SSE Airtricity to hike electricity prices by 6.9% - MSE News 2 September 2019 at 2:59PM in Energy 1 reply 445 views

MSE_Andrew

Northern Ireland's second largest energy supplier, SSE Airtricity, is to hike electricity prices by 6.9%, meaning the typical bill for those on its standard tariff will jump by £39/year...

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SSE Airtricity to hike electricity prices by 6.9%'

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tk47

Unlike in England and Wales, where standard prices have come down due to Ofgem's price cap, SSE Airticity's prices aren't regulated and the supplier is free to increase them.

I'm not in Northern Ireland, but do understand they have different suppliers to the rest of the UK, and their choice is severely restricted by comparison.

However, we chose Symbio Energy as our electricity supplier at the beginning of last month (August). Whilst they were the cheapest energy supplier for us, and seemingly for many others, they strangely do not appear on the MSE Chaep Energy Club, despite a request from our Board Guide to MSE to have them included.

Anyway, I have digressed.

What I was going to say was that if I check Symbio's tariffs today, they would be at least 15% more expensive for us than the deal we secured with them last month, although they would still be one of the cheapest electricity suppliers for us.

Yorkshire Energy, who were also very close in the potential running for us, have also significantly increased their electricity prices so much so, they would not even be in the potential running if we were to switch today.

I think what I am suggesting is that electricity prices seem to be currently on the rise, irrespective of any price cap Ofgem may impose, as that price cap only applies to suppliers most expensive, standard variable rates ... which as MSE articles often profess, can be beaten by an average user by around £250pa or more. They can even be beaten significantly in many cases, just by transferring to a different tariff with the same supplier.

But as I said, this does not apply to those in Northern Ireland.
Except, to us, it doesn't just seem to be just Northern Ireland that is experiencing increasing electricity prices.