Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 1154: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason the price of gas has not been reduced in recent weeks by the companies involved in the distribution and sale of same, as LPG increased sharply some months ago, but the recent favourable factors in relation to the price of gas have not been passed on to consumers; if he will take steps to have same addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2247/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The position in law is that the regulation of Bord Gáis Éireann natural gas tariffs is the responsibility of the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is statutorily independent in the performance of its functions. I have no function in relation to the setting of these tariffs.

On 1 December the CER announced, following completion of Phase 2 of the Commission's 2008 review of Bord Gáis Energy Supply (BGES) tariffs, that there would be no increase in the price of gas supplied by BGES to its residential and SME customers. That decision, which I welcome, takes into account the decrease in international gas prices on the wholesale market during the last quarter. It should be noted that the recent decrease in global fossil fuel prices follows a period of exponential increases in wholesale prices of oil and gas and coal including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) with new record price peaks in 2008.

As a result the international market spot price of a therm of gas was 57 pence on 1 January 2009 compared to 53 pence on 1 January 2008. These high prices reflected a complex interaction of strong demand, tight capacities, geopolitical uncertainties and the influence of speculators on the markets. The relative performance of the US dollar against the euro also had an impact on oil prices. It is salutary to note that the gas supply dispute between Russia and Ukraine of recent weeks caused renewed upward price trends in wholesale gas prices. Global economic uncertainty allied to geo political factors will continue to be reflected in volatile fossil fuel prices and in this most uncertain environment I fully expect that CER will continue to rigorously monitor wholesale price trends as part of their ongoing review of tariffs.