The Consumer Council has said it is frustrated that Budget Energy, the third domestic electricity supplier in Northern Ireland, has announced it too will be increasing its prices by up to 17.96 per cent from 1 July 2013.

Consumer Council Chief Executive, Antoinette McKeown said: "It is very poor that Budget Energy has followed Airtricity and Power NI and decided to increase prices by as much as 17.96 per cent. We appreciate increases sometimes are necessary, but it is frustrating to see such high increases applied by the three largest domestic electricity suppliers here, especially when consumers are struggling financially. Competition should offer more choice for consumers, with suppliers striving to give the best deal to attract customers. We need to see more competitive spirit from electricity suppliers here, as the last three weeks’ announcements do nothing to instil confidence in competition.

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"However, consumers who shop around and switch could still save up to £108 on average per year. In fact, there are four ways to save: change your supplier; change your payment method; change the way you receive your bills; or change a combination of all of these. In other words the biggest savings will come from switching to a different supplier, switching to direct debit or pay as you go, and getting your bills online instead of by post.

"The Consumer Council has updated our electricity price comparison table to reflect the new prices coming in from 1 July. We recommend that all electricity consumers check our price comparison table and get a copy of our step by step guide to switching supplier. These have all the information people need to check if they can make savings and take them through the process to do so."

(CD/MH)