Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

These are facts here now. Airtricity paid €115 million to its parent company in the UK last year, while its bills went up by €600 over the year. Electric Ireland, which has 1.2 million electricity customers, is 95% owned by the State. Its electricity bills went up by €466 over the year, with five price increases in succession. Guess what? The Government does not impose one bit of discomfort on Electric Ireland when the company does this even though it is 95% owned by the State. I am not the Minister for Finance but the ESB Group made €1.5 billion in the past year and the Government only took €126 million off it. Bord Gáis bills have increased by €579 and Energia bills have increased by €511. What does the Government do? It sits on its hands. If people pay on time, they are given a percentage off their bill. If they go paperless, they are given a percentage off their bill. If they sign up to a direct debit, they receive money off their bill. This equals about €40 on every bill and it means it is built into the cost they are screwing us with. That is €30 or €40 on every bill. How much more can the Government take off the people of this country? We have seen the fuel crisis go through the roof and the Government is taking 50% of that as well. At the bottom the bill it states that 63.7% of the electricity is coming from renewable sources, but our bills are going up anyway.

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