Centrica, revealed that Bord Gáis’s operating profits for the first half of this year was €38 million, an increase of 74%.

The report noted that 4,000 new customers had signed up in the first half of 2022 but customer complaints had increased slightly.

The company stated that the reason for an increase in operating profits is that a 445MW gas fired power station in Whitegate Co Cork, is now operating normally whereas it was offline for most of 2021.

Managing Director of Bord Gáis Energy, Dave Kirwan, said: 

“There is no precedent for the current energy crisis and consumers and businesses across the globe are grappling with very challenging increases in the cost of living. We deeply regret having to raise our prices but the scale of increases in wholesale energy costs leaves us with no choice.”

“We continue to do everything we can to reduce the impact on our customers and keep our rates as competitive as possible.”

These figures are based on a typical annual consumption of 4,200 kWh for electricity and 11,000 kWh for gas (as defined by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities) and Bord Gáis Energy standard tariffs.

Today’s announcement from Bord Gáis comes after Electric Ireland yesterday announced another price hike, its third increase in five months. 

The provider announced plans to increase residential electricity bills by 26.7% and gas bills by 37.5% with effect from 1 October 2022. 

‘Horrified and outraged’

Labour leader Ivana Bacik today said the government must act urgently to tackle spiralling energy prices by introducing immediate price caps on energy bills, establishing a windfall tax on the excessive profits of energy and gas companies and increasing fuel allowance eligibility limits for people on low to middle incomes. 

“Like everybody else in the country, I am horrified and outraged at yet another massive hike in energy prices. We cannot keep going on like this. It is unsustainable for people, families and small businesses,” Bacik said. 

“The market is clearly out of control so we need a Covid-style emergency response from the government that will keep people warm this winter. Government ministers are on the record as saying that these price hikes are unprecedented – so an unprecedented, urgent and short term response by government is needed. Nothing less is good enough.”

Speaking after Electric Ireland’s announcement yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the latest increases reflects the “broader exponential rise in energy prices”.

Martin said that there have been “dramatic, unprecedented increases in pricing” on the energy wholesale market.

Energy ministers from around the European Union are due in Brussels next week for an emergency meeting.

“The President of the Commission [Ursula von der Leyen] has informed me that they would be bringing forward emergency provisions to try to deal with the market right now,” the Taoiseach said.

“That will perhaps be the link between the price of gas and the wider price and the need to do something quickly in respect of that, and then a more structured reform of the market over the next 12 months,” he said.

“From a government perspective, we will use the Budget and also, in tandem with the Budget, the cost of living package to alleviate pressures on households. We also have to look at the impact on businesses in terms of jobs, retention of jobs.

“We will also be launching a demand reduction approach – in other words, energy efficiency all round and all of us will have to see what we can do to reduce our energy consumption, because it is very costly now at an individual level and at a societal level.”

With reporting by Hayley Halpin and Lauren Boland