Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Having read and re-read the presentations, as independent operators the witnesses can agree on one thing, namely, the price reduction of gas in the past 13 months of 16% or 18%. This is completely at variance with what energy experts are saying. Consumer correspondents in the national papers refer to a figure closer to 30%.

There has been a great deal of talk about what has happened in the industry and the efforts that companies are putting into encouraging people to switch by asking consumers to shop around and so on. It is all very fine to give a few quid to people who will move from one company to another but I think it is a smokescreen. One can afford to give relatively generous bonuses to people who switch, because Irish people do not like charge and they will resist switching. The number of customers who have not changed is in excess of 50%. The people who will probably never change are low income families and elderly people. The people who will not change providers are being fleeced. They have got nothing from the energy providers. Cheaper prices have applied to new customers for the past 13 months but the customers who have stuck with their providers have received no reductions. The companies can afford to play around with the people who are shopping around.Having read the presentation I cannot see a mention of the percentage fall in the price of gas. Did it fall by 18% or 28%?

The reductions that were made prior to the Christmas period were alluded to in the presentations. The companies could afford to reduce prices because the six main suppliers in the United Kingdom reduced prices by double the amount of their Irish counterparts. I know that the witness will come back with the retort that there are various factors at play. I understand about forward purchasing and the variance in the euro vis-à-vis,sterling but if the price of gas fell by that amount, and I do not agree with the figure of 18% or any other in that ballpark, why are the decreases to customers so minimal? The balance sheet of the various providers has been the main beneficiary, not the customers. As things stand the providers will gain most.

There is speculation about possible price reductions in the first quarter of this year. If one is able to analyse all the material and all the variations in the industry in the past year to 18 months how come the delegates cannot tell the committee what reductions we will get by June 2015?