Laois electricity customers 'crippled' by 'rip-off' power prices

Families and small businesses in Laois and Offaly are 'crippled' by electricity bills according to Laois-Offaly Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley who wants the Government to urgently address what he says are Ireland’s stubbornly high electricity prices.

The TD was speaking after the publication of the Household Energy Price Index for February 2024 which revealed that electricity in Ireland remains well above EU average.

"I have complaints from small businesses in Laois/Offaly who are crippled with high energy costs. Ordinary workers and families remain crippled under the cost of their electricity bills. Despite a paltry 3% decrease in electricity prices in Ireland from a year previously, the fact remains that electricity prices in the state remain 66.4% higher than the average in other EU member states. Similarly, residential gas bills are 25% over the EU average.

"To add insult to injury, this comes at a time when energy companies are continuing to make eye-watering profits," he said.

He pointed to ESB’s profits surging by 30% to €868 million for 2023.

“The Government must urgently get to grips with this situation. Sinn Féin have repeatedly called on them to investigate the underlying causes of high prices here, and to outline a plan to address them. I am repeating these calls again today. Time and time again this Government fails to act when it counts. We repeatedly saw them delay and dodge the introduction of measures that would help to address the chaos in Irish energy markets, including their introduction of a windfall tax which was far too weak and came far too late to address peak profits.

“While the Government might point to the fact that energy prices have started to fall here over the past year, the reality is that they have fallen much more slowly and at a much lower rate when compared to our European friends and neighbours.

"For example, index figures indicated that electricity bills in all EU capitals have decreased by 11% since February 2023 while ours have decreased by a paltry 3%," he said.

Dep Stanley said Sinn Féin has set out measures to help tackle Ireland’s high energy prices, including the reform of the PSO levy and the establishment of a taskforce to address the high cost of renewables here.

“Ordinary workers, families and businesses can’t afford for the Government to sit back any longer. Sinn Féin has the plan to address this chaos. It’s time the Government took heed,” he concluded.