Energy providers will have little option but to respond to price drop – minister

Finance Minister Michael McGrath has welcomed an energy provider’s decision to drop its prices in the new year and said other companies will have “little option but to respond”.

SSE Airtricity announced that from February 1 2024 it is decreasing its standard unit rates by 12.8% for electricity and by 11.5% for gas.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Mr McGrath said that the budgetary inflation forecast for this year is still 5%, and 3% for next year, but that there was “a lot of volatility in wholesale energy prices”.

“The move by SSE Airtricity is really to be welcomed and I think the nature of competitive forces means that other providers will have little option but to respond,” he said.

“We are continuing to see a lot of volatility in wholesale energy prices, so it is difficult to predict the future, but this is a significant move by SSE Airtricity and you would imagine will inevitably result in a response by other providers who want to protect their own commercial interests and their market share.

“Of course, consumers do have a role to play here in comparing offers not just in the per-unit price that are being charged, but also the standing charges that are part of the packages, so people do have a role through their own behaviour in driving down energy prices as well because those who you know are the most competitive, the providers, should be rewarded, and then that will drive change among other operators in the sector as well.”