Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Energy Prices: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Jim Dollard:

Deputy's Harrington's basic question was whether we had fairly passed on the price. He said there is a view abroad that the wholesale prices of gas are more than 18%, 30%, 40% or whatever, that we have not actually passed them on and that we were basing our position on projections. I understand that is what he said but he can correct me if I am wrong. I will deal first with that issue. As I said earlier, that is a common misconception. People hold such a view, as I have read in the media. It is a sustained position when I speak to people in the community. When we talk about hedging, it is not just projections, we are actually buying power. It is physically bought in slots as we go forward but is not delivered yet. We are currently committed to 2016. The percentage of the actual projection is falling all the time as we get closer to the point, so it is physically bought and it increases in size as we get close to the end. Therefore, the element of projection is relatively small when one gets to a tariff element.

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