Airtricity – SSE’s retail brand in Northern Ireland – will raise its standard rate household electricity prices by 17.8% from July 1 following the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator’s publication of changes to regulated electricity tariffs.
Airtricity supplies around 190,000 domestic and commercial electricity customers in Northern Ireland. Since entering the region’s competitive domestic electricity market in 2010, SSE’s retail brand Airtricity has grown to become the second largest energy provider in the market.
In Northern Ireland’s competitive electricity market, the Utility Regulator continues to set a price control that sets allowances for the operating costs, profit margin and pass through costs of the incumbent regulated electricity provider. These are then applied as part of the price control process to regulated electricity tariffs.
The latest adjustment to regulated electricity prices in Northern Ireland follows a 14% reduction in electricity tariffs announced by the Utility Regulator last autumn.
Confirming the July 1 increase in regulated electricity tariffs, the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator said the reasoning behind the increase is almost entirely due to wholesale gas price increases related to power generation.
Commenting on the increase Stephen Wheeler, Airtricity Managing Director, said:
"Over the winter period Airtricity endeavoured to keep electricity bills as low as possible. Despite our concerns last October regarding rising wholesale energy costs throughout the rest of the United Kingdom, we reduced our electricity prices in Northern Ireland by 14% in line with regulated tariffs movements here.
"We very much regret the need to increase our prices in Northern Ireland at this time but we are no longer in a position to continue to absorb the significant increase in wholesale costs that have impacted our business. As the Utility Regulator has pointed out local prices are vulnerable to the rising energy costs on the international markets and those costs have remained high.
"Airtricity remains committed to offering a fair price for the energy we supply and providing a range of practical and financial support measures for those struggling to pay their bills. We recognise that this type of electricity price volatility presents significant difficulty for customers in managing their household budget and we would welcome greater stability in the management of regulated tariffs in Northern Ireland."