East Belfast Ulster Unionist MLA and Chair of the All-Party Group on Fuel Poverty Andy Allen MBE has called for urgent action to support households at greatest risk after SSE Airtricity announced a 18.97% per cent increase in gas prices from 1 October.

The increase will affect more than 200,000 domestic customers across the Greater Belfast and West gas networks, adding around £172 to £174 to a typical annual bill.

Andy Allen said:

“This is a near 19 per cent increase arriving just as many households will begin turning their heating back on. For a typical customer, it means finding another £170 or more each year simply to use the same amount of gas.

“People will understand that instability in global energy markets has driven up wholesale costs, but that explanation does not make the bill any easier to pay. Close to one in four households here are already in fuel poverty and many people are rationing their heating. A rise on this scale has the potential to push more households into hardship.

“The £100 home heating oil payment and the proposed electricity discount of over £50 will provide some help, but neither directly addresses this increase for gas-heated homes. The Executive must now consider how targeted support can reach gas customers most at risk, rather than allowing a gap to open depending on how someone heats their home.

“That support must include low-income working households who often miss out, as well as older people, disabled people and customers using prepayment meters. SSE Airtricity should also contact customers proactively and make the help and payment options available to them clear before the new tariff takes effect.

“The Utility Regulator must keep the tariff under close review and ensure that any fall in wholesale costs is passed back to customers promptly.

“Longer term, this again underlines why delivery of the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy matters. The new Warm Healthy Homes Fund is not due to begin until April 2027, so existing support must be properly funded through this winter and there must be no drift in getting the new scheme up and running. Reducing household energy bills must be a priority for this Executive and remain one for the next.

“Ministers have just over a month before this increase takes effect. They should use that time to set out clearly what support will be available.”