Cost of electricity to rise by 14% despite Power NI price cut as support scheme reduced

Electricity supplier Power NI says customers will see a 14% increase in prices from 1 April, despite the company lowering its tariffs.

It says the overall rise in costs comes as a result of the chancellor's announcement that the energy price guarantee scheme is being reduced next month.

The Consumer Council said the changes, which will impact more than 474,000 households, will see an annual credit bill increase by around £119 a year, while those with prepayment meters will see a rise of £116.

Power NI said it would reduce its unit price by 16.2% from the beginning of April due to a fall in wholesale market costs.

However, the company said a reduction in the EPG scheme of 10.33p per unit would see tariffs increasing by 14%.

William Steele from Power NI said: “A decrease in wholesale energy prices has enabled Power NI to again reduce its underlying unit price.

"However, the recent change by the UK Government to its Energy Price Guarantee means that a lower level of scheme discount will be applied to all electricity bills.

"Unfortunately, this means customers will see a 14% increase in prices."

It comes as Electric Ireland has announced a price change for Northern Ireland residential customers.

A spokesperson said: "The UK Government announced yesterday a change in the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) support rate, from 13.608 pence/kWh to 3.7697 pence/kWh which comes into effect from 1st April 2023.

"While the UK Government is still continuing to support energy bills, the change in the EPG support rate means that residential customers will face an increase in their electricity cost.

"This change in EPG will be partially offset by a 9.2% reduction in Electric Ireland’s underlying tariff also effective from 1st April.

"Overall, these combined changes will mean the typical weekly bill will rise from £20.35 to £24.02."

Meanwhile, Budget Energy says it's reducing its domestic standard variable unit by 19% from the start of April.

It said the reduction "should offset the majority of the ensuing increase to households... following the reduction in Government support".

It says the reduced rate will apply to both prepay and bill-pay domestic electricity customers and will mean a yearly saving of around £324 for the typical prepay customer.

Sean O’Loughlin from the company said: "Budget Energy’s rate reduction should offset the majority of the ensuing increase to households from 1 April, following the reduction in Government Support."

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