Flogas has become the latest energy company to announce it will reduce its prices.
The supplier will reduce the variable rate for natural gas by 25 per cent and drop the variable rate for electricity by 15 per cent from March 25th.
This amounts to a saving of €274 on the average electric bill and €429 for the average gas bill.
However smart meter tariffs remain unchanged for now. Flogas is also decreasing its standing charge for gas by 10 per cent.
It is the second time Flogas has reduced prices in just over four months, and follows recent price cuts from Energia, Bord Gáis Energy and Electric Ireland.
Flogas last decreased its prices in November when it cut its gas and electricity prices by 30 per cent each.
Daragh Cassidy, from comparison site bonkers.ie, said that despite the sizeable reductions, which are larger than those announced by its rivals in recent months, Flogas's previous high rates mean its new prices are similar to the rest of the competition.
"Today's reductions now bring its standard rates into line with the rest of the competition for the first time in around two years," Mr Cassidy said.
"However Flogas’s energy prices still remain significantly above where they were around three or four years ago before Covid and then the war in Ukraine wreaked havoc with energy prices.
"Looking forward, the good news is that wholesale gas and electricity prices continue to fall. They’re still at quite high levels but if the trend continues, barring another economic shock of some sort, it's very likely we’ll see a third price decrease from Flogas of a similar size in the second half of the year I think."
The latest Central Stastics Office (CSO) figures show wholesale electricity prices fell 68 per cent last year as energy costs continued to decline from their 2022 peak.
Electricity prices fell by 27.6 per cent in December alone and were 67.8 per cent lower year on year. The agency’s energy products index was down by 22.7 per cent since November 2023 and was down by 60.3 per cent when compared with December 2022.
Energy prices, which had been on an upward surge in the wake of Covid, spiked after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, reaching a peak in August that year.
Wholesale electricity prices rose by 194.9 per cent between August 2021 and August 2022, with the wholesale price of electricity peaking at almost €400 per MWh (Megawatt Hour), versus an average of about €38 per MWh for all of 2020.
While wholesale prices have fallen sharply in the last 12 months, consumer groups have complained that energy companies are not passing on the lower prices to consumers quickly enough. The CSO’s latest consumer price index shows electricity prices for consumers fell by just 15.2 per cent last year.
