Results 121-140 of 4,659 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore
- Use of Vapes and Nicotine Products by Young People and Adolescents: Statements (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: My colleagues will talk about the wider issue of vapes. I will take this opportunity to talk about another product that in a very similar vein is causing huge problems for teenagers, namely, nicotine pouches. I do not know whether the Minister of State is familiar with them. They are small white pouches you can buy in any corner shop. You put them on your gum, underneath your lip, and...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and for coming in today. In July 2025, 301,000 households were in arrears for electricity. What is that figure now?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: That would be great. My understanding is that it went up by 10% between November and July. I want to see if that is continuing, so if the witnesses could find those figures, it would be useful. Energy costs are a huge discussion at the moment because so many people are struggling. We have more than 300,000 households struggling significantly with them and we are seeing a lot of the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: What I am seeing at the moment is companies putting up their prices by significant amounts - €200 or €250 on average per year - and are actually blaming infrastructure costs for those prices. I will read from Energia's website. It said it was putting up its prices on 9 October. It said that it worked to minimise the impact on customers and that these price changes are...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: Energia spoke about regulatory-approved non-energy charges so this has nothing to do with the wholesale market. This is purely the charges that it has to take on board because of the CRU decision. I find it offensive that Energia is actually trying to sell its price increases to customers by essentially blaming improvements in the grid and network security. It is blatantly obvious that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: I have read what is on the Energia website. Does that concern CRU and will it immediately raise that with Energia because I have serious concerns about what it is stating?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: I ask the CRU to do that urgently, come back to me or the committee and let us know. Any of the other companies I have looked at have not been as blatant - this is regulatory and they are saying it is about wholesale prices and have added the other things up. This would appear to just focus on the charges the CRU is putting on, so I ask it to look into that urgently.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: The ones I have are July. The number is 301,000. That is what is in the Oireachtas-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: So the CRU does not have any more recent ones. In the context of the increasing prices, I would have thought that it would have been continually reviewing maybe even on a monthly basis to see exactly how many households are in arrears.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: So the CRU does not know-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: I find it concerning that the CRU has come before a committee of politicians where energy prices are the topic of discussion and cannot tell me exactly how many homes are to date in arrears, either electricity or gas. It is almost October, every household in the country is facing enormous price hikes and it is unlikely we will see credits. If the CRU could find those figures, it would be great.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: In any market, the more demand there is, the higher the price. We have seen an increase in data centre demand from 5% in 2015 to 22% now, and going to 30%. Has the CRU ever done any analysis on the impact of data centre demand on prices across the board? That is my first question. The second concerns how much data centres pay for their electricity. The standard rate is roughly 34 cent...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: Yes, but I am looking at the per unit cost.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: The total amount they paid for electricity was-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: Mr. Mulligan does not think increased demand in the electricity market will push up electricity prices. Is that his contention?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (24 Sep 2025)
Jennifer Whitmore: Okay.