Thousands of households face a hike of over €550 in their energy bills after Flogas announced it was raising its prices for the second time this year.

Gas bills will rise sharply by almost 20% and electricity by more than 8% for the supplier's 53,000 customers.

The company firmly pinned the blame on the Russian invasion of Ukraine coupled with the pandemic.

The decision to raise energy prices in the eye of a record heatwave was described as "a great time to bury bad energy news" by Daragh Cassidy, of utility switching site Bonkers.ie.

However, Flogas Energy boss Paul Kenny warned things could get even worse this winter. He said: "As energy customers ourselves, we are keenly aware of the impact of increasing costs on Irish households. Energy cost increases are affecting all suppliers and while we are continually looking at ways to keep our costs low, we have no option but to increase our rates in the current environment.

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"Unfortunately, there is no certainty around electricity and gas prices into the winter."

Gas prices on international markets have soared more than tenfold from around 1c per kw/h before the pandemic struck Western Europe to more than 13c per kw/h now. Flogas Energy's residential electricity bills will go up by 8.1% and gas bills by 19.8% in a month's time.

The company said yesterday: "This is due to the continuing and unprecedented increases in wholesale gas prices and the associated increases in wholesale electricity costs.

"While there will be unit rate increases, daily standing charges for electricity and gas supply will not be affected."

Gas-fired power-stations supply about half of Ireland's electricity needs so any increase in the price of gas directly affects the cost of electricity. The balance of Ireland's power needs is met by wind and other renewables with a small amount from oil and coal-fired power-stations.

The Flogas spokesman added: "The conflict in Eastern Europe is causing significant uncertainty surrounding reliability of gas flows, adding to the existing pressures on prices in European energy markets. Wholesale prices are forecast to increase further into the winter months and remain volatile with little sign of improvement in the medium term."

Flogas chief Mr Kenny added: "We will support affected customers through our customer service teams as much as possible, and have a range of supports including payment plans, Budget Pay options and pre-payment meters. We would ask any customer who is facing financial pressure to contact us."

However, he also warned things could get worse this winter and advised people to cut their power use as much as possible.

"We strongly urge customers to consider how they can reduce usage; every light switched off, door or window insulated, or phone charger unplugged, makes a difference," he said.

He pointed out that night-time power rates can save up to 30%.

He added: "As an energy supplier it is critical that we now help our customers to make changes to their use of energy, both to help reduce their bills and support a greener, more sustainable future."

The price increase is the second from Flogas after it raised prices just two months ago in May which was on top of four hikes last year.

Bonkers.ie's Mr Cassidy added: "The latest increase will add around €360 a year to the average customer's gas bill and €195 to the average electricity bill, a total of €555.

"The average Flogas customer is now looking at paying around €2,300 a year for their gas and €2,600 a year for their electricity which is absolutely astronomical.

"Not so long ago, in early 2021, the average annual gas bill with most suppliers was around €800 or €900 a year while the average electricity bill was around €1,200 to €1,300.

"A heatwave in the height of summer is obviously a great time to bury bad energy news. But we'll have nowhere to bury our heads in a few months' time when winter approaches. The whole country is looking at a potentially bleak and very expensive winter."

Flogas has around 53,000 customers, compared to 730,000 with Bord Gáis and 1.2million with Electric Ireland.