THREE OF the State’s four gas providers are raising prices from this morning, the fourth operator having already rolled out price increases of its own last month.
Bord Gáis Energy, ESB Electric Ireland and Flogas have increased their domestic gas charges, effective from today, in a move that will add more than €150 to the average household’s gas bill each year.
Airtricity increased its prices by a similar amount several weeks ago.
Bord Gáis Energy, the only company to have its prices controlled by the Commission for Energy Regulation, applied in July for a 28 per cent rise in its residential gas tariffs, blaming a steep climb in wholesale prices since the start of the year. However, the regulator said it was prepared to sanction an increase of 22 per cent.
The price increase will see the average domestic gas bill of €720 a year climb to nearly €900 annually.
The ESB is also increasing its electricity prices by 15 per cent from today, adding more than €150 to consumers’ annual electricity bill. Its two rivals in the electricity market, Bord Gáis and Airtricity, have already raised their prices by 12 per cent.
“I don’t think many people have fully grasped what these increases are going to do to their budgets,” said Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland.