- Residential price increases in electricity (4 per cent) and gas (4 per cent)
- Rise in energy prices a direct response to increased wholesale gas prices
- Electric Ireland price freeze for the winter months saved customers a cumulative total of €21 m
Issued at: 11.30, 27th February 2019
Electric Ireland has today announced that it will increase residential electricity and gas prices by 4 per cent from 1 April 2019. These increases, which follow a winter price freeze for Electric Ireland customers, are due to sustained increases in wholesale energy prices.
Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Electric Ireland commented: “Electric Ireland is absolutely committed to keeping energy prices as low as possible. Last November, while some other suppliers increased prices, we implemented a Winter Price Freeze to ensure we protected our customers from the impact of rising costs for as long as we could. We helped our customers by not increasing our prices during the winter months when energy consumption is at its highest and people have the added financial pressure of Christmas. This resulted in a total saving of €21 million for Electric Ireland customers”.
“However, against the backdrop of much higher wholesale energy costs, we now reluctantly have to pass on some of these higher costs to our customers from 1st April 2019. We strive to continually offer our customers the best value in the market. We remain the only Irish supplier to offer savings of up to 8.5per cent on an ongoing basis to reward our loyal residential electricity and gas customers, which is different and we feel benefits customers more in the long run than the one year discount model for new customers favoured by many of our competitors”.
Electric Ireland also continues to give a 5 per cent discount to customers experiencing financial hardship, through industry prepayment meters and via the Household Budget Scheme. Through its Energy Efficiency Incentive scheme, Electric Ireland has also given back €3.5million to its customers, helping reduce energy costs and make homes more comfortable and sustainable from an environmental perspective.
ENDS/
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Editor’s Notes:
- Electric Ireland will increase electricity prices by 4 per cent and gas prices by 4 per cent from 1st April 2019. This equates to €3.20 per month (incl. VAT) for electricity and is based on the typical residential electricity customer with an electricity usage of 4,200 kWh per annum. For gas customers, it equates to €2.49 per month (incl. VAT) and is based on the typical residential gas customer with a gas usage of 11,000 kWh per annum. Typical usage is as defined by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).