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SSE Airtricity lifts gas prices almost 19% for Northern Ireland's homes and small businesses
SSE Airtricity raised gas prices by almost 19% on Thursday for its 200,000 home and small business customers in Northern Ireland. Small firms on that tariff go into winter facing the same jump in their heating costs as the families on it.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- A typical household in the greater Belfast and west gas network areas will pay almost £172 more a year for gas.
- UK wholesale gas prices have effectively doubled since the US and Israel began their attack on Iran, the BBC reported.
- Firmus energy customers also face a 12.5% rise, according to a Belfast student who received the supplier's letter.
- Share Energy is raising electricity prices by 12.6%, adding £129 a year to the typical bill across its 41,000 customers.
Compiled by The Board RoomSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- decision Winter budgets set now depend on a wholesale price the BBC ties to the Iran conflict, so small firms have to decide how much cash to hold against a second tariff move.
- constraint With Firmus and Share Energy also raising bills, by 12.5% and 12.6%, a Northern Ireland customer who switches supplier is choosing among increases.
- exposure People dying at home take the rise on above-normal energy use, and a Marie Curie nurse says some already refuse care services because they cannot pay to power them.
Working back from the household figures, a rise of almost £172 on almost 19% implies a typical gas bill of roughly £900 a year before Thursday and roughly £1,080 after it [14]. Both inputs are given as "almost", so the baseline is approximate. A small firm on the tariff can apply the percentage to its own gas spend [4]. The BBC report does not split the 200,000 customers between homes and businesses, and it does not give a typical business bill.
SSE Airtricity is Northern Ireland's largest natural gas provider [3]. It said "unprecedented levels of volatility in global energy markets and higher wholesale gas prices" had led to the rise [1]. Its explanation stays with world markets. The link to the Iran conflict comes from the BBC, through its wholesale figure [2]. A wholesale price that has doubled and a retail tariff up almost 19% are a long way apart. We do not know yet whether the tariff moves again this winter if wholesale prices stay at that level.
For a small firm, the trade-off this quarter is between budgeting winter gas at the new tariff and holding cash back against a second rise. If the firm budgets at the tariff, it is short if wholesale gas stays doubled into the new year [2]. If it holds a reserve, that cash sits idle if prices ease. The choice in this quarter's budget decides whether next quarter's gas bill arrives as a planned cost or as a shortfall.
Households are doing the same sums. Ryan McStay, the student whose Firmus letter set out a 12.5% rise, said he and his flatmates were "shocked" [6]. "It shouldn't be normalised," he told BBC News NI [13]. On typical bills, a household buying gas from SSE Airtricity and electricity from Share Energy would pay about £301 more a year [15]. Lucy Kells, a mother of two on maternity leave in east Belfast, said: "You have to cut somewhere else and I already feel we are doing that." [12]
The pressure is also showing up in public buildings and in care at home. Nuala Hyde, branch manager at Woodstock Library in east Belfast, said: "As well as families, we have lots of older people coming in now to keep warm." [8] Naomi Campbell, a Marie Curie nurse who gives palliative care in patients' homes, said "the problem is that your energy needs increase hugely when you're dying at home" [9]. Marie Curie has called for a "social tariff" for people with terminal illnesses [11].
What to watch
- Any further SSE Airtricity tariff announcement this winter while UK wholesale gas stays at roughly double its level before the attack on Iran.
- Whether SSE Airtricity publishes a typical small business bill or the split of its 200,000 customers between homes and firms.
- A response from government or suppliers to Marie Curie's call for a social tariff for people with terminal illnesses.