Energia is hiking prices for the third time in six months as the company and its many rivals pass on rising energy costs globally.
The company, which has 200,000 household customers, confirmed it is to introduce double-digit increases in mid-October. The increases follow on from price hikes announced by the company in April and July, add €187 to the average customer’s annual gas bill and €223 to the average electricity bill.
Energia said electricity customers will see costs increase as of October 18th by 15.7 per cent, equivalent to a €4.28 per week rise. Gas customer bills are set to jump by 18.5 per cent, or an average of €7.88 per week. Dual fuel customers, meanwhile, face a 16.9 per cent hike, equivalent to a €7.88 weekly rise.
Darragh Cassidy of cost-comparison website Bonkers.ie said that when you take previous increases into account, the average annual electricity bill for Energia customers will now be about €450 higher since the start of this year, while gas customers will be paying more than €320 more.
"Driven by increasing wholesale electricity costs and global commodity prices, regrettably we have taken the decision to increase the price of our electricity and gas for residential customers. We have worked to support our customers over the course of the pandemic and this decision was not taken lightly, but was unfortunately unavoidable due to global conditions," said Andy Meagher, director of customer solutions at Energia.
“We will continue to review wholesale electricity and gas prices, to provide customers with the best possible value and service,” he added.
Electric Ireland, Flogas, Pinergy, Panda Power, Iberdrola and Bord Gáis Energy are among the Irish energy suppliers to increase prices multiple times this year for residential gas and electricity customers.
“There seems to be a crisis in the energy market at present as rapidly increasing prices in the wholesale cost of energy are being passed on to consumers, coupled with a lack of electricity output due to power plants being down that is putting further pressure on prices,” said Mr Cassidy.
