CONSUMERS FACE big increases in their natural gas, home heating oil and phone bills this week, and further price rises may be on the way.
The price of natural gas goes up 20 per cent today for more than 500,000 households. For the average home, that means an extra €165 a year, or €13.75 a month, on heating bills.
An average tank of home heating oil is set to cost about €800 this winter, according to Ray Reihill, chief executive of one of the biggest domestic oil suppliers, Tedcastles.
This compares with about €500 to €600 for a tank of heating oil last year. "Home heating bills will be a big issue," Mr Reihill forecast yesterday.
Meanwhile, Eircom is increasing the cost of phone calls from tomorrow. The company says the average increase is 3.8 per cent, but an analysis shows that the cost of some short calls will rise by up to two-thirds.
The cost of a fixed line rental from the company went up earlier in the year.
The natural gas price increase was sanctioned earlier this year by the Commission for Energy Regulation, which has warned it could have to apply a further increase of the same scale from next January if world natural gas prices continued to increase.
Last month, electricity prices were increased by 17.5 per cent, also on the back of increased fossil fuel costs. Further price rises here are also possible in the coming months.
More than 500,000 households that use natural gas for heating and cooking, and an estimated 1,700 small businesses, will be hit by the price increase.
The average domestic bill for gas runs at about €822 a year. A 20 per cent increase will add €165 to this, or €13.75 a month.
From tomorrow, Eircom is changing the way it charges for calls.
The existing minimum fee charge of 6.65 cent including VAT, which includes a certain amount of call time, is being changed to a system where the call connection charge will be 5.95 cent with a further cost for every second of call time.
Prices will vary according to what phone package a customer is using and the time of day of the call. For example, a local call at peak time currently includes the connection charge and 77 seconds of call time. Under the new system, all call time will be charged on a per second basis.
While the company says the average increase is 3.8 per cent, the cost of a one-minute local daytime call will rise from 6.65 cent to 11.12 cent, an increase of 67 per cent.
MinuteBuyer, which advises large companies on their telecoms bills, claims that the changes will increase the cost of an average business phone call by 50 per cent.
It says the average business call lasts 2.19 minutes. Before Eircom's introduction of a set-up charge on all calls, a local call of this length cost 9.35 cent. From tomorrow, the same call will cost 14.27 cent.
Eircom says prices are going up because its costs are rising and because the company is coming into line with industry practice.
About 500,000 customers who are on packages would not be affected and allowances for social welfare customers had been changed to limit the impact of the increase.
The telecommunications watchdog Comreg said it no longer was responsible for regulating the price of phone calls since the EU Commission removed this power from national regulators.