NEWS

Sunday 25 October 2026 Households across Northern Ireland are being urged to stay alert to bogus callers as darker evenings approach, with NI Water reminding residents never to allow anyone into their home without first checking their identity. The utility company has issued fresh advice on how to recognise genuine employees, safely check identification and use a police verification service if someone arrives unexpectedly claiming to be from NI Water, Water Service or the Wat

Saturday 17 October 2026 A County Down gas engineer has been jailed for six months after carrying out illegal gas work at a Belfast property despite being subject to a prohibition notice preventing him from undertaking such work. Ian Campbell, trading as M.G.B Gas and Building Services, was sentenced at Laganside Crown Court on Friday 16 October after pleading guilty to three health and safety offences and a separate charge of fraud by misrepresentation. The court heard that

The Garron Plateau overlooking the Antrim coast Saturday 17 October 2026 Plans for a major wind farm in the Antrim Glens have come under renewed scrutiny after Mid and East Antrim Borough Council maintained its concerns over the development’s potential impact on one of Northern Ireland’s most distinctive landscapes. The proposed Unshinagh Wind Farm, located approximately five miles south-west of Carnlough and five miles west of Glenarm, has been scaled back from 14 turbines t

Lauren McGaughey, Openreach NI Director (right), with an Openreach engineer Thursday 15 October 2026 Around 35,000 households and businesses across Northern Ireland still need to move away from the old analogue telephone network before a major switch-off deadline on 31 January 2027, with warnings that medical devices, security alarms and other essential equipment could be affected. With fewer than 15 weeks remaining, Openreach is urging customers to check not only their landl

Sunday 27 September 2026 Almost half of Northern Ireland households have never switched electricity supplier, despite a sharp rise in consumers shopping around for a new provider and more than 112,000 domestic customers changing supplier during 2025. New figures from the Utility Regulator show 404,004 domestic electricity customers — 47% of the market — had never moved from the incumbent supplier by the end of last year, although that proportion has fallen from 49% in 2024. T

Thursday 17 September 2026 Around 860,000 households across Northern Ireland will receive £63 off their electricity costs from 6 October, with support applied automatically to bill-paying and keypad customers. The Household Electricity Discount Scheme is not means-tested and the amount does not depend on how much electricity a household uses. No application is needed. For pre-pay and keypad customers, there is an important detail: anyone wanting the full £63 credit in one go

Hundreds of heating oil customers are set to receive compensation after suppliers cancelled orders as prices surged following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) intervened amid concerns that some cancellations may have breached customers’ contracts, leaving households facing substantially higher costs to secure replacement fuel — or, in some cases, going without heating oil altogether. Around 800 affected customers have al

A typical Share Energy customer will face an extra £129 a year in electricity costs after the supplier confirmed a 12.6% increase in its standard 24-hour tariff from 1 October 2026. The estimated annual increase applies to both credit and prepayment customers. The Consumer Council described the rise as “very unwelcome news” for around 41,000 Share Energy consumers. Customers struggling to pay their bills or top up their meters are being urged to contact their supplier for hel

Households using Firmus Energy gas in parts of the Ballymena area are facing another increase in their energy costs this autumn, with the regulated tariff set to rise by 8.98% from 1 October. The increase will add around £87 a year to the gas bill of a typical household customer and comes only three months after Firmus Energy’s regulated Ten Towns tariff increased by 15.7% in July. For a typical customer, the latest change will take the estimated annual gas bill to around £1,

Raymond Gormley, Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, Fiona Magee, Advice NI, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, Nicole Lappin, Chair NIHE and David Blevings, Northern Ireland Oil Federation Around 340,000 households across Northern Ireland could be eligible for a new £100 payment towards the cost of home heating oil, with applications opening next month. The Home Heating Oil Support Scheme will open on Wednesday 9 September 2026, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has confi

Households across Northern Ireland are expected to receive more than £50 off their electricity bills this autumn, under plans to combine two cost-of-living measures into a single discount. Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has confirmed her department is working to finalise an agreement with the Treasury that would increase the support from the approximately £30 previously announced under the NIRO Domestic Electricity Discount Scheme. However, the original discount had be

Inset: UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham Households in Northern Ireland are set to receive financial support with electricity costs this winter after the UK Government announced plans to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills across Great Britain from 1 October. Because of post-Brexit VAT arrangements, the tax change cannot automatically apply in Northern Ireland, meaning the Northern Ireland Executive will instead receive comparable funding to ensure local households benefi

The array of solar panels positioned on the roof of Causeway Hospital in Coleraine Causeway Hospital has saved almost £142,000 on electricity costs in the first year since installing Northern Ireland’s largest solar roof on a Health and Social Care building, according to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust. The hospital’s 2,300 rooftop solar panels generated enough renewable electricity during 2025-26 to offset electricity costs by around £141,700, while also preventing

Households across Northern Ireland who rely on home heating oil could benefit from stronger consumer protections after the UK’s competition watchdog called for new regulations to better safeguard customers during periods of price volatility. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recommended that the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive introduce a new regulatory framework for the heating oil sector, arguing that the current system leaves around 1.5 million U

Around 105,000 Budget Energy customers across Northern Ireland are set to pay more for their electricity from next month after the supplier announced a 9.5% increase to its variable tariffs. The increase, which takes effect from 4 August 2026, will add around £122 a year to the bill of a typical BillPay customer and approximately £121 a year for a standard-rate keypad customer, adding further pressure to household finances at a time when electricity prices continue to rise ac

Businesses across Northern Ireland are reporting lower levels of concern about their energy bills and greater confidence in their suppliers, according to new research published by the Utility Regulator. However, despite signs of improvement, around one in five businesses remain worried about the cost of energy, underlining the continued pressure facing many firms as prices remain significantly higher than they were before the pandemic. The findings come from the Utility Regul

A planning application has been lodged with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council for a proposed second phase of a solar farm at Dublin Road, outside Antrim, which developers say could generate enough electricity to power more than 5,000 homes. The proposal is for a 20MW solar farm and associated infrastructure, including ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on support frames, two transformer cabins, fencing, CCTV cameras, an internal service road, landscaping, and

Thousands of households across Northern Ireland are set to see their electricity bills rise again next month after SSE Airtricity announced a tariff increase of 6.2%. The increase, which takes effect from 1 August 2026, will add around £76 a year to the bill of a typical credit customer and standard-rate keypad customer. For many households already dealing with higher living costs, the latest rise means annual electricity costs for a typical SSE Airtricity customer will incre

More than half a million households across Northern Ireland are facing another jump in energy costs from Friday, with both electricity and gas prices rising amid renewed pressure on global wholesale markets linked to conflict in the Middle East. Power NI customers will see electricity tariffs increase by 6.2% from 1 July 2026, while regulated firmus energy gas customers in the Ten Towns network will face a much steeper rise of 15.65%. For many families already juggling food c

Thousands of households across Northern Ireland are facing another rise in energy costs this summer after both Power NI and firmus energy announced significant price increases coming into force from 1 July. The twin increases mean many families already under pressure from rising living costs will now see both electricity and gas bills climb again within weeks, with suppliers blaming global wholesale markets, network charges and ongoing international conflict for the latest hi