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Higher gas bills on the way for 80,000 firmus customers

Firmus energy is hiking gas bills by 12.2 per cent from the end of this month
Firmus energy is hiking gas bills by 12.2 per cent from the end of this month Firmus energy is hiking gas bills by 12.2 per cent from the end of this month

FIRMUS energy is hiking gas bills from the end of this month by a whopping 12.2 per cent - roughly £60 a year - for its 80,000 domestic and business customers.

The rise, its first in three years, comes just days after rival provider SSE Airtricity announced a 7.6 per cent hike for more than 142,000 if its customers.

Both utility firms have blamed the tariff increase on external factors, including sustained increases in global wholesale gas costs which have soared by more than 50 per cent in the last year.

“We understand the importance of price stability for customers and apologise for this increase in prices," firmus managing director Michael Scott said.

“We appreciate this is not good news for customers, but this tariff change is driven by the rising wholesale natural gas commodity market.”

Firmus supplies to around 30,000 customers in the area known as ‘Ten Towns’ (these include Antrim, Armagh, Ballymena, Craigavon Derry and Newry) along with another 50,000 customers in the greater Belfast area.

Both the firmus and Airtricity tariff rises have been approved by the Utility Regulator, which acts on behalf of consumers to ensure the price they pay reflects the actual costs of supplying the gas to their homes and businesses.

But there was better news for customers when Power NI, the north's biggest energy supplier, providing electricity to 500,000 homes and businesses, confirmed that it has no immediate plans to make its bills higher.

A spokesman said: "We try yo protect customers against high and volatile wholesale costs by hedging or buying ahead. This strategy means we do not have any plans to change tariffs this spring.”