Power NI, Northern Ireland’s biggest electricity supplier, is putting up domestic prices by 4% in a move which adds £40 to a typical annual bill.
The company, which has 450,000 domestic customers in Northern Ireland, said that from next month, average annual bills will reach £989.
It said the 4% increase was a response to “market operation and network-related charges,” and would leave customers paying on average an extra 10p a day.
It said the change in price had been approved by energy watchdog the Utility Regulator, which scrutinises its tariff decisions as Power NI is the biggest electricity supplier.
William Steele, director of Power NI customer solutions, said: “We work hard to keep our prices as low as possible. However, wholesale prices remain high and significant increases in third party market operation and network related costs have regrettably necessitated a tariff increase.
“In these challenging times, we have held off changing prices for as long as possible and we have been able to keep our tariffs below the equivalent Great Britain and Republic of Ireland average.”
The company advised that customers should make sure they’re on the most suitable billing plan, with monthly direct debit customers with online billing paying £930 a year instead of £989.
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It said that NI’s average Power NI bill compared with the average electricity bill of £1,070 in Great Britain and £1,167 in the Republic.
Mr Steele said Power NI worked to support “those in need”. “We have a range of support available from tariff advice to energy saving tips and account support, so if anyone is worried about paying bills, please contact us directly, we are here to help.”
The bill increase does not apply to business customers, Power NI said.
It said the average annual cost was calculated using the Power NI standard home energy rate and an average household usage of 3,200 units (kWh) per year.
Following Power NI, the next biggest electricity suppliers are SSE and Budget Energy –which are yet to announce any tariff change. Power NI announced a price cut of 6.3% in March.
But commentators said that prices were still high compared to a few years ago, before energy markets were thrown into turmoil by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a surge in global demand post-lockdown.
Aodhan O’Donnell, founder of price comparison website Power to Switch, said at the time that the average annual bill in April 2021 had been around £570.
“So, this shows that we still have a long way to go to see bills fall back to more normal levels.”
Power NI’s announcement follows another major development in NI’s energy market, as Dublin-based company Yuno Group announced its acquisition of gas supply firm, firmus.
Power NI is part of Energia Group, based in the Republic.