The Taoiseach has warned that the Government is concerned about securing Ireland's winter fuel supply, as customers continue being hit with soaring costs.

Outlining the potentially grim scenario, TDs and senators at a private Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting last night said that they interpreted what Micheál Martin had said as meaning that the Government is worried about energy shortages in this country next winter because of the war in Ukraine.

And the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Gabriel Makhlouf, also warned yesterday that the full impact of the Russian invasion had yet to be seen, despite the already rising price of fuel, while one consumer expert forecasted further increases.

Mr Martin told the meeting that: "We are focused on security of energy supply before we head into the winter. The EU Commission is likely to return with hard proposals on energy by the end of April."

The Taoiseach said that the Government is "engaging at an EU level on flexibility on the energy directive".

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One TD at the meeting said Mr Martin told colleagues his concerns amounted to "more than the price" of fuel, which was interpreted as looming fuel shortages.

Mr Makhlouf said that the existing price hikes were as a result of bottlenecks in supply chains, and that the impact of the war in Ukraine would be felt soon.

Last night, Germany issued an "early warning" of possible natural gas shortages over a payments dispute with Russia that could lead to energy rationing in Europe's biggest economy.

The European Union depends on Russia for about 40% of its natural gas, and while EU sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine include a ban on new investment in energy projects, they do not target oil and gas exports.

The bleak outlook comes as Electric Ireland - which supplies half the country with its gas and electricity - yesterday announced further increases amounting to another €520 a year for a dual bill.

Those increases come on top of two earlier hikes by Electric Ireland, adding over €840 overall in a triple whammy of price hikes from the supplier which came into effect in last August, another in November while the third is due to hit this May.

Company director Marguerite Sayers said: "We delayed the increase as long as we could in the hope that wholesale prices would drop back to early 2021 levels, but regrettably this has not happened."

Last night, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: "Unfortunately it's something that is largely outside of the control of Government and the price of gas and therefore the price of electricity - which is generated from gas - is determined by the cost of gas on the international market. And that has quadrupled actually. So the crumb of comfort - if there is any - is that prices aren't quadrupling. They are increasing by eye-watering double figures and Government can't fully correct for that but we can try and ease the pain and that's why we've set aside a billion euro to do so."

Daragh Cassidy, of the consumer website Bonkers.ie, said: "If things stay the way they are I wouldn't be surprised if Electric Ireland and Bord Gáis had to announce more price increases towards the end of the year. We won't see prices go down for the foreseeable future, that's for sure."

Dr Tricia Keilthy, of St Vincent de Paul, said it is "a very worrying time for families right across the country."

Alone, the organisation that supports older people at home, last night said that "hard decisions being made in their homes where the choice between heating or eating is real while others opt to go to bed as the solution to not turning on the heat."

In one reprieve, the Government's €200 credit to help families with electricity costs will be taken off April's bills, it was announced yesterday. But some may not see that deduction until May or June, depending on a household's billing cycle and electricity supplier.

Electric Ireland, the State-owned power company is Ireland's largest, with 1.1million electricity customers - 47% of the market - and 146,000 gas customers, just over a fifth of the market.

It announced yesterday it was increasing electricity prices by more than 23% and gas prices by almost 25% from May 1. In less than a year, electricity prices under Electric Ireland have risen by €508, while gas prices have increased by €338. The annual standing charge for electricity is also going up by 36% from €208 a year to just over €283 including VAT.

Meanwhile, the annual standing charge for gas is going up by 25% from €120 a year to just over €150 including VAT.