Families and businesses are cutting energy use or seeking cheaper suppliers as they bid to combat soaring prices in advance of winter, early indications show.
Price increases announced in late summer, which drove some household bills past €4,000 a year, kicked in at the beginning of this month. According to initial soundings from the national electricity grid operator, Eirgrid, homes and businesses began rowing back on demand in September.
“Peak demand for electricity during the month of September was slightly lower than anticipated,” the State company confirmed.
Eirgrid cautioned that there could be many reasons for this, saying it would need more time to weigh the impact of rising costs against demand. However, industry figures say a series of price rises announced in August and September, combined with media reports of likely further hikes and potential shortages, prompted customers to begin cutting back on their everyday energy usage.
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Daragh Cassidy, head of communications with price comparison website Bonkers.ie, said on Friday that consumers had been switching their electricity suppliers at greater rates than previously as they search for cheaper prices.
The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published figures on Friday evening showing that the rate at which customers switched electricity and gas suppliers in June had accelerated on previous months.
According to the industry regulator, 45,518 customers changed electricity supplier in June. This was 84 per cent more than the 24,691 who swapped in May, and 72 per cent ahead of the 26,443 who changed their electricity company in June 2021.
On average, more than 36,000 customers a month switched electricity supplier through the first half of this year against 26,300 during the same period in 2021, the CRU report says.
“Suppliers have actually reduced their discount rates, but because prices have gone up so much, the actual amount of money that you will save is the same,” Mr Cassidy said.
He explained that before the current wave of price rises, suppliers offered discounts of up to 40 per cent, which resulted in savings of €400-€500 a year. He added that the much lower discount rates that suppliers were now offering, which are closer to 10 per cent, still reduce yearly bills by €400-€500.
In June, 8,604 customers switched gas supplier, down from 8,823 in May and 13 per cent less than the 9,920 who moved company in June 2021, the CRU figures show. However, the regulator says that on average, 11,600 people a month switched gas supplier in the first half of 2022, against 8,547 a month during the same period last year.
Mr Cassidy said that the number of people seeking advice from the company on how best to cut energy consumption was growing.
Domestic electricity and gas charges have risen by about 140 per cent in the Republic since mid 2021, when wholesale costs began accelerating on the back of rising natural gas prices on world markets.
Russia aggravated this trend in the summer by cutting supplies to Europe through the vital Nordstream One pipeline, sparking accusations from the EU that it was weaponising gas.
The price of the fuel eased in Europe in recent days as it emerged that the region has filled most of its storage capacity, while the EU announced a common buying policy to end inflationary competition between member states.
In London, a key centre for trading natural gas, it was selling at £3-£3.50 a therm — the unit in which it is traded — this week. Previously it touched highs of about £6. Up to last year, natural gas prices rarely broke £1 a therm.
