There is welcome relief for households facing the squeeze with news that gas prices are to come down by 16% in January.

The change to domestic tariffs has been announced by the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority.

Under the Gas (Tariff Fixing) (Parameters) Regulations 2022 two tariff reviews are carried out by the regulator each year.

Announcing the outcome of the December review, CURA said: ‘Isle of Man Energy has proposed that, based on current parameters, domestic tariffs should reduce by circa 16%. The authority expects that Isle of Man Energy will publish a full tariff list from January 1, 2024.’

The regulator said it was satisfied that the assumptions made by Isle of Man Energy as part of the tariff setting process were reasonable and reflected the most recently available information – and it saw no reason to intervene at this point.

Isle of Man Energy’s tariffs fell from a record high of 22.21p per unit to 16.67p per unit in November last year following a regulator’s review after a big drop in wholesale gas prices. Tariffs were cut again to 13.98p from March 1,

While gas prices are coming down, electricity, water and sewerage charges are all going up next year, adding £110 to bills for the average household.

Manx Utilities said its standard domestic rate electricity tariff will increase from 30.0 to 31.7 pence per unit from April 1, meaning domestic customers can expect to see an average annual increase of £70.

The average annual increase for domestic water customers is expected to be £21 per household. Domestic customers can also expect to see an average increase of £19 per household for sewerage.