'A lot of pressure' - SSE Airtricity to increase gas prices by 19%

Northern Ireland's largest provider of natural gas, SSE Airtricity, is to increase its prices by almost 19% from 1 October for its 200,000 domestic and small business customers.

It means the annual gas bill of a typical household in the greater Belfast and west gas network areas will increase by almost £172.

The company said "unprecedented levels of volatility in global energy markets and higher wholesale gas prices" had led to the price rise.

Wholesale gas prices in the UK have effectively doubled since the US and Israel began their attack on Iran.

Colin Broomfield from the Utility Regulator said the increase would be "difficult news for many households and small businesses, particularly at a time when wider cost pressures remain a concern".

Glenn Davies owns The Upper Crust restaurant in the centre of Larne, along with his wife.

He said energy price rises were putting a lot of pressure on small businesses.

"We are a daytime restaurant running six days a week and our gas bill is already sitting at about £400.

"We are also paying about £500 a week electric, so between the two it is getting hard to contend with," he said.

"It is a tough environment, I'm in the trade 30 years and this is as tough as it's been.

"All these rises are putting a lot of pressure on business in general but for small businesses and high street businesses it is just putting more and more pressure on."

Gawn Graham, who was enjoying a coffee at The Upper Crust, said the UK government needed to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea.

"Look after your own energy first, get the off-sea oil and gas coming into Britain," he said.

"We are not really seeing the benefit of any of the money which Stormont says they are going to send to us."

Isobel Russell from Larne said the prices put "a lot of pressure" on her because she lives alone and her husband is in a care home.

"I have to put most of his money into the care home, which doesn't leave me with a lot.

"But I still have to pay what everybody else is paying for my energy costs."

She also said drilling should resume in the North Sea and that there should be more support from Stormont for people struggling.

"They're not giving us much support at the minute are they? I think they could do a lot more," she said.

A Stormont scheme which will give eligible households a £100 voucher towards home heating oil costs will open for applications next month.

Meanwhile, a separate scheme will give all households around £50 off their electricity bills in October.

Broomfield, from the Utility Regulator, said the main reason for the increase in gas prices was "the sustained rise" in the wholesale cost of gas due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

"The Iranian conflict has continued to impact energy prices globally for the past six months.

"In recent weeks, we have seen the wholesale price of gas reaching 169 pence per term. This is twice as high as pre-conflict prices."

The Middle East conflict sent global oil prices soaring as it effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's key water transport routes for oil, liquid natural gas and other essential commodities - limiting global supplies.

About 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the waterway.

The UK is heavily reliant on oil and gas imports, with the majority coming from the US and Norway.

The price of oil on the global market determines how much the UK pays for it.

Although the UK does get some oil from the North Sea, most of that is exported for refining elsewhere.

Consumer Council for Northern Ireland head of energy policy Raymond Gormley said 19.2% is "a significant amount".

"We know electricity prices went up earlier this year and oil prices are high, so it will be a tough time for consumers.

"We knew SSE didn't put their prices up during the summer, so we knew this was going to be a big number and it comes in around where we would have expected."

Gormley said there are a number of reasons for the increase, with the conflict in the Middle East being a huge factor.

"At the end of the day, before the conflict in Iran, gas prices were about 80p a therm and it is now more than double that, so we knew it was going to be a big number. It didn't come as a surprise to us, but it will be a shock to consumers."

"That area is a major oil and gas producer, so when those ships are being curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz, they are not getting out to their destinations. That means everyone is feeling the pinch and everyone else is competing for oil and gas."

Gormley said the utility regulator has done a comparison with the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and he says comparatively "we are about £60 more expensive than the rest of the UK, but about we are a few hundred pund cheaper than the Republic of Ireland".