Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We know wholesale electricity prices fell 42% in the year to April and, as Professor Edgar Morgenroth of DCU noted, it is likely that some, if not most, of the future contracts purchased last year are now largely finished, yet the cost of electricity in Ireland is the highest in Europe, with a unit cost that is nearly twice the European average. It is astonishing that consumers are being warned not to expect electricity and gas prices to return to 2021 levels, as if we should all sit back and accept price gouging at an eye-watering level. It is concerning that the response of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, was that it merely expects consumer prices to fall by the end of the year. That is not good enough. It is not enough for the CRU to monitor wholesale and consumer prices while energy companies make supernormal profits off the back of struggling families and micro and small businesses. What consideration has the Taoiseach given to introducing new regulatory powers for the CRU to include a statutory remit to investigate hedging practices and price gouging? What we need here is transparency accompanied by a reporting mechanism.

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