More than one million electricity customers and almost 150,000 gas customers are set to see their energy bills rise this summer.
The country's biggest energy supplier is increasing its prices from 1st July.
Electric Ireland is hiking the unit rate of both its gas and electricity by 9.5%. However, its standing charges will remain unchanged, as will its micro-gen rate for those selling renewable energy back into the grid.
According to Electric Ireland, the change will increase a typical household's electricity bill by around €138 a year and its annual gas bill by around €117, based on average usage.
While the announcement will come as a blow to households already grappling with high energy and overall living costs, it had been widely anticipated.
Last autumn, most of the country's energy suppliers increased their electricity prices by between 10% and 15% in response to continued high wholesale electricity costs and increased network charges for managing the electricity grid. But Electric Ireland bucked the trend at the time by freezing its electricity prices for the winter months and even introducing a small reduction in gas prices. This meant its electricity prices in particular had been significantly below the rest of the market for the past six months or so.
As a result, today's increase largely brings the supplier's prices back into line with the rest of the market.
Will other suppliers increase their prices?
For electricity, the hope is that we won't see any further increases from the main suppliers like Energia, SSE Airtricity and Bord Gais Energy. For now, at least.
As mentioned, these suppliers already hiked their electricity prices towards the end of last year. Indeed, these suppliers' standard electricity prices are still higher than Electric Ireland's even after this announcement.
However, it's a different story for gas prices.
Wholesale gas prices have risen sharply in recent weeks following renewed tensions in the Middle East, increasing by around 40% since early spring. If these elevated wholesale costs persist, other suppliers are likely to come under pressure to increase their gas prices further in the months ahead.
Ireland already has some of the highest electricity prices in Europe. Recent figures from Eurostat show that Irish households pay the highest electricity prices in the EU, with costs almost 40% above the European average.
Assistance with your energy bills
Electric Ireland says it continues to provide a range of initiatives to support customers who are struggling to pay their bills and that it only ever resorts to disconnecting a customer as a last resort.
It provides flexible payment options, including an "equaliser" product that allows customers to spread their energy costs in equal payments across the year or to take a payment holiday by agreeing a plan to pay their bills over 11 months instead of 12.
It also has its Compassionate Assistance Fund. Using the experience gained through its previous Hardship Fund, Electric Ireland works with key partners such as MABS, Saint Vincent de Paul, and Alone to identify customers who are struggling with their bills and provide them with direct financial relief via their electricity or gas account.
Another way to reduce your bills is to consume less energy, so here are 16 ways to use less electricity around the home.
And if you're struggling to pay your energy bills, here are a range of other supports that are available.
Switch and save
Despite the latest increase, competition for new customers remains strong, with many energy suppliers continuing to offer big introductory discounts to households that switch.
So if you're worried about rising bills, switching supplier remains one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce your energy costs.
Switching can all be done online in a matter of minutes right here on bonkers.ie and you don't even need to contact your existing supplier to let them know you're leaving.
