Bord Gáis Energy recently announced that it will be increasing its prices for both electricity and gas customers. The average electricity bill is set to rise by 27%, and for gas it is expected to be 39%.
The changes will come into effect on 15th April.
Previously, Bord Gáis had a Winter Price Pledge, which protected its customers during the colder and more energy-demanding season, but has had to end this due to continued volatile wholesale energy prices.
Dave Kirwan, Managing Director with Bord Gáis Energy, said: “We know that today’s announcement is not welcome news… However, there have been continued increases in wholesale energy costs over the past two years, particularly in the past 12 months. This, together with the expectation that costs will remain both high and volatile for some time, means we are forced to increase our prices.”
What impact will this have on bills
This latest price increase from Bord Gáis Energy will add around €389 a year to the average household’s annual gas bill and €386 to the average annual electricity bill.
And this continues a trend of increasing prices as Bord Gáis Energy increased electricity prices three times last year and gas prices twice.
- On 24th October they increased gas prices by 12% and electricity prices by 10% adding €98 a year to gas bills and €123 to electricity bills
- On 8th August they increased gas prices by 12.5% and electricity prices by 14% adding €100 a year to gas bills and €136 to electricity bills
- On 7th April, electricity prices increased by 7.4%. This added around €81 to the average annual electricity bill.
About Bord Gáis Energy
Bord Gáis Energy priovide electricity, gas and dual fuel tariffs for both domestic and business users. They currently supply electricity and gas to over 655k homes across Ireland providing electricity to almost 17% of homes and gas to around 45% of homes, making it one of the biggest suppliers in the Irish energy market.
Bord Gáis Energy’s parent company is the global Centrica plc Group.
What can you do?
If you are struggling to pay your bills, particularly after a price hike such as this, you can contact your energy supplier to ask about different payment options. This can take the pressure off large lump sums and help you maintain a sustainable budget.
You can also look at different ways to simply cut back on your energy usage. Some ideas take little to no effort—such as turning off lights when you aren’t using them, turning your thermostat down 1 degree, or turning devices off entirely rather than leaving them on standby—while others require more work. You can start to dry clothes outside instead of in the tumble dryer, shorten your shower, or update your appliances so that they run more efficiently. You may even decide to invest in smart technology, such as a smart thermostat or timer-run lighting and sockets.
You could even switch your energy deal. Switching is typically the fastest and easiest way to save money on your energy bills, and you can find out if you could save money within five minutes using an energy price comparison tool – like Power to Switch! On average, our customers save €470 on their energy bills when they switch with us.
