ENERGIA HAS ANNOUNCED that both electricity and gas customers will face increases in their bills from next month.
Electricity customers will see an increase of 15% on their bill. For the average customer this will mean an increase of €4.75 per week (€247 per year).
Gas customer bills will increase by 15% or an average of €3.45 per week (€179.40 per year).
The increase for dual fuel customers will be 15% or an average of €8.20 per week (€426.40 per year).
The price hikes are effective from 25 April.
Energia said that “while the company makes every effort to deliver the best possible value to customers, these increases are the result of a sustained period of elevated global energy market prices”.
Andy Meagher, Energia’s Director of ROI Customer Solutions said: “The wholesale cost of gas and electricity has risen substantially over recent months. We are very conscious that these global issues impact our customers locally, and we remain committed to delivering the very best value and service.
“As such, we have done our best to absorb the increases in wholesale and commodity costs but these price changes are unavoidable.”
Meagher said Energia’s customer care team is available to support customers experiencing difficulties.
“Overall, we have limited, where possible, the full cost increase to customers, and we will continue to review the market and to work with our customers to help them manage bills where required,” he said.
Earlier this month, Bord Gáis Energy also announced that its average electricity bill would rise by 27% and the average gas bill would go up by 39% from next month.
The Government said in a statement at the time that “the significant retail price increases announced by Bord Gáis Energy are a matter of strong concern to the Government, particularly the impact on low income households”.
It added that “it may not be possible to shield consumers from the full impact of these increases”, but that other “significant actions” had been taken to ease the pressure on ordinary citizens.
These include the €125 increase in the Fuel Allowance, the cuts of 15c per litre of diesel and 20c per litre of petrol implemented last week; and the €200 electricity credit which has yet to be paid.
Speaking about the Bord Gáis Energy increases, Taoiseach Micheál Martin reiterated that message, saying that this volatility within the energy sector was being caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s also very important to say that the the war is having its impact and it’s a very, very tough impact on a lot of other people, particularly people on low incomes,” Martin said.
“This is one of the prices now that we’re paying, because of this illegal and immoral war.
“We will have to, obviously, collectively, across the European Union see how best we can work to shield our people and our citizens from these impacts – we won’t be able to do it all – but we’ll certainly continue to see how we can alleviate the pressures on people.”
With reporting by Céimin Burke and Christina Finn
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