PrepayPower to freeze energy prices for winter

PrepayPower, Ireland's leading pay-as-you-go energy supplier, has announced a price freeze for its customers this winter. This decision will ensure that the company's 200,000 customers will not face any price hikes until at least March 2027. PrepayPower serves approximately 180,000 electricity customers and 60,000 gas customers.

In previous years, the provider, along with its sister company Yuno Energy and Electric Ireland, implemented a similar price freeze, but in June, PrepayPower hiked electricity prices by 8.8% and gas prices by 10.6%. Despite rising wholesale energy costs and concerns over European gas supplies, PrepayPower's decision to freeze prices comes amid fears of increased energy costs.

The Central Statistics Office revealed that energy prices jumped by 15.3% in the year to September. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has introduced enhanced protection measures for energy customers this winter. These measures include changes to repayment terms for those in arrears, seeking practical solutions within suppliers' support frameworks before referring customers to organizations like MABS or SVP, and suspending the €200 charge for moving from a gas pay-as-you-go meter to a credit meter.

The CRU also mandates that emergency credit on prepayment meters should remain at €20, and suppliers must place customers with financial hardship meters on their lowest-cost tariff.