Energy cost down ..but bills go up

Price guarantee end means 5.1% rise

ENERGY firms announced price cuts yesterday – but householders won’t see their bills come down due to Government intervention money being scrapped.

Power NI will reduce its domestic electricity tariff by 7.1%, while SSE Airtricity gas supply’s tariff for domestic and small business customers is dropping by 12.2%. These decreases will become effective from July 1.

But at the same time the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee of around £454 a year for the average household is being cut to zero, also from July 1.

The Northern Ireland Utility Regulator said that with the EPG gone Power NI customers will actually see their bills go up by 5.1%.

Regulator John French said: “The reduction to the underlying regulated tariff is a direct result of the recent falls in forward wholesale energy prices, after the huge increases that were seen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Unfortunately though, these tariff decreases coincides with the removal of the financial support provided through the UK Government’s Energy Price Guarantee scheme. The EPG scheme was brought in by the UK Government in November 2022 to help Northern Ireland households with high energy. Although the underlying wholesale price of energy has significantly reduced over the last few months, it still remains twice the price of historic norms.” William Steele, director of Power NI Customer Solutions, said: “As prices have continued to fall, Power NI has welcomed another chance to further reduce its underlying unit prices for customers, with our third tariff reduction of the year. “Despite this good news, the decision by the UK Government to remove its Energy Price Guarantee support means that unfortunately customers will see an overall increase of 5.1% in prices.”

Power NI’S price change will affect around 474,000 households. The Consumer Council said that when their decrease and the EPG cancellation is applied “the typical standard Power NI credit bill will increase by around £49 and Power NI customers with a prepayment meter will see their costs increase by around £48 a year”.

They added that for SSE customers their bills “will increase by around £134 and customers with a prepayment meter will see their costs increase by around £136 a year”.