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Energy prices: Have you been hit with high gas and electricity bills? Share your experience with us

On Wednesday, the Dáil heard of a 100-year-old woman receiving a €957.49 bill, further highlighting how customers are struggling to meet rising prices

Have you received energy bills that are significantly more expensive than usual? Tell us your story. Photograph: iStock
Have you received energy bills that are significantly more expensive than usual? Tell us your story. Photograph: iStock
Thu Mar 02 2023 - 11:33

On Wednesday, the Dáil heard about a 100-year-old woman who had recently received an electricity bill for €957 for a two-month period.

Have you received energy bills that are significantly more expensive than usual? Tell us your story in the form below.

Kitty, from Co Meath, got the bill from Electric Ireland covering a 59-day period, from December 7th, 2022 to February 3rd, 2023. The gross total was, in fact, nearly €1,200 but after the various deductions and credits, was reduced to €957.49.

“She has a fridge, a washing machine, an immersion heater in the cylinder, a television and a small blow heater that only comes on for about an hour a day on the timer. Her main heat is from a big open fire; that’s all she has.” her nephew Frank Dempsey told The Irish Times.

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Mr Dempsey said his aunt’s previous highest bill was €430 and she currently receives a pension of about €200 per week.

[ Two-month electricity bill of €957 leaves 100-year-old woman ‘gobsmacked’ ]

The story will be a familiar one to many who have struggled to pay their electricity bills over the winter period after providers increased prices a number of times last year, prompting the Government to introduce three €200 electricity credits (the final one of which is due in March) and extend the 9 per cent VAT rate on electricity and gas until the end of October 2022.

Earlier this week, State-owned Electric Ireland said it would cut small business electricity bills by 10 per cent from Wednesday but leave household charges untouched. On Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that the next step is to introduce a windfall tax to “take back some of the profits of the energy companies and give them back to people to help them with their bills.”

How have the electricity and gas price increases over the winter period affected you? Have you had to take any extra measures to meet payments for bills that are higher than usual? What measures do you want the Government to take?

You can share your experience with us via the form below, a selection of which will be published. Please limit your submissions to 400 words or less. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, please indicate this in your submission – we will keep your name and contact details confidential.