PrepayPower has announced that it is to increase its price for electricity by 9.9%, from 1 December.
It is the energy provider's fourth increase this year and will impact around 170,000 electricity customers.
The company said the changes will increase the average weekly cost for electricity for a typical customer by €3.89, or €200 a year.
The company has also confirmed that there will be no change to the company's gas prices at this time, and that no further increases in gas or electricity unit costs are expected this winter.
It said the increase will be applied to the unit rate of electricity and there is no change to the standing charges.
The company had previously increased prices already earlier this month, with electricity prices having risen by 19%, and gas prices rising by 29%.
Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at bonkers.ie said the news will come as a blow to households this winter, especially as there has been a lot of talk about falling energy prices on global markets in recent days.
"But we need to remember that prices have fallen from astronomical highs and are nowhere near the price for us to see household energy bills come down," he said. "At one stage during summer the price of gas was up by over 1,200% compared to early 2021. It's now up by around 500%, though it’s very volatile. However energy bills have gone up by around 140% over the past 18 months. So you can clearly see that although prices have fallen, it’s really only protecting us from further price increases."
PrepayPower has also released data that it said shows that users who commenced the service in 2021 saved an average of 8.4% on their consumption of electricity compared to what they had been previously paying on bill pay.
A spokesman said that while the company is pleased to be able to hold gas prices at current levels as a result of its hedging operations, "unfortunately, even though there is some volatility on spot prices at present, the fact remains that longer term wholesale electricity and gas prices are four times their historic norms".
He said it has left PrepayPower with no option but to increase prices for electricity customers.
"However, it is important to note that after this increase, we will continue to have the lowest standard unit rate for electricity and gas of any operator in the market in Ireland as we have kept successive price increases as low as possible.
"We also believe that this will be the last increase necessary for winter 2022," he said.
The company today confirmed that it has a support fund of €750,000 to help customers and it works with MABS to help focus supports on those most in need.
Mr Cassidy said, "The Government's €600 energy credit will start being paid from next month as will the €400 fuel allowance top-up payment. This will help take the sting out of rising prices for households as will the double social welfare payment that was announced in the recent budget."
He said even after today's news, "Prepaypower’s average bills remain among the lowest in the market, which is highly unusual for a prepay energy provider and it’s welcome to hear that it doesn’t expect to have to increase prices again over the coming months."
