Iberdrola adds €18 to electricity bills in third price hike this year

Supplier blames rising wholesale charges for move

Iberdrola is adding 17.5 per cent to its electricity charges, increasing the average family’s bill by €18.09 a month. Photograph: iStock
Iberdrola is adding 17.5 per cent to its electricity charges, increasing the average family’s bill by €18.09 a month. Photograph: iStock

Energy supplier Iberdrola’s customers face monthly bill increases of up to €18 from October when the company will hike prices for the third time this year.

Iberdrola is adding 17.5 per cent to its electricity charges, increasing the average family's bill by €18.09 a month.

The company is also boosting gas prices by 17.5 per cent, meaning households will pay €12.81 extra on average for this fuel.

Iberdrola blamed rising wholesale energy prices and ongoing issues with the Irish electricity grid for the move.

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Sean O’Loughlin, head of Iberdrola Ireland said: “While we always try to keep prices as low as possible, we’ve seen rocketing wholesale energy prices in recent months.”

Added €420

Daragh Cassidy, spokesman for price comparison business, Bonkers.ie, calculated that Iberdrola's three increases this year had added €420 to the cost of electricity over 12 months and over €250 to annual gas bills.

“There seems to be a crisis in the energy market at present as rapidly increasing prices in the wholesale cost of energy are being passed on to consumers, coupled with a lack of electricity output due to power plants being down,” he said.

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O’Halloran covers energy, construction, insolvency, and gaming and betting, among other areas