Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Over the past number of years, different electricity suppliers entered the Irish market. one of them was Iberdrola, which acquired approximately 30,000 customers, mostly businesses, in Ireland. The company has since left the country voluntarily. It posted a profit of €1 billion in the first quarter of this year. I can provide an example of a business whose owners I have spoken with about Iberdrola. It is Black Donkey Brewery in Ballinlough. The company finished its previous electricity contract . To enter a new one would, with the increase in electricity costs, have been 145% more than it paid before. In February, the brewery signed the contract with the electricity company in question. In March, the brewery started to have its electricity provided by this company, having used what is called a green energy provider to see where it could get the best price. Everything was going okay.

Funnily enough, Black Donkey Brewery heard via the media - I emphasise that it was via the media - that Iberdrola had left Ireland. The brewery received no word of this from the supplier. The owners went to their green energy supplier, not knowing what was happening, to see if they could get another supplier. Bord Gáis Energy was the only supplier that would provide electricity. Its cheapest rate was 16% higher than they were previously paying. The owners decided to sign a contract with that supplier but, lo and behold, a month later, they received a letter from the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, stating that Electric Ireland would be taking over Iberdrola's contracts and that customers would be obliged to pay 30% more than they had agreed in their original contracts. Those affected cannot get out of these contracts until 1 September 2022.

The data has been transferred without consent from the company in question. Everything about it has been given to Electric Ireland, and the CRU has done nothing about this. One part of the contract signed by the brewery states clearly that Iberdrola would have to give one month's notice, but this seems to have been bypassed completely. With the 145% increase and the subsequent rise in electricity costs, the brewery is facing close to 200% of an increase in electricity prices in September. Why is this happening and what is the CRU doing?

How can this be tolerated? In my book, a contract is a contract.

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