Energy company Airtricity has said it will increase its monthly electricity standing charge by €1.70 (including VAT) from April 1.

It also announced an increase in its gas standing charge by €1.14 (including VAT) a month. Customers who source both gas and electricity from Airtricity will see their joint bill rise by €34.05 a year.

The company has 600,000 electricity and gas customers. It said it regretted the increases but said they were necessary due to its debt costs and continuing difficult market conditions.

It said it will not increase standing charges for its customers on pre-pay meters. The company also said that about 65,000 customer accounts - about 10% of its total - are in arrears of which around 10,000 have agreed payment plans with the firm.

Since last October, Airtricity said it had arranged for the installation of 547 new electricity pay-as-you-go meters. It said it has had to double the number of staff allocated to collecting debt in its credit division.

''We very much regret that we must increase our standing charges at this time,'' commented Airtricity managing director Stephen Wheeler.

''Unfortunately we have seen a significant increase in our costs related to recovering debt in addition to a considerable deterioration in our debt profile. The increases announced today are necessary to ensure that we maintain a sustainable cost base,'' he added.

In a statement, the Commission for Energy Regulation said that competition among electricity suppliers for customers has resulted in the Irish electricity market being de-regulated since April 2011.

''This means that all electricity suppliers set their own electricity prices without prior approval from the regulator. It is up to the supplier to justify such changes,'' it added.

The CER said it encourages customers to shop around among energy suppliers to get the best possible price and service deal. It also said it is continuing to monitor the market and if it sees evidence of customer harm, it is prepared to intervene.