The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) Scheme was introduced in Northern Ireland in November 2022 by the UK Government to help households with high energy prices. EPG applies a discount to the unit rate of electricity and gas tariffs, which means energy bills have been lower than they otherwise would have been.
From 1 April 2023, further changes are being made to the discount provided, which will impact all electricity and gas tariffs. As the cost of wholesale energy is reducing, so too is the level of support being provided by government. This means there will be a lower level of discount applied to all electricity and gas bills from 1 April 2023.
For electricity, the current discount is 13.6083 p/kWh (ex VAT) and from April, the discount rate will decrease to 3.7697 p/kWh (ex VAT). The gas unit rate discount will decrease from 3.8932 p/kWh (ex VAT) to 2.6029 p/kWh (ex VAT) in April. As the reduction to the discount applied to the electricity unit is much greater, this will affect the final tariff customers pay more than in gas.
The table below provides details of the changes to the regulated domestic electricity and gas supplier tariffs following our recent tariff reviews and impact of changes to the EPG rates.
|
|
Firmus Energy (Ten Towns) gas tariff |
Power NI electricity tariff |
SSE Airtricity (Greater Belfast and West) gas tariff
|
|
Current annual bill (including EPG discount) |
£1,327 |
£847 |
£1,104 |
|
% change to regulated tariff excluding EPG effect |
-18.84% |
-16.2% |
0% |
|
% change to regulated tariff including EPG effect (effective 1 April 2023) |
-13.56% |
+14% |
+14.76% |
|
Annual bill from 1 April 2023 (including EPG discount) |
£1,147 |
£966 |
£1,266 |
The EPG scheme was introduced in Great Britain in October 2022 and November 2022 in Northern Ireland. This short delay resulted in a temporary uplift in the level of discount for Northern Ireland consumers. This additional discount will end in March 2023 resulting in the overall reduction in the EPG rate and tariff rates as detailed in the table above.
The EPG rate is reviewed by the UK Government on a quarterly basis. The EPG rates, excluding VAT, are outlined in the table below.
|
|
November 2022 |
January 2023 |
April 2023 |
|
Electricity |
19.9083 p/kWh |
13.6083 p/kWh |
3.7697 p/kWh |
|
Gas |
4.8262 p/kWh |
3.8932 p/kWh |
2.6029 p/kWh |
We publish a briefing paper for each regulated tariff review that results in a change to the tariff. These papers are specific to gas and electricity and can be found on our website.
Further information on the EPG support in Great Britain can be found on the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's website.