33.8% gas hike puts elderly at risk, warn action groups

CONSUMER champions and pensioners’ groups last night criticised Bord Gáis for announcing price rises of €50 per bill from October — a hike of 33.8%.

The hike comes after news of a planned €24 rise in electricity bills from January. Bord Gáis blamed the rising cost of gas internationally for its rise, which will take average household bills to over €1,200 a year.

Yesterday the Commission for Energy Regulation, which regulates bills, announced it planned to allow Bord Gáis to hike bills by the inflation-busting figure.

Bord Gáis chief David Bunworth said: “The fact that an increase is necessary is hugely regrettable and we understand that this is not news our customers want to hear.

“However the situation is completely unavoidable: it is driven by global market conditions outside of our control, and the control of all gas suppliers.”

The State-owned company, which made a €108 million profit in 2005, has seen the costs of buying gas rise by €150 million in the past year.

The board insisted its bills were still below the EU average.

Last night the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said the rises would hit the elderly and vulnerable the hardest.

Chief executive Dermott Jewell said: “It’s an unavoidable increase and the Government needs to bring forward some means of assisting consumers as well as looking at the tax take of 13.5% VAT on bills.”

The Bord Gáis hikes will mean an annual increase of €122 in bills for a small home, €305 for a medium house and €488 for a large dwelling on average.

Age Action Ireland’s Gerard Scully said: “We are worried that the rises might mean that older people will not heat their homes properly.

“If we get a severe winter then you are into the possibility of older people dying because they cannot afford to heat their homes properly.

“That’s not being dramatic. That’s a real possibility.”