Gas higher
Households to pay extra €100 on bills as Flogas blames ‘unavoidable’ hike on wholesale costs
HOUSEHOLDERS are set to pay almost €100 extra on gas bills after another energy supplier hiked its prices.
Flogas announced the increase, which will see bills go up by 12.8% from August 1.
The move will result in an extra €92.56 on the average customer’s annual gas statement
In December, the supplier increased its prices by 3.3%, which amounted to just over €20 per year.
The company said the latest hike is unavoidable, due to rising wholesale costs.
Flogas Ireland is now the third energy supplier to announce a price hike in June alone, after SSE Airtricity and Electric Ireland made announcements earlier in the month.
It claims the increase is due to a 20% rise in the supply price of natural gas on international wholesale markets, and they will be increasing the unit rate charged to residential natural gas customers as a result.
Yesterday’s announcement will increase the typical gas bill by €1.78 per week.
Details will be sent to customers with their first gas bill dated after August 1.
Flogas Ireland MD John Rooney said: “Over the years, Flogas Natural Gas has made rate reductions whenever the opportunity has arisen to do so.
“Unfortunately, due to the present circumstances, that of rising wholesale costs, a price increase has become unavoidable.”
Flogas has a 5% share of the residential natural gas market here. Electric Ireland announced earlier this week it is to increase electricity prices by 6.2% from August, and gas by 8%.
This will add €56 to the average annual electricity bill, and €55 to the average gas bill.
SSE Airtricity announced an increase at the start of this month and said a typical household dual fuel bill will increase by an average of €2.70 per week. For single fuel customers, the standard price of electricity will rise by €1.13 a week while the standard price of gas will increase to €1.57.
SSE Airtricity said the rise will take effect from July 14 and is in response to sustained increases in wholesale energy costs on global markets.