Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 213: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the steps he has taken to ensure the energy market here is competitive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16617/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I have no statutory function in the setting of energy prices, whether in the regulated or non-regulated market. Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is an independent statutory body.

The electricity retail market is now fully deregulated. CER has announced that the small to medium business segment of the gas market will be de-regulated from 1 October next.

Business and domestic customers can increasingly avail of the competitive offerings from a number of electricity and gas supply companies. The first step that business customers should take to reduce their energy costs is to work actively in securing better value offers in the market and in switching to suppliers delivering lower prices.

I acknowledge the actions taken over the last two years to bring Ireland's energy prices into line with, or below, European averages. This is resulting in positive outcomes as is evidenced by improved competitiveness in the gas and electricity sectors when compared with other European countries.

Eurostat data for the first half of 2010 showed convergence to the EU average for many categories of Irish business and residential consumer, in both electricity and gas. The data showed that in the year to June 2010, Ireland experienced the largest fall in business electricity prices in the EU for medium to large consumers. Prices fell by 20% to 36%, depending on consumption levels.

Electricity prices in Ireland were below the EU average for medium to large business customers for the first half of 2010.

Competition helps to put downward pressure on energy prices. But the focus must be kept on all possible additional actions to mitigate costs where possible for business and for domestic customers. This is essential for competitiveness, for employment and for economic recovery.

I am committed to working with enterprise and with the energy sector to ensure that the costs of energy for business are as competitive as possible through those measures at our disposal including a sustained focus on energy efficiency.