Customers face massive spike in bills as Bord Gáis and Pinergy hike electricity prices
Bord Gáis said it will raise prices by 13.5% for unit rates of electricity while standing charges will rise 12% from October 12.
Bord Gáis Energy and Pinergy have become the latest electricity suppliers to hike their prices for households, as hundreds of thousands of customers face spikes of over €200 on average to their bills.
It follows recent hike announcements from Flogas and Energia and comes as households brace for surging energy bills this winter with the numbers in arrears already trending at “historical” highs.
Bord Gáis said it will raise prices by 13.5% for unit rates of electricity while standing charges will rise 12% from October 12. It pinned the blame on network costs, wholesale energy market changes, and a higher cost of doing business for the price increase.
It will add around €218 a year on average to annual bills, with around 369,000 customers set to be affected.
Pinergy said its rise of 9.83% from October 13 will add around €200 to customers' annual bills. It pinned the blame on increased network charges as it urged the Government to press on with investment in the electricity grid and infrastructure.
It comes as the latest figures from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) show that 298,336 household electricity customers were behind on their electricity bills in June of this year.
This was an increase from 286,000 at the end of the first quarter of 2025, and a sharp increase from 268,000 at the end of Q2 2024.
Cumulatively, these households owe over €140m on their electricity bills which averages out at around €472.
The average amount owed at the end of the previous quarter was €437 and this figure was the highest since the first quarter of 2024 when households owed €459 on average.
Separate figures from CRU show that, in June alone, 316 households had their electricity disconnected for non-payment of bills. A further 130 gas customers were disconnected in the same month.
In the first six months of the year, 1,049 households were cut off from their electricity and 771 from their gas for non-payment of bills.
In all of 2023, just 1,048 domestic customers were cut off from electricity for non-payment of bills.
For gas bills, the 183,520 households in arrears in Q2 owed an average of €219. This amounted to over a quarter of all households (27%) in arrears on gas bills.
The latest figures come after CRU warned earlier this month that we could see these arrears figures, which it said were already trending at “historical highs”, increase further in the months to come.
In announcing additional measures to support households this winter, the regulator said: “The CRU understands that the forthcoming winter will be the first post-crisis winter in which there will not be a universal Government Electricity Credit Scheme for customers.
“Given that arrears levels have continued to climb while these Credit Schemes have been in operation, it may be expected that arrears levels could spike further in their absence.”
Charities supporting vulnerable groups have urged the Government to opt for long-term targeted measures to support households in difficulty, while Tánaiste Simon Harris indicated earlier this week that "help is coming" on the cost of living for families in the upcoming budget.
