Electric Ireland has become the latest energy supplier to announce plans to cut what it charges residential customers.
The company is reducing electricity prices by 8% and gas prices by 7%.
The cuts will take effect from 1 March and will benefit the provider’s 1.1m household customers.
Both the residential electricity unit rate and standing charge will fall by 8%, leading to savings of €152.78 on the average annual electricity bill.
While the unit rate and standing charge for gas will drop by 7%, resulting in a reduction of €111.29 a year in the average gas bill.
The company claims the changes will result in it having the lowest estimated annual bill in the market among standard electricity tariffs.
The cut is the second by Electric Ireland since energy prices plateaued at high levels as a result of the crisis brought on by Russian’s war against Ukraine.
In September the provider announced that it was reducing domestic electricity charges by 10% and gas prices by 12% and the cuts took effect in November.
“We are acutely aware of the pressure many of our customers continue to experience due to the impact of international events and the energy crisis over the last two years,” said Pat Fenlon, Executive Director, Electric Ireland.
“Following a reduction of 10% in electricity and 12% in gas prices last November, today’s announcement will deliver further reductions for our customers, resulting in a decrease of 17.2% in electricity and 18.2% in gas prices within a four-month period.”
“This will mean a saving of circa €692.81 per annum.”
Electric Ireland is the largest energy supplier in the Irish market.
In 2022, Electric Ireland raised prices three times, while in 2021 it raised them twice.
In general, energy suppliers in Ireland are now on a second round of cuts in prices, as they come under ongoing pressure to pass on the fall in the wholesale price of energy.
Last month the CSO said wholesale electricity prices were 14.1% lower in November than in the same month last year, while the overall energy products index was down 11.8% year on year.
Also in December, another large player in the market, SSE Airtricity, said it would reduce its domestic electricity rates by another 12.8% and its domestic gas rates by 11.5% in February.
