Four in 10 struggling to pay daily energy bills

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MORE than four in 10 households are struggling to afford their home energy needs, a survey revealed yesterday.

And four-fifths of people here plan to slash their spending habits on routine expenses such as transport, insurance, shopping and food consumption.

Thousands of Irish households are under mounting pressure as overall inflation reaches a 21-year peak of 6.7% on day-to-day living costs.

The survey by Taxback.com looked at the impact of price hikes and also at consumer behaviour around spending and what changes, if any, people intend to make.

Barry Cahill, director at Taxback.com said: “The survey reveals just how many people are already struggling – and how many more will fall into this difficult financial predicament as a result of further advancing increases – particularly when it comes to the basics like electricity and gas in the home.

“Whether they go up by €5, €25 or €75 a week, some households will simply not be able to afford to pay their bills if the costs continue to increase, as they invariable will as many of the international price increase have yet to filter through to the Irish consumer.”

People were asked how much further energy costs would need to go up before they would struggle to pay or simply unaffordable and 41% said they were already struggling.

Nearly one-fifth (18%) said any increase would lead to big challenges, while 13% insisted a €25 per week hike would make it very difficult for them to cope.

Meanwhile, 11% of respondents stressed a €50 per week increase would lead to them struggling, while 3% said a €75 jump would result in financial problems.

The survey also asked respondents whether they had considered changes to their buying behaviour this year as a result of increases in the cost of goods and services.

Householders ranked the spending areas where they expect to hunt for better value and the top three listed were energy costs, motor insurance and food costs. Other areas where people were eager to find savings in the top five included transport costs and health insurance. Mr Cahill added: “Across all categories, the majority of consumers are going to make changes of some sort, with the highest number, 83%, intending to make changes to mitigate the cost of home heating.

“[Around] 77% of people are going to do what they can to bring down how much they spend on transport costs as well as on groceries and food shopping, and 64% will shop around to a greater extent for their motor insurance.”