Manweb to cut electricity prices by 1% from July

MANWEB is to cut electricity prices by an average 1 per cent from 1 July and will introduce new tariffs designed to help low users, writes Mary Fagan. The move follows a trend among electricity suppliers to cut or freeze bills under pressure from the regulator, Offer.

Last year the average increase in bills was one point below the inflation rate of around 3 per cent. Offer said yesterday that the prospects for prices in 1993-94 were encouraging despite plans to impose value added tax on fuel bills. This should be partly offset by lower coal prices now paid by the generators, National Power and PowerGen, and by lower inflation.

Professor Stephen Littlechild, director-general of Offer, is at present reviewing the formulae that control increases in electricity supply and distribution.

In Offer's annual report, published yesterday, Prof Littlechild warned that the reviews would bring greater pressure to bear on companies' margins and give firmer protection to customers.

On the review of electricity distrubution charges, he said: 'The revised price controls will need to reflect appropriate levels of capital relative to risk, with no assumption that the present levels of profit are appropriate for the future.'