Pinergy to hike electricity prices again from January

Electricity supplier Pinergy has increased unit prices again in a move consumer experts say will add roughly €320 to the average customers’ annual bill.

The company will hike the unit price of electricity by 18 per cent from January 9th, it said in a statement. The move will impact around 27,000 customers. However, the company said it is not increasing its prepay meter charge or its daily standing charge, meaning that the typical customer will see an increase of about 14 per cent.

Enda Gunnell, chief executive of Pinergy, said the company had made the decision given that “the outlook on the global wholesale markets” continues to “be very volatile and challenging going into 2023″.

“Unfortunately the momentum towards much-required market structural reforms across the European energy sector have stalled in recent weeks, including the possibility of a price cap on gas used for electricity generation,” he said. “We had hoped these changes would be in place quickly and had delayed this increase for as long as possible.”

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The move is not wholly surprising, said Darragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison site Bonkers.ie.

“As just a supplier of electricity Pinergy is making no money from generating electricity, so is highly exposed to rising energy prices on wholesale markets,” he said. “Falling wholesale electricity prices have been in the news recently so many people might be confused at today’s announcement.”

However, he said wholesale energy prices were still “at an extremely high level” following the invasion of Ukraine and that the arrival of cold weather had seen gas prices creep up in recent weeks.