Bord Gáis Energy has become the fifth company in the past week to announce increases in the price of its residential electricity and gas, affecting more than 500,000 customers
The company will increase the price of electricity by 39% and gas by 34% on 2 October, adding €43.80 per month to the average electricity bill and €48.25 per month to the average gas bill, but standing charges will not be inflated.
In March, Bord Gáis increased the price of its average electricity bill by 27% and its average gas bill by 39% following a number of price increases in 2021.
The latest increases will add around €579 a year to the average customer's electricity bill and €526 to their gas bill. When all increases are taken into account households are looking at paying over €1,300 more for their electricity and over €1,100 more for their gas.
Bord Gáis blamed wholesale energy costs and reduced gas supply as a result of the war un Ukraine and low storage levels for the price hikes, and pledged 10% of its operating profits to its €1.25m Energy Support Fund to support vulnerable customers.
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"There is no precedent for the current energy crisis and consumers and businesses across the globe are grappling with very challenging increases in the cost of living," said Dave Kirwan, managing director of Bord Gáis Energy.
"We deeply regret having to raise our prices but the scale of increases in wholesale energy costs leaves us with no choice. We continue to do everything we can to reduce the impact on our customers and keep our rates as competitive as possible.
"We are also pledging 10% of our operating profits to our Energy Support Fund to help customers of ours who simply can’t afford to pay for energy this winter. We are working with a number of organisations to help customers access this fund, which has already supported many eligible customers facing difficulty.
"We know that there are customers who are struggling and our urgent message to them is to engage with us so that we can give them supports that reflect their unique circumstances.”
This is the fifth price hike announcement from an energy supplier in a week following hikes by SSE Airtricity, Community Power, PrepayPower, and Electric Ireland.
Commenting on the news, Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at Bonkers.ie, said: “Today’s news was expected given yesterday’s announcement from Electric Ireland. The small comfort is that both suppliers didn’t increase their standing charges.
“We’re heading into winter with gas and electricity prices at absolutely astronomical levels. And it will get even worse. The average gas and electricity bill is now around €4,000. That’s close to the UK price cap of £3,549.
“In the UK the price cap is forecast to rise to over €6,000 in January. Over 70% of our gas comes via the UK so our prices track theirs relatively closely (indeed UK gas and electricity have generally been slightly cheaper than ours in recent years). So that shows you what we could be looking at.
“I’d encourage households to check out any government supports which are available such as the winter fuel allowance, the free electricity allowance and the exceptional needs payment. Some suppliers have also set up hardship funds which will provide financial support to those most in need so I’d encourage people to chat to their suppliers too.
“I would again appeal to the government to reduce VAT on energy bills in the upcoming budget.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
