Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I think we all agree that the equity investment we were discussing last night is necessary. Unfortunately, however, there does not seem to be anything there to safeguard against repeating past mistakes to ensure that the investment is directed towards the social good and to prioritising energy affordability. One company, Energia, justified its recent price hikes based on the network charge increases. On its website it says that it has worked to minimise the impact on customers but that the price changes are unavoidable. At a recent appearance before the committee, however, concerns were raised that network charge increases could not be used to explain its recent price hikes because the network charges increased by €29 but its charges increased by €200. This suggests that the energy suppliers may be using network costs to facilitate extra profit, which is not surprising. To date, the committee has received no update from the regulator about its justification. At a minimum, we need transparency as to how the costs are translated into bills and mechanisms to safeguard against profiteering.

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