Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)

In the past few weeks, we have all heard the crushing news that electricity providers are increasing prices by significant amounts this year, but there has been no intervention by the Government to protect those forced to pay the highest prices in Europe. SSE Airtricity will increase bills by 9.5%, Energia by as much as 12% and Bord Gáis by a whopping 13.5%. Hundreds of thousands of people across the State are already in arrears on their bills. Now energy customers face even bigger bills. We are facing into another winter. We can all feel the cold and are putting the heat on these past few nights, but some people will have to choose between eating and heating. All the while the energy companies are raking in profits.

Not only has the Government done nothing to intervene but it has also ignored the pushback and Sinn Féin's proposals to get prices under control. Sinn Féin wants an end to the rip-off once and for all. We want the Government to empower the regulator to rein in the energy companies and their profiteering and to change its approach to network charges and PSO levies. We have asked it to reduce the unfair burden placed on households and ensure data centres pay their fair share. All of this, the Government has ignored.

Data centres are putting a strain on the grid with their massive energy consumption - now increased with AI - and increasing demand, causing increased energy bills for households.

The quality of the service is also deteriorating. In Straffan in my constituency of Kildare North, they have been dealing with near monthly power outages for the past two years. Last month in Kilcock, people were left without electricity intermittently for a couple of days, with no warning. Only last week, my home town of Maynooth had similar. How can the Government expect people to pay more to energy providers when the providers cannot even keep the lights on for them?

We in Sinn Féin want to end the rip-off once and for all, tackle profiteering and bring prices down. I urge the Government to reinstate the electricity credits in the budget and help alleviate fuel poverty for hundreds of thousands of households this year.

See this speech in context