Almost one in seven Irish households struggle to pay electricity bills, new figures show.
Energy costs in the Republic are among the highest in Europe and have not retreated to the level they were at before the Ukraine war sparked a surge in prices.
More than 297,313 homes were behind with their electricity bills at the end September, figures released by the State’s Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) show. That is 22,000 more than 12 months earlier.
While the numbers rose, the share of households whose electricity bills were in arrears remained steady, at 13 per cent, indicating that between one in seven and one in eight families was struggling to pay for energy.
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Almost 180,000 families had fallen behind with their gas bills, the regulator’s figures also show. That amounts to around one in four domestic gas customers.
By last November, the average amount owed on a bill in arrears was €454.25, up from €436.73 a year earlier, the CRU said.
Electricity prices are between 70 per cent and 80 per cent higher than they were before Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, according to Daragh Cassidy, spokesman for price comparison business, Bonkers.ie.
Gas prices are around twice what they were in early 2022, he added.
“I think people are still just struggling,” Cassidy said on Friday. “I do not expect prices to fall at all over the next year or two.”
Many suppliers increased prices last year while Government cut energy supports in the budget, “which turned out to be the wrong time”, he argued.
Cassidy calculates that this could have added €450 a year to many families’ electricity bills. He advised people in difficulty to check to see if they could avail of support from social welfare or other services.
“I would like to see some system of energy price supports that is taken off the bills themselves. Otherwise people could spend the money on other things,” Cassidy said.
Electricity customers in arrears of more than 90 days stood at 187,300 at the end of September, while 153,658 households were behind with gas payments for the same length of time, the CRU, which is responsible for regulating the energy industry, said.
That translated to 8 per cent of domestic electricity customers, and 22 per cent of those who used gas in their homes.
Suppliers cut off 311 electricity customers for not paying their bills in October, while 64 gas customers lost their service, the figures show.
With the trend likely to continue, Cassidy predicted that only wage increases were likely to make energy bills more bearable for most consumers.
“This is the new normal really, prices will remain high,” he remarked.
Eurostat figures regularly show the Republic has some of Europe’s highest energy prices, Cassidy added.
