ELECTRIC IRELAND HAS announced that it will cut residential electricity and gas prices for over 1.1 million customers from November.

The country’s biggest energy supplier has also confirmed that it will absorb higher network charges that are due to come into effect from next month. 

The company said most electricity customers would see their unit rates fall by 3%, while those using smart meters will see a 5% reduction.

As a result of the cuts, customers without a smart meter will save an average of €45 on their annual electricity bill, and an average of €40 on annual gas bills. 

Those with a smart meter will see average savings of between €64 and €75, depending on which smart meter plan they are on.

The changes will come into effect from 1 November. 

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) recently announced that regulated network charges will increase by an average of €101 per annum for residential electricity customers.

Electric Ireland has confirmed that it will not pass on this increase to its residential electricity customers, due to come into effect for all suppliers on 1 October.

This is the company’s third price reduction in 12 months.

“Electric Ireland’s three price decreases in November 2023, March 2024 and November 2024 will result in a cumulative reduction of 19.3% in electricity prices and 20.4% in gas, delivering an annual saving of €376 and €337 on the average electricity and gas bills respectively,” executive director Pat Fenlon said. 

According to Daragh Cassidy of Bonkers.ie, had the CRU not sanctioned the network charge increase, “we’d likely have been looking at a bigger price drop from Electric Ireland today”. 

Cassidy said that although it is Electric Ireland’s third price cut in under a year, its electricity prices are still over 80% above where they were in early 2021 before the impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine, with its gas prices over double pre-war levels. 

“This means customers of Electric Ireland will still be paying well over €1,000 a year more for their gas and electricity than they were only a few years ago,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, looking forward, given where wholesale gas and electricity prices seem to be settling, it’s tough to see prices for households falling much further in the short to medium term at least. Though there may be some room for another small cut in gas prices.

“Wholesale gas and electricity prices are still just over double pre-war levels. This is where they seem to be settling. So we may need to get used to paying much higher prices for our energy going forward.”

Many people will be focusing on what measures the Government should introduce in the Budget to support households with high energy costs.

Cassidy said he would call on the Government to keep the reduced 9% rate of VAT “at a minimum”. 

“Heating and lighting is not a luxury product and given how high prices remain, and will remain for the foreseeable future, now is not the time for the Government to be further adding to energy costs.”