Mr Durkan said: “Any cut in electricity prices is to be welcomed after the huge price surge of recent years.

“This will help hard-pressed home and business owners in Derry and throughout the North who have been feeling the pinch from a rise in other costs of living.

“At Westminster with other MPs I have been raising the fact that changes in wholesale gas and oil prices haven’t been passed on fully to household consumers or at the pumps to car owners.

“Whilst bigger reductions would be more welcome, this announcement by Power NI goes some way to restoring faith that energy companies are willing to pass on savings to the public when they can be made.

“It also highlights that the regulator is now in a better policing position on prices.”