Yuno Energy, the newest electricity retailer in the Irish market, talked about its “ongoing commitment” to being the cheapest electricity provider on the market when it announced its third price cut of the year so far on Monday.
Since last September, we’ve seen two rounds of price cuts from all the major suppliers, and, according to Bonkers.ie spokesman Daragh Cassidy, it is “highly likely” the others will follow Yuno with a third round of cuts of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent before the end of the year.
On top of that, he says, we’ve seen suppliers competing aggressively for new customers with further discounts of 20 per cent or more on offer to those who are prepared to switch.
In particular, there’s been “a real tit-for-tat” recently between Flogas, SSE Airtricity and Yuno Energy as they all vie to be the cheapest supplier in the market by regularly launching new fixed-tariff deals.
“Had you told me a few months ago that we’d see electricity deals on offer with a unit rate of just over 26 cent including VAT I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Cassidy following the announcement by Yuno on Monday.
“Someone who’s on standard rates with one of the main suppliers will still be paying around €1,800 a year for their electricity and €1,500 for their gas. So you can see the value in switching.
[ Q&A: Energy prices are going down. Here’s what consumers need to know about itOpens in new window ]
“Some of the best deals on offer at the moment are fixed deals for one year. Obviously this means you wouldn’t benefit from any further price cuts that might be announced later in the year so this is something to weigh up.”
But why are prices falling? Although competition is helping, prices are falling as wholesale energy prices are dropping, which is happening largely due to a decrease in the price of gas.
A mild winter has meant gas use has been lower than normal in most of Europe and therefore storage levels are high.
“This is good for easing market jitters and keeping prices under control,” Cassidy said. “And Europe has been receiving lots of shipments of liquefied natural gas to replace the Russian piped gas that was banned following its invasion of Ukraine, which then sparked the energy crisis.
“As we use gas to generate around 40 per cent to 50 per cent of our electricity, this also helps reduce our electricity prices. Strong wind output has helped keep a lid on electricity prices in recent months too. There have been no major outages at electricity plants either, which has helped with supply.”
However, it must be pointed out that wholesale electricity prices are still around double normal levels, and gas prices have only recently come down from their astronomical highs, so this will take time to feed through into lower bills for households.
“If wholesale gas and electricity prices remain close to where they currently are, then barring another economic shock of some sort, it’s very likely we’ll see a third price round of price decreases of around 10 per cent to 20 per cent from all the main suppliers in the second half of the year,” said Cassidy.
“However, that would still leave prices around 40 per cent to 50 per cent above what would, until recently, have been considered normal levels. Nevertheless, it does look like there is finally light at the end of the tunnel and the worst of the energy crisis has passed.”
Top five best deals for new customers who switch right now
(Source: Bonkers.ie)
Electricity
- Yuno Energy: €1,363 (Fixed tariff)
- SSE Airtricity: €1,382 (Fixed tariff)
- Flogas: €1,393 (Fixed tariff)
- Electric Ireland: €1,399 (Variable tariff – 24 per cent discount on standard rates)
- Bord Gáis Energy: €1,424 (Variable tariff – 22 per cent discount on standard rates)
Gas
- Flogas: €1,245 (Fixed tariff)
- SSE Airtricity: €1,265 (Variable tariff – 20 per cent discount on standard rates)
- Bord Gáis Energy: €1,273 (Variable tariff – 16 per cent discount on standard rates)
- Energia: €1,364 (Variable tariff – 10 per cent discount on standard rates)
- Electric Ireland: €1,400 (Variable tariff – 14 per cent discount on standard rates)
Figures are estimates and based on a supplier’s standard 24-hour urban rate and a household using an average amount of energy as defined by the CRU. Figures also include VAT, standing charge and any Government levies.
Customers who have a night saver meter or are on a time-of-use tariff may have different costs depending on when they use their energy. Any upcoming price changes have been factored into all calculations.
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