New data has uncovered the uncomfortable fact that Irish households are paying the highest electricity prices in Europe.
A price comparison index, commissioned by the Austrian energy regulator and the Hungarian energy regulator, revealed that Ireland is the most expensive country among all 32 EU member states and the UK.
According to an analysis by financial website Bonkers.ie, this means that Irish households are paying €900 a year more compared with the EU average.
Independent TD for Laois Offaly, Carol Nolan has described the new data as “indicative of a financial stranglehold that Government and regulators shows no capacity or interest in loosening.
“Irish households and indeed small businesses are being fleeced and it is absolutely infuriating to witness it while Government and indeed the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) appear either indifferent, incompetent or insufficiently involved to do anything about it.
“Both Government and the CRU are behaving like bystanders and reporters on an unfolding crisis and it is just not good enough.
“We need answers as to why the significant reductions in the price of wholesale gas at the international level is not being passed on to Irish households.
“It is deeply irritating to think that the entire political system has been zeroed in on the shenanigans at RTE, and the behaviour of its executives, who were then rightly hauled before the Oireachtas for a repeated grilling.
“This was important and necessary. But where is the same political focus at Government level for the executives of the energy companies such as ESB and the executives at the CRU who are meant to protect the public interest in this area?
“The Taoiseach and Tánaiste both agreed with me during Leaders questions in February and April that we needed to haul the energy companies before the Dáil. But has anything happened since then?
“As far as I can see they are getting away with it in terms of public accountability. Meanwhile the Irish household is being crushed under the weight of these crippling bills,” Deputy Nolan said.
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