Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Households are facing annual gas and electricity bills of €6,000 from early next year if prices keep increasing at the current rate. The Government, which has a controlling shareholding of 95% in the ESB, fails to protect consumers by explicitly directing the ESB to either cap prices or not proceed with any price increases at this time. Such action by the Government is possible. It would also send a clear message to other price-gouging electricity providers, as the ESB is the benchmark price-setting organisation for the electricity market in Ireland. The latest Electric Ireland or ESB price rises mean that households now face paying an extra €446 a year for electricity and an extra €516 for gas. The reality is that the electricity bill for a three-bed semi-detached home in Ireland is now approaching €4,000 per year as we enter the winter 2022-2023 period. According to the price comparison website bonkers.ie, when all increases are considered, households are looking at paying a minimum of €1,100 more for their electricity and more than €1,100 more for their gas compared to January 2021. That price increase does not include the expected price increases that are due to emerge over the coming months. Last week, I mentioned schools in west Cork I know of that are going to the local parish priest for help paying the electricity bills. That is an astonishing situation. This Dáil criticises the church and its connections with schools but, were it not for the church, the lights in the school would be turned off.

When the average price increases for electricity alone, totalling more than €1,100, are considered, the Government's €600 voucher scheme is shown to be completely insufficient. These colossal energy policy failures on the part of the Government are having a deep impact on the financial sustainability of every household, farm and small business and are exacerbating a winter of discontent. The best that can be hoped for is that it will be a mild winter.

The Irish Government has largely sat on its hands in comparison with those of other EU states. Since Gazprom's decision to shut down the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the EU has planned a significant emergency intervention in the European electricity market. The toolbox for rising energy prices was announced as the crisis was starting. The EU outlined a number of fiscal and regulatory measures that each individual member state could take against the crisis. These options included reducing taxation to zero, helping energy companies manage the high costs and providing support for vulnerable people. The Rural Independent Group drew attention to these measures in the Dáil on several occasions in 2021 including through the tabling of two Private Members' motions calling on the Government to reduce energy taxes. One each occasion, Government Deputies voted against easing the financial pain on the consumer and sided with keeping energy bills high while providing absolutely no alternative energy supply.

I listened to one Fianna Fáil Deputy from Cork South-West today who said that we are not doing enough as regards climate action. This Deputy is clueless when it comes to climate action, despite being his party's spokesperson on it. We need only look at the warmer homes scheme fiasco he and his Government have stood over. People are waiting for two years to get works done under the scheme. We should also look at the shocking grants for solar generation. They are so bad that west Cork hoteliers, shop owners and supermarkets have told me that they will not apply for a grant but will instead pay out of their own pockets to install solar panels. We can also look at the zero return on public transport in that Deputy's constituency while his constituents in west Cork are being robbed through the carbon tax thanks to him and his Green Party buddies. If I were that Deputy, I really would not point fingers while his constituents are waiting for him in the next general election. In the UK, there is a cap on electricity charges while the standing charge is capped at £169.21.

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