Yuno Energy latest to increase electricity and gas prices

Yuno Energy is increasing its prices by 9.5% for electricity and by 11% for gas from 1 July.

The price rises will add around €168 to an average household's annual electricity bill, and roughly €156 to yearly gas bills.

This will be supplier's first price increase since it was launched in August 2023.

Yuno, which has around 100,000 electricity and gas customers, said the increase is a "result of rising wholesale energy costs linked to the war in the Middle East".

At the start of May, Yuno's sister company PrepayPower also announced price hikes (8.8.% for electricity, and 10.6% for gas), which will take effect from next week.

While yesterday Electric Ireland, the largest domestic energy supplier in the country with around 1.1 million customers, said it will be raising its prices for both electricity (+8%) and gas (+7.7%) from the start of July.

Managing Director of Yuno Energy Margaret O'Connor said the energy provider had "held our prices for the three years since we launched - including through the recent winter when many other suppliers increased their rates.

"Unfortunately, due to the impact of the Middle East war on wholesale energy prices we can no longer delay this increase," she added.

Wholesale gas prices have risen by more than 40% in recent months as a direct result of the conflict in the Middle East, and in Ireland nearly half of all of the country's electricity is generated using gas.

Together with its price-rise announcement today, Yuno has also said its export rates for solar customers will rise by 8% - which will increase the amount households receive for sending unused electricity generated by solar panels back to the grid.

Darragh Cassidy, head of communications at comparison site Bonkers.ie said that while other energy companies had raised electricity prices late last year, Yuno and Electric Ireland had held steady until now.

"This meant that up until now, these suppliers' electricity prices had been significantly lower than the rest of the market," he said. "This increase effectively just brings Yuno's electricity prices back into line with the rest of the market.

"So it’s not necessarily the start of another widespread round of electricity price hikes across the market for now."

However he did warn that the significant increase in wholesale gas prices in recent months was putting pressure on that side of the energy market.

He also encouraged customers to shop around for the best deal.

"Despite the rising prices, there is still strong competition among energy suppliers for new customers and many are offering significant introductory discounts to those who switch," he said.