Marginal rise in cost of energy

There was a marginal increase in the cost of energy in January with the Bord Gáis Energy Index increasing by 1% in the first month of the year.

Ireland was insulated from the increase of the Brent crude oil and wholesale UK gas prices as the strengthening of the value of the euro cancelled out energy inflation.

Power trader at Bord Gáis Energy, John Heffernan, said that despite the unpredictability of oil prices due to instability in the Middle East, Irish energy buyers were relatively unaffected.