John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ms Brien mentioned the weak euro but my understanding is that the euro has weakened in the past week. That should not be a factor. Ms Brien also referred to hedging and I presume that means there will be a continuous reduction in price in the future. Fuel and gas are being purchased at lower prices.

On switching, Ms Brien mentioned that she advised people to switch. There seem to be good incentives to switch but elderly people, who are loyal to a particular brand or provider, do not switch as much. The message today is that people do not switch as much as they should. While it is easy, sometimes people do not take advantage of it. Is it not better that there is a reduction in the base price rather than all of the funding available for switching? My understanding is that when people switch they must enter a contract for 18 months. The price automatically goes up after a while.