AN INCREASE in electricity prices in Northern Ireland will cause fuel poverty in over 50,000 additional households and affect business, groups opposing the price hike have said.
Power NI, formerly NIE Energy, which services 720,000 households and has over 35,000 farm and business customers in the region, is to increase its electricity prices by 18.6 per cent as and from October 1st.
Director of the National Energy Action Northern Ireland, Pat Austin said that the price increase could result in an additional 52,000 households entering into fuel poverty.
“It is simply unacceptable that in Northern Ireland today energy prices are so high that an increasing number of households cannot afford to adequately heat their homes,” he said.
The Consumer Council described the increase as “a massive blow” for customers and called on the NI Executive to use its “huge energy purchasing power to negotiate lower prices for consumers”.
The council’s chief executive Antoinette McKeown said the increase would mean that the average household bill would rise by £92 to £588 a year on average.
“Overall, it will mean that the majority of households in Northern Ireland will have an energy bill of £2,114 per year. This is around £900 a year more than households in Great Britain, most of which rely on gas for heating.”
Business customers will see a similar increase with the exact percentage depending on their electricity consumption and tariff, a move criticised by the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association. Chief executive of the association, Glyn Roberts said it was a “major concern” for businesses in Northern Ireland: “For small traders this hike is a double blow. Hard working families will face an even greater impact on their disposable incomes . . .”
He said the NI Executive should ensure that the new extension to the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme quickly passes through the Assembly to support those affected.
Defending the increase, managing director of Power NI, Stephen McCully said the company froze prices last year and cut them by 15 per cent in 2009, but that, since then the cost of wholesale fuels used in electricity generation have increased by as much as 60 per cent.He cited recent global events such as the Japanese earthquake, upheaval in the Middle East and the increasing energy needs of the Asian economies as having contributed to rising energy costs.