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BUDGET 2023: Energy discount scheme extended, but households in north face sharp rise in electricity tariffs next month

Domestic electricity prices are set to rise by around 10p per unit from that start of April in the north

The scheme to reduce the price domestic households pay for a unit of electricity and gas will continue for another three months.
The scheme to reduce the price domestic households pay for a unit of electricity and gas will continue for another three months. The scheme to reduce the price domestic households pay for a unit of electricity and gas will continue for another three months.

A SCHEME to reduce the price of electricity and gas for households will continue until the end of June, but consumers in the north still face a sharp rise in electricity costs next month.

The UK Government has confirmed the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will run for another three months.

But the rate of discount will be substantially reduced in Northern Ireland from April 1, with domestic electricity users faced with paying an extra 10p per kilowatt hour (kWh) – the unit suppliers charge by.

The discount for a unit of gas is falling from 3.9p per kWh to 2.6p from next month.

The EPG was primarily designed for Britain, where a price cap is set on the maximum amount energy companies are allowed to charge domestic customers for gas and electricity.

It was rolled out a month late here, with households in the north getting a slightly better discount to make up for that.

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Between November and December, the EPG reduced every unit of electricity by 19.9p per kWh, with gas customers seeing a 4.8p reduction per kWh of gas.

That was reduced to 13.6p/kWh for electricity and 3.9p/kWh for gas on January 1 2023.

Suppliers have automatically applied the reductions to consumer bills.

The EPG scheme was due to end on March 31, but the UK Government announced on Wednesday it will run on for another three months.

By then, it’s hoped that the lower wholesale gas prices will feed through into what suppliers charge their customers.

But adjusting the EPG scheme to the Northern Ireland electricity market for the three month extension has produced a much smaller discount here for electricity users in particular.

Instead of a 13.6p/kWh discount for every unit of electricity, households will have just 3.77p/kWh taken from every unit from next month.

Some energy suppliers have already responded to the falling price of wholesale natural gas.

Firmus is set to introduce its second cut this year from April for domestic customers on the Ten Towns and Greater Belfast networks.

Tariffs charged by the north’s largest electricity supplier, Power NI, are currently being reviewed by the Utility Regulator, with an announcement expected soon.

Meanwhile, the north’s Utility Regulator has issued an open letter to all domestic energy suppliers in the north over the standard of customer service in recent months.

Interim chief executive Kevin Shiels said: “We have been made aware of some poor examples of supplier contact centre performance over an extended period.”

He said the regulator had been monitoring contact centre metrics from all domestic suppliers since November.

“Overall, we have found that the performance of the contact centres of some NI energy suppliers has fallen below what we would consider to be an acceptable standard, particularly in the months of late 2022 and early 2023. 

“Evidence received to date would indicate that some suppliers are performing well, however some are falling well below standard and on occasions to worryingly levels.

“For the latter instances, we will be following up with immediate effect to ascertain any potential non-compliance, pursuant to our enforcement procedure.”