Electric Ireland to cut residential electricity prices for 1.1 million customers from March

Electric Ireland to cut residential electricity prices for 1.1 million customers from March

ELECTRIC IRELAND HAS announced a price cut for residential electricity and gas customers, with bills set to reduce by 8% for electricity and 7% for gas from 1 March.

It’s the second price cut from the country’s biggest electricity supplier in four months, and comes after competitor SSE Airtricity dropped its prices in December.

The savings for electricity customers will equate to €12.73 on average per month, and €9.27 for gas customers – which adds up to annual savings of €152.78 and €111.29 respectively.

A spokesperson for the supplier said that the price drops means that Electric Ireland customers will have an estimated annual bill lower than “any other Standard Variable Electricity Tariff EAB currently available or announced for the market.”

Back in November, Electric Ireland slashed electricity and gas bills by 10% and 12%.

The reductions came after the supplier raised prices three times in 2022, the most recent hike in October of that year saw electricity and gas bills rise by 26.7% and 37.5%.

At the time the company acknowledged that the previous two years had been “particularly hard” for customers given the high price of energy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking on the most recent cuts, Electric Ireland Executive Director Pat Fenlon said that the company is “acutely aware of the pressure many of our customers continue to experience due to the impact of international events and the energy crisis over the last two years”.

“Following a reduction of 10% in electricity and 12% in gas prices last November, today’s announcement will deliver further reductions for our customers, resulting in a decrease of 17.2% in electricity and 18.2% in gas prices within a 4-month period. This will mean a saving of circa €692.81 per annum,” he added.

Fenlon said that Electric Ireland is determined to offer the “best value in the energy market “, and to help its customers on the “journey towards Net Zero by providing products and services which help them reduce their energy consumption and save money”.

Daragh Cassidy of bonkers.ie said that the announcement is “welcome news” and “another sign of neutrality returning to the market”.

He added that it is likely that all major suppliers in Ireland will announce similar cuts in the coming weeks, “if not days”.

But Cassidy also said that even with these new price cuts, Electric Ireland’s electricity prices remain “around 85% above where they were in 2020 before Covid… while its gas prices are still over double previous levels”.

He said that prices are falling, but falling from “really high levels”.

“It’ll still be a very expensive winter to heat and light our homes, and of course this cut doesn’t come into effect until 1 March”.