Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá praghsanna leictreachais le hardú arís agus tá sé seo chun níos mó ná 500,000 teaghlach a bhuaileadh. Is cinneadh uafásach é an cinneadh atá déanta ag Fine Gael agus ag Fianna Fáil na creidmheasa fuinnimh a tharraingt siar sa cháinaisnéis. Tá breis agus 300,000 teaghlach nach bhfuil ábalta a gcuid billí leictreachais a íoc ag an phointe seo agus caithfidh an tacaíocht seo a bheith ar fáil sa cháinaisnéis i mí Dheireadh Fómhair.

Workers and families are being absolutely hammered with soaring prices. While the Government acts as if everything is rosy in the garden, the cost-of-living crisis is out of control. Households are under considerable pressure to get by. They are being hit by rip-off prices at every turn. It is rent, food, insurance, petrol and diesel, student fees and local property tax. The cost of everything is sky high. There is no end to it. People cannot catch a breath at the moment. As if things were not bad enough, the big energy companies come along with another big hike in electricity prices just as we head into the darker months of the year.

Energia is going to jack up its electricity prices by 12%. Bord Gáis will increase its prices by over 13%. Pinergy is putting up its prices by over 9%. As we know, households are already paying some of the highest electricity prices in Europe. More than 500,000 customers are going to be hit by these latest increases in the next couple of weeks. Many are now going to be forced to fork out hundreds of additional euro, which is money they simply do not have. The real kicker is that the Government is choosing to make matters worse. At the very time these companies are fleecing people again, the Government has decided to withdraw energy credits in the budget. It is a terrible decision that the Government needs to reverse.

The job of the Government is to shield households from these hikes. That means ending the rip-off, getting prices under control and supporting workers and families in this budget. The Government is doing the exact opposite. It has sat on its hands and is sitting on its hands. All the while, energy companies are making massive profits.

We know that wholesale prices for electricity have fallen since the start of the year so there is absolutely no justification for these companies to be squeezing and gouging their customers as they are doing. It is bare-faced greed and rampant profiteering. Is it any wonder that as we speak 300,000 households cannot pay their electricity bills? The Government has allowed this energy rip-off to go unabated. It has allowed it to happen for many years. It has done nothing to put manners on the energy companies. Not only has it done nothing but it has pushed back against our proposals to get energy prices under control. We proposed giving the energy regulator powers to hold these companies to account but the Government ignored us. We proposed legislation to monitor and regulate standing charges and hedging practices but the Government ignored us. We proposed restructuring the public service obligation, PSO, levy so that large energy users, such as data centres, pay their fair share rather than placing that burden on domestic customers, households and small businesses, but the Government ignored us. It is up to its neck in this rip-off.

It is scandalous that the Government has now come along to tell people that they are on their own. It has allowed the energy companies free rein and now decides to cancel the energy credits on which hard-pressed households have been dependent. Where is the fairness in that? Is the Government not listening to the people? Across the State, people are just about hanging in there. They cannot take much more. Folks are going to come under huge pressure this winter. They are already under huge pressure but are going to come under more pressure. Prices are going up by double digits and the Government is withdrawing electricity credits. It needs to change course. This will be the final straw for many. The Tánaiste needs to wake up, listen to what people are saying and understand what people are facing in respect of this rip-off. Does he now accept, given the raft of energy companies announcing they will increase their prices the week of the budget, that withdrawing the energy credits is a step too far and a decision he will now reverse?

See this speech in context