Wilson calls on government to address Northern Ireland’s gas reliance

Northern Ireland electricity supplier Share Energy will raise its prices by 12.6% from 1 October, the company has announced. The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland said the increase would add about £129 a year to the annual electricity costs of the supplier’s credit and prepayment customers.

Share Energy chief executive Damian Wilson said the increase reflected “exceptional volatility” in energy markets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing instability in the Middle East. “Over the last two years, the energy market has faced one external shock after another,” Wilson said. “Throughout that period, we’ve worked hard to shield our customers from the full impact, absorbing costs where we could and delaying increases for as long as it was responsible to do so.”

Wilson said the company had reached a point where “the combined impact of wholesale energy costs and regulated network and system costs is simply too significant for us to continue absorbing.” He said the company would contact customers directly with the new prices and would “look to reflect” any future fall in costs in what customers pay. Share Energy said it would offer support to customers having difficulty paying their bills.

The company, which entered Northern Ireland’s electricity market in 2004, is owned by local businesspeople with experience in the renewable electricity industry and says it is committed to sharing half its profits with customers. It has 41,092 customers — 417 commercial and 40,675 domestic.

Wilson said the price increase was not taken lightly and called on the government to address the Northern Ireland electricity sector’s over-reliance on gas.

Raymond Gormley, head of energy policy at the Consumer Council, called the announcement “very unwelcome news.” Gormley encouraged consumers to review how they paid for energy and to see whether they could reduce costs. He said anyone struggling to pay electricity bills or to top up a prepayment meter should contact their supplier for help and advice.

Share Energy is the latest of several Northern Ireland energy suppliers to announce price increases. SSE Airtricity has notified customers of a 19% gas price increase. Firmus Energy and Budget Energy have also announced price increases; Budget Energy’s was 9.5%.