Huge electricity and gas price hike

CONSUMERS and business groups are bracing themselves for gas and electricity charges to rise by 15% and 12% respectively.

The Commissioner for Energy Regulation, Tom Reeves, is expected to approve the price hikes next week.

The ESB and Bord Gais are justifying the price hikes by claiming rising costs on the back of spiralling fuel prices worldwide.

The commissioner’s office signalled last July that ESB increases of 8% were likely from October next.

However, the office refused to comment on an additional 4.5% also being sought by ESB from next January. ESB wanted the 8% price rise to start next month.

Energy sources conceded yesterday the price of gas had risen enormously and, because Ireland bought most of it from Britain, there was little to control the situation.

Crude oil prices have risen by about 50% in the past 18 months and by 230% since January 1998.

British Gas increased its price by 12.9% this week and had already increased it by 6% at the start of the year.

Consumer’s Association of Ireland chief executive Dermott Jewell said the proposed increases were so high they would be impossible to absorb and would present a serious affordability problem for a lot of consumers.