Wholesale electricity prices – the prices that suppliers pay to generators – fell nearly 30% in the 12 months to April, the latest Central Statistics Office figures show.
Wholesale electricity prices had rocketed in the period after Russian invasion of Ukraine, and today’s figures show they have fallen back nearly 60% since April 2022 and 77% since they peaked in August 2022.
The figures are good news for domestic consumers who can expect further cuts to the rates they are paying for their electricity.
Earlier this month, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities said it expects further price reduction from suppliers in the coming months.
However, the regulator also said a return to retail prices levels like those in 2021 is unlikely as wholesale energy prices are still higher than they were at that time.
Commenting on today’s CSO figures, Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at bonkers.ie, said that although wholesale prices have fallen by almost 80% since the height of the energy crisis in the autumn of 2022, they still remain just over double pre energy crisis levels.
“As a result household gas and electricity bills remain very high,” he said.
“Nevertheless, given where wholesale prices currently are, it’s highly likely we’ll see another round of price cuts over the coming months of between 10-20%. This comes on the back of two rounds of price cuts introduced since last September that have seen energy bills fall by around 20-25% already,” he said.
He also urged consumers to seriously consider switching energy supplier.
“Anyone on standard rates will be paying around 37 or 38 cent per kilowatt hour including VAT for their electricity at present. But rates as low as 24 or 25 cent are now on offer to new customers, which equates to a saving of around €500 for the average household,” he pointed out.
“It’s a huge difference. And it’s similar for gas,” he added.
Today’s CSO figures also show that the overall Energy Products Index was up by 2.3% since March but fell by 21.3% when compared with April of last year.
Meanwhile, producer prices for food products rose by 0.5% in the month but dropped by 6.6% compared to the same time last year.
The CSO said that producer prices for dairy products dropped by 0.4% in April compared to March, while they are down 22.1% on April 2023.
Other food categories showed notable changes in April included Other Food Products, which fell by 6.8%, while grain milling, starches and animal feeds, which were down 5.7%. But the wholesale prices of fish and fish products rose by 6.9%.
The CSO said that wholesale price inflation showed an increase in April with a rise of 0.8% in the overall Producer Price Index for manufacturing industries in the month.
It noted that producer prices for products sold on the domestic market were 2.2% lower in April of this year compared to the same time last year, while export producer prices rose by 4.2% and overall producer prices were up by 3.8%.
Article Source – Annual wholesale electricity prices fell by almost 30% in April – CSO – RTE
