New energy price increases come into effect from today - Newstalk
Around 350,000 households are facing further energy price hikes as increases from two suppliers take effect from today.
Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at bonkers.ie appeared on Newstalk to discuss the impact of price hikes on household bills and what consumers can do to help offset the increases.
Listen back to the interview above or take a look at the main points discussed below.
What will be the impact of these increases on household bills?
The increases are pretty hefty. If you’re a customer of Pinergy, you’re going to see your electricity go up by a further 19%, which is pretty high. This will add around €300 or so to the average customer’s annual electricity bill. This is Pinergy’s fifth price increase this year.
If you’re a customer of SSE Airtricity the price increase, which was announced in October, will result in your gas and electricity bills going up by just over 9%. The increase will add around €115 to the average electricity bill, and around €86 to the average gas bill.
The thing is, you have to look at all the price increases over the past year. It’s been a bit of a year of crisis for the energy industry both in Ireland and in Europe. In Ireland, there have been over 35 price hike announcements this year, and the year isn’t even finished yet.
If you take all of these increases into account, Pinergy customers will be paying around €780 more for their electricity this year and SSE Airtricity customers will be paying around €300 more for their electricity, and €200 more for their gas, which is a €500 annual increase.
Will there be more price increases?
Hopefully we won’t see any additional price hikes, but nothing can be guaranteed.
All suppliers have been raising prices across the board. Some, like Pinergy, have raised their prices five times but most suppliers have raised them two or three times.
The average household is probably looking at paying €700-800 more for their energy. Customers with some of the smaller suppliers, in particular, could see a hit of well over €1,000.
Take a look at this blog to learn about why suppliers are increasing energy prices.
Can people mitigate the increases?
People can still switch their energy supplier. We get asked a lot if there’s any point in switching if everyone is increasing prices. The electricity and gas market is in some ways like your broadband and TV market, where you might get a discount for switching. The energy companies do the exact same thing.
If you switch to a new supplier, you’ll get a discount of 30-40% a year off standard rates for an entire year. This means you’d spend around €600 less on average on your energy bills.
For some customers, if you move from one of the most expensive deals to the cheapest ones, you could save yourself over €1,500.
If there’s one year you don’t want to be paying for gas and electricity, this is it.
How can people switch?
It’s really quick to switch and is probably one of the easiest household bills to switch. You can go onto a site like ours, bonkers.ie, and easily conduct a comparison to find the best energy deals.
To switch you only need a few things:
- A GPRN number if switching gas and an MPRN number if switching electricity
- A recent meter reading
- A good estimate of how much energy you use, either in kilowatt-hours or in euro.
- Some personal details
Read our helpful guide on what you need to switch suppliers for further information.
The whole thing will only take a few minutes online and the switch is processed in around 2-3 weeks.
Try to reduce your energy consumption
You can also look at ways you can reduce your energy consumption around the home. This will not only help with your bills but also help in reducing your carbon footprint.
There are easy things you can do, such as tackle draughts and put in LED light bulbs. Each LED light bulb will save you around €6 annually, and they also last 10 times longer than regular light bulbs.
You can go onto the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) website to discover a range of tips and tricks that will help you save on your energy bills.
You can also check out our articles on 15 ways to reduce your electricity consumption and 10 ways to heat your home for less this winter.
Start saving on your energy bills
Here at bonkers.ie, you can use our energy comparison tool to compare the best deals today across all 14 energy suppliers nationwide. Switching energy suppliers has never been easier!
For more information before you make the switch, consider taking a look at some of our helpful energy guides:
- Our frequently asked questions about switching energy supplier will help make it as easy as possible for you to switch.
- Familiarising yourself with these 10 important terms will make the switching experience less daunting.
- While price is an important factor, there are other aspects to consider when switching. Here’s a list of 7 important things to keep in mind when looking into switching.
You can stay up to date with all of the latest energy news and top saving tips with our blogs and guides.
Did you know that you can also compare prices for broadband, insurance and banking products on bonkers.ie? See what other bills you could save on!
Get in touch
Are you a customer with Pinergy or SSE Airtricity? Would you consider switching to save? We’d love to hear from you.
If you have any questions about the increases, feel free to reach out to us on social media. We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.