Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The answer is "Yes". I am in contact with the energy regulator because if we go back to a position where Ministers or politicians are directly regulating the price of electricity, it would lead to higher prices as there would be less confidence in the system and more political interference. It would not work. The key way to bring down electricity prices in the long run is to switch to renewables. Our exposure to high fossil fuel prices is the greatest risk and the greatest cost. There are many other reasons for prices increasing. The benefit of renewables is that they would constitute our own power supply and keep money in the country. Use of renewables also brings down the wholesale price. While the renewable auction brings in an element of public service obligation payments, it was 20% cheaper than the previous renewable support scheme because the cost of wind and solar energy is coming down, slowly but surely. The best way of reducing electricity prices in the long term is to continue this path of relying on renewable power, turn our comparative advantage in wind power particularly, and also now the ability to deliver solar power as a way of protecting consumers.

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