Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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135. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the regulator's role in ensuring that proper reductions are passed on to the consumer considering the huge reductions in oil in recent times. [3988/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Commission for Energy Regulation's (CER) primary economic responsibilities in energy are to regulate the Irish electricity and natural gas sectors. There is free entry to the Irish oil market, no price control and it is Government policy to encourage price competition and consumer choice. It is important to note that the Irish oil sector is completely privatised, liberalised and deregulated i.e. CER has no role in the oil market.

Oil is consumed in two sectors of the economy - in transport and heating. The amount of oil used in the electricity sector is negligible at less than 1%. In terms of gasoline and diesel prices at the pump and home heating prices, the Consumer and Competition Commission (under the aegis of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation) has a role in ensuring that the market is functioning correctly and that consumers are not being disadvantaged. Previous investigations and surveys into oil prices, including home heating oil, have been undertaken by the National Consumer Agency (now the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission), and these are available at . The research indicates that the price paid by consumers is largely determined by taxation levels, the internationally traded price of crude oil and the consequent price at which refined product is traded in Europe, along with the level of competition in the retail market.

The European Commission maintains a Statistics and Market Observatory, which presents consumer prices and net prices (excluding duties and taxes) of petroleum products in EU Member States (known as the Oil Bulletin) on a weekly basis. The Oil Bulletin is designed to improve the transparency of oil prices and to strengthen the internal market. The relevant link is: . The latest bulletin from 19 January 2014 shows that diesel prices (including taxes) in Ireland were €1.20 litre while gasoline prices (including taxes) were €1.30 litre. A year ago, prices in the euro area averaged €1.40 per litre (including taxes) for diesel and €1.56 per litre (including taxes) for gasoline.