Almost a quarter of all household gas customers have been in arrears in paying their bills this year, according to the latest figures from energy watchdog the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
Energy prices – particularly wholesale gas prices – rose sharply last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The CRU’s chairman Jim Gannon is expected to tell the Oireachtas Environment Committee on Tuesday it “remains very concerned” at the impact of high prices on households and businesses, and the commission continues to “encourage all suppliers to reduce prices as soon as possible”.
Some 160,399 domestic gas customers – 23 per cent of the overall total – were in arrears as of March 31st, up more than 20,600 since the end of last year.
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There was an improving situation in terms of the number of domestic electricity customers in arrears with 199,790 – or 9 per cent – said behind on their bills at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
That’s down almost 27,900 since the end of 2022 and the committee is to be told that the number of domestic electricity customers in arrears remains below pre-Ukraine war levels.
The series of €200 emergency electricity credits brought in by the Government are believed to have helped reduce the number of electricity customers in arrears.
There was no similar scheme for gas customers.
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According to Mr Gannon’s opening statement to the committee, the electricity credits “have had a positive impact on electricity arrears with the level of arrears reducing but have tended to rebound quickly to pre-credit levels”.
“The impact of the credit has had less of an observable impact more recently, due to contributing factors including high prices, elevated winter consumption and the extended moratorium on disconnections,” it said.
There were increases in both the number of non-domestic electricity and gas customers in arrears at the end of March.
Some 43,530 non-domestic electricity customers were in arrears at that time, up from 38,657 at the end of 2023.
The number of non-domestic gas users in arrears at the end of March stood at 8,045, up from 6,741 at the end of December.
Mr Gannon is expected to outline how falling wholesale prices have resulted in retail electricity prices “remaining stable” since December 2022, but “still at significantly elevated levels compared to pre-2021″.
About one in five domestic electricity and gas customers switched suppliers between November 2021 and October 2022.
However, his statement says switching figures have since declined by more than 50 per cent in both electricity and gas from their peak rates in September 2022 “coinciding with the decline in supplier price increases”.
The CRU’s opening statement says it does not expect to see any marked rise in disconnections following the lifting of a moratorium on March 31st.
This is due to “the thorough process suppliers must follow and the fact that suppliers will not disconnect engaging customers”.
Mr Gannon is to tell the meeting that it “remains very concerned at the impact of high energy prices on households and businesses”.
It adds: “The recent reductions in wholesale gas and electricity prices are welcome, and we have seen recent announcements by some suppliers of price reductions in certain customer segments.
“However, it is important to note that wholesale gas prices remain at over two times the historic norms.”
Mr Gannon says that due to supplier “hedging” the majority of customers “were protected from the worst impacts of the volatility and extremely high prices of 2022, when wholesale gas prices peaked at 10 times the historic norms”.
However, the same hedging contracts and practices “can mean that the pass-through of wholesale price reductions to the retail market are not seen for a period of time”.
The CRU statement said it was encouraging all suppliers to reduce prices as soon as possible.
The committee will also be updated on smart meters for electricity customers with more than 1.2 million now installed.
There are currently more than 160,000 consumers availing of smart data services and close to 80,000 on smart tariffs.
Mr Gannon’s statement says: “We would note that for the majority of suppliers, the estimated annual bills for smart services tariffs are now better value for consumers than the traditional 24-hour tariffs and that there are continued positive trends on the competitiveness of these tariffs.”
