Some Flogas customers are set to be worse off by close to €400 a year after the company announced energy price hikes of almost 12 per cent. The company said it was increasing the cost of its domestic electricity by 10.9 per cent while its domestic gas is to go up by 11.8 per cent.According to Flogas, the electricity price increase will add €4.11 on to the weekly cost for its customers, amounting to an annual hike of €214 while gas customers will have to pay an additional €3.47 weekly or an additional €180 annually. A dual-fuel customer still on the provider’s standard rate will see their annual bills climb by €394.The price hikes – which come into effect on July 20th – will apply to its customers on variable price plans but those of fixed rate contracts will see no impact on their bills. Flogas has around 43,500 residential electricity customers on variable rates.The price increases which come as the US and Iran inch towards a peace deal were blamed on continued volatility on globally energy markets as well as other pressure points.Will a Middle East peace deal make any difference to inflation? Listen | 32:03On Friday evening the price of oil on global markets was around $80 (€69.76) a barrel, significantly down from the height of the crisis when the commodity was priced at closer to €120.The Flogas price move comes just three weeks after both Electric Ireland and Yuno announced smaller price increases. At the end of May Electric Ireland rolled out an increase of 8 per cent for its electricity customers while its gas customers were hit with a price hike of 7.7 per cent. Yuno Energy, meanwhile, increased its electricity prices by between 9.5 per cent and 11 per cent.“Already, a near record number of households are in arrears on their energy bills, and this is likely to make the problem worse,” said Daragh Cassidy of price comparison and switching site bonkers.ie.He stressed that despite the rising prices, “there is still strong competition among energy suppliers for new customers and many are offering good introductory discounts” to switchers. “I can’t stress enough how quick and easy it is to switch supplier,” he said. “The entire process can be completed online in just a few minutes and customers don’t even need to contact their existing supplier before switching. Savings of over €600 are available to the average household, which would more than offset the price hike.”