Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Last Tuesday, the Irish Independent carried a story by Charlie Weston on a EUROSTAT report that shows that Irish electricity prices are 25% above the European average. Last year, I highlighted concerns about the State's inability to provide adequate competition in the energy market, resulting in excessive prices for consumers, both household and business. I highlighted the fact that despite the assertion that renewables have their place in energy provision in this country, mainly from onshore wind, there is no mention of the fact that there is little capacity for storage when excess wind power is generated so that power could be stored and then redistributed when there is no wind. There is also inadequate infrastructure in many of our regions to contribute to the grid through onshore wind projects. I refer, in particular, to the north west. Furthermore when the wind does not blow, the wholesale energy market is distorted by virtue of the fact that we have a dominant provider in the ESB, which is in a position to charge in excess.

Information provided to me at the time from an independent assessment show that there were prices in excess of international pressures on our market.

I also highlighted that the competition over the last number of years for the provision of renewables by the State was compromised, for example by the likes of ESB winning contracts for renewable placement or auctions back in 2016, but four years later withdrawing from the same contracts and paying penalties for having done so. That in itself ensured that the grid remained challenged, that competition remained compromised and, most important, that prices remained in excess of European averages.

We then had a situation where the State saw fit to initiate competition for emergency provision of energy, which we saw in June 2020 when the Minister amended the Planning and Development Act 2009 by statutory instrument whereby State authorities, in the effort to respond to such competitions, were not obliged to provide planning permission. It was not fair competition for those who sought to compete for the same projects if they had to provide relevant planning permission for their facilities. That, of course, is more unfair competition.

I have relayed this to Dáil Éireann previously, to the Minister in the Dáil and to his Department, to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. I have had, to say the least, inadequate responses that forced me to have to raise the same issues with the EU Commissioners for both energy and competition. They have indicated to me their intention to investigate the challenge and analyse the information that has been provided to them in this area.

I ask the Minister with responsibility in this area, be it the Minister, Deputy Ryan, or whoever is representing him here this evening, to indicate to the Dáil - having failed to respond to the charges, the information and inferences that I have raised by virtue of the information I presented previously and now that new information is out there from an independent source which is EUROSTAT, which indicates the same issue of Ireland being 25% above the European average and fourth in the European bloc in relation to our prices - what manner of investigation or review-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----will be initiated to challenge and investigate these issues and to find out why is it that the authorities and those regulators and a body such as Eirgrid-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Deputy will have a chance to come back in. Allow the Minister of State to respond.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----charged with the responsibility to ensure competition, have not done so to date?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I thank the Deputy for raising this important topic. Having read the Topical Issue matter before I came into the Chamber I do not know if it will address all of the questions the Deputy has raised.

I will firstly outline recent price developments and the Government's response and then I will discuss drivers of electricity prices in Ireland more broadly.

The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is the continuing upward trend in international gas prices where we are a price taker. Gas prices have been rising steadily since March 2020 and were further exacerbated following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Gas prices are at historic highs and are volatile. This feeds directly through to retail electricity prices as the wholesale price of electricity correlates strongly with the price of gas. This is affecting not just Ireland but all EU member states.

EUROSTAT recently published statistics on household electricity prices in the EU for 2021. These statistics show that electricity prices increased in the second half of 2021 in all but two member states when compared to 2020. The largest increases were seen in Estonia with 50.2 %, followed by Sweden at 49.3 %, and Cyprus with 35.7 %. Energy and supply costs mainly drove the increase. For the same period, records indicate that prices in Ireland rose by around 13%.

I will now turn to the Government's response. The Government is very aware of the impact on households of increasing electricity costs. In addition to measures taken in budget 2022, in February the Government announced a €505 million suite of measures to mitigate the cost-of-living increases. This includes a credit payment to all domestic electricity accounts of €176.22 excluding VAT and a fuel allowance lump sum of €125, among other measures. On 13 April, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Government published the national energy security framework, which details consumer supports and protections that are already in place and that are being enhanced including an additional €100 fuel allowance payment; a new targeted €20 million scheme for the installation of photovoltaic, PV, panels for households; and the reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 9% on gas and electricity bills from May. In addition, response No. 6 of the framework charges the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, with implementing a package of measures to enhance protections for financially vulnerable customers and customers in debt by quarter 3, ahead of the next heating season. This fuel allowance year recipients received a total of €1,139, compared to €735 in 2021.

I will now turn to the drivers of electricity costs more broadly. As the Deputy will be aware from the EUROSTAT figures, Ireland has higher electricity prices than the EU average. In addition to Ireland's fossil fuel dependency, this is due to a number of factors, including geographical isolation and market scale, population dispersion, and taxes and levies. The best long-term approach for Ireland to reduce consumer exposure to the volatility on international wholesale energy markets is to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy and via further interconnection with the UK and the EU to deepen the internal energy market.

From the questions raised by Deputy Cowen, I note that unfortunately this does not address the storage facility for wind energy in off-peak times and does not address the competition, which I will take up with the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I also note that the Deputy has raised this more than once, and that now he has statistics from EUROSTAT.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I think the Minister of State and I appreciate her position here this evening in seeking to respond on behalf of the Minister. I appreciate that the Minister of State wishes to relay to the House just the information she has, which emanates from the Minister and his Department. I do not doubt the impact of international price pressures on our ability to provide electricity at the price it is today. I do not doubt the impact of war on that ability to provide energy at the prices we are charged today. However, international pressures or war had no impact whatsoever when the likes of ESB won contracts for renewable provision in 2016. International price pressures or war had no impact on the ESB when it withdrew from those commitments in 2020 and paid the penalty, and allowed our grid to remain unchallenged and allowed our price to be challenged and compromised also. I doubt that the international pressures or war had any influence on the Minister when he amended the Planning and Development Act in June 2020, when he initiated the procedure that allowed impending competition not to be fair for all of those who wished to apply for the same auctions that ensued. The State authority had an undue advantage by virtue of the fact that it did not have to have planning permission when others had. That is not fair or competitive. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will relay to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, that it is high time he and his Department initiated a review or an investigation into our inability to provide adequate competition, which in turn would provide adequate price, over and above international average prices, which in this instance is 25% over and above. That needs to be addressed. There needs to be an independent assessment carried out to ascertain whether the accusations or assertions, or the information I have provided-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time. The Deputy is way over time and is eating into the Minister of State's time. The Minister of State to conclude please.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----point towards manipulation by a provider or point towards state aid not being fair on competitors.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Deputy for raising this issue. For me to actually answer the Deputy's Topical Issue matter here tonight, I do not believe I have the skill set to be able to engage with the Deputy at that level. I know the amount of work and detail that the Deputy has put into this over the past months and years.

The answer I have scripted in front of me from the Department to discuss the recent EUROSTAT findings on electricity prices is perhaps not in response to the Deputy's question. I will take that on board yet again, however, and ask the Minister to review exactly that independent competition the Deputy asked for. That is my take from this evening and that is what I will relay to the Department.