Following firmus energy’s announcement that it will be increasing its gas tariffs in the Ten Towns area by 12% for domestic and small business customers[i], Jenny Pyper, the Utility Regulator’s Chief Executive commented:
"We do understand that price increases are always unwelcome and so we act on behalf of consumers to ensure any changes to the tariff are fully justified. We have thoroughly scrutinised firmus energy’s actual costs to supply gas to homes and small businesses in the Ten Towns area and the average domestic credit customer[ii] will see their bills increase by around £1.44 per week.
“The main reason for this increase is due to the significant rise in global gas costs, which make up the largest portion of customer bills, since the tariff was last set earlier this year in April. A small rise in the cost of transmission charges has also contributed to the tariff increase.
“This increase will leave the firmus energy domestic tariff for the Ten Towns area 6.2% lower than the Bord Gais average standard tariff in the Republic of Ireland and higher than the average standard gas tariff in Great Britain.”
The tariff increase for the Ten Towns area will come into effect on 1 October 2018. Today’s announcement follows the ongoing tariff review process that is carried out by firmus energy and the Utility Regulator, in consultation with the Department for the Economy and the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland.
The briefing paper on the tariff review is available here.
[i] Business customers using less than 2,500 therms per year.
[ii] A domestic credit customer with an average consumption of 12,000kWh p.a. including VAT.