Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the action he is taking to tackle increasing energy costs which are undermining the viability of small and medium-sized businesses in the retail sector. [47119/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Responsibility for the regulation of the retail electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is an independent statutory body. Prices in the electricity and gas retail markets are fully deregulated. Customers can avail of competitive offerings from electricity and gas suppliers. Prices are set by suppliers and are commercial and operational matters for them. The Minister, has no statutory function in the setting of electricity or gas prices.

Electricity and gas costs in Ireland are influenced by various drivers, including global gas prices, the costs of capital, exchange rate fluctuations, the small size of the Irish market, geographical location, and low population density.

The latest Eurostat figures, published by the SEAI on 9 December 2014, show reductions in the average price of electricity in the first half of 2014 in all consumption bands, with the reductions in the bands for small to medium business ranging from 0.7% to 4%, depending on size of consumption.

Similarly, Eurostat figures show reductions in the average price of gas in all consumption bands in the same period, with the reductions in the bands for small to medium business ranging from 6.7% to 12.9%, again depending on size of consumption.

At a national level, the competitive energy market applies downward pressure on prices. In addition, a strong focus is required on all other actions to mitigate costs for business and domestic customers, including rigorous regulatory scrutiny of the network costs component of retail prices.

The Department is committed to working with enterprise and with the energy sector to ensure that the costs of energy are as competitive as possible. In this context, promotion of, and support for, energy efficiency measures to reduce energy costs will continue to be a priority.