ESB Electric Ireland will increase prices by 14.8% from October 1st.
ESB Electric Ireland today became the third supplier to announce substantial electricity price increases.
Citing the 40% increase in wholesale gas prices ESB Electric Ireland General Manager, Liam Molloy said that: “We regret that we have had to increase our electricity prices at this time. We will continue to work with our customers who are facing difficulties in dealing with their electricity accounts”.
An average household signing up to ESB Electric Ireland’s cheapest electricity deal from October 1st can expect to pay €1,057 per year. This represents an increase of €188 over their previous cheapest SuperSaver deal, which is no longer available.
ESB Electric Ireland's Standard unit rate will go from 16.00 cent to 18.37 cent. Standing charges for urban customers will also increase from 28.6 cent per day to 32.83 cent per day.
New Customer Price Increases
Customers that signed up to ESB’s SuperSaver tariffs since electricity deregulation on April 4th will also see electricity prices increase on October 1st. Currently SuperSaver customers receive discounts of up to 14% off the Domestic unit rate which is 16 cent. This unit rate will increase to 18.37 cent in October and discounts will then be based on the higher unit rate. SuperSaver customers can expect annual bills to increase from €869 to €979 or €9 per month even when the reduced Public Service Obligation Levy is taken into account.
Discounts for all SuperSaver customers who have signed up since April will expire on March 31st 2011. ESB Electric Ireland has not yet announced what the discounts will be replaced with.
From next week, ESB Electric Ireland will be the cheapest electricity supplier with their new ValueSaver deal however, they become the the most expensive electricity supplier from October 1st.
Electricity Price Hikes
All three electricity suppliers have now announced price increases.
Bord Gais increased standing charges and unit rates by 12% on August 1.
Airtricity’s unit rates and standing charges are set to go up by 12.3% on September 1.
ESB Electric Ireland will increase standing charges and unit rates by 14.8% on October 1.
Gas Price Hikes
Airtricity has announced an increase in gas prices of 21.2% to take effect on October 1.
Next week, the Commission for Energy Regulation is expected to give permission to Bord Gais to increase gas prices by 22% effective October 1.
ESB Electric Ireland and Flogas are expected to announce gas price increases after the CER’s decision.
What else happened today?
ESB Electric Ireland discontinued its “SuperSaver” range of tariffs. In their place is a new range of tariffs called “ValueSaver”.
ValueSaver is ESB Electric Ireland's new discount range of tariffs. Currently, the base pricing is identical to the old ESB domestic rates (16 cent per unit including VAT), however customers can earn discounts of 4% for paying by direct debit and 6% for direct debit and online billing. Anyone signing up to ValueSaver today can expect their prices to go up in October.
