One million people are due to see their energy bills go up from today.

More than one million gas and electricity consumers will have to pay more for their energy from Monday. Electric Ireland, the country's largest supplier of electricity, is to raise prices by 4% while its smaller competitor, PrePayPower, will be charging customers an extra 3.9%.

Price hikes from two major broadband providers and four leading energy suppliers take effect today.

The trend for gas and electricity customers to seek better deals by switching provider has eased, with more now looking to reduce their bills by negotiating with their existing provider.

Irish consumers top the European table when it comes to switching electricity and gas providers, as energy prices fell last year.

Bord Gáis Energy accounted for the largest number of customer complaints investigated by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) last year, despite having a smaller market share than Electric Ireland.

The international fund that is completing the €1 billion buyout of Viridian — which owns the Energia and NI Power firms across Ireland — is seeking out more opportunities to acquire energy assets here, in a move that may likely heighten competition in the Republic.

Pre-tax profits at energy firm, SSE Airtricity increased by 44% to €49m, last year, despite the company suffering customer losses.

Good evening. Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The number of people switching electricity supplier rose to its highest level in three years in 2014 as consumers sought to minimise the cost of bills.

Just over 1,000 domestic gas or electricity accounts were disconnected during the month of June.

Two sister companies are to create 50 jobs in Cork and Killarney over the next year as both companies believe that as the economy improves there will be more demand for their telemarketing services.

Hundreds of thousands of people switched their electricity and gas provider last year to try and cut the costs of their utility bills.