The ESB has confirmed that annual electricity bills for households will rise by 4.9% from October 1 as a result of the Public Service Obligation (PSO) Levy, which will be applied on all ESB customers.
The company said that, apart from the levy, there were no changes to its prices for the period from October 1.
An ESB statement said the company had lowered prices to residential customers by 12% over the past two years. It said bills from October, after applying the PSO Levy, would still be 7% lower than they were two years earlier.
The PSO levy, which had been postponed, is being imposed on all electricity customers from October.
The Commission for Energy Regulation says the proceeds of the levy are used to recoup the additional costs incurred by the ESB and other electricity suppliers in having to source a proportion of their electricity supplies from renewable energy suppliers and indigenous fuels such as peat.
Disconnection figures lower than reported - Tutty
Meanwhile, energy regulator Michael Tutty has said the number of people who have had their gas or electricity supply cut off because they cannot pay their bills is only half the number quoted in recent newspaper reports.
He told the Oireachtas Economic Regulatory Affairs committee that the figures published relate to the number of disconnection notices issued.
Mr Tutty said only about half of these go ahead - as some people pay up, or are not cut off on compassionate grounds.
He also told the committee that the 4.9% rise in electricity prices from October 1 could not be postponed. He said that Public Service Obligation levy was part of the law and was not under the control of his office.
