The government needs to do the same as other European countries and introduce an electricity bill cap according to a Tipperary TD.
Deputy Martin Browne says the government needs to intervene now as energy bills skyrocket for Irish households and businesses.
Sinn Féin’s motion for the government to intervene and introduce energy caps will be debated tonight in the Dáil at 7.30pm.
The Cashel TD has welcomed the 10% energy reduction for businesses, and despite believing it’s still not enough, a similar deal should be applied to households.
He gave an example of an elderly person’s household bill that was discussed in the Dáil this week
“A 100-year-old woman, she had an electricity bill of over €1,100. It’s crazy. The 10% was quiet welcome for businesses that have struggled. They come into my office, the Taoiseach’s office, and everybody else will tell you that the electricity bills now compared to 12 months ago, 24 months ago, are just off the scale now, and a 10% reduction by companies that are making hundreds of millions in profit every year is a kick in the teeth, and it’s only a pure token to say that they are doing something.”
Asking the energy sector to self-regulate will not work, according to the Sinn Féin TD in response to the Taoiseach’s comments on asking energy companies to step in and assist during the cost of living crisis.
He says the government could intervene a lot more than they have.
“They can reduce electricity prices by capping them at the average of what they were in, say, June 2021. At that price, from April this year to June, it would cost around €534 million. I know people will say, “That’s a lot of money,” but in the overall scheme of things, where people and businesses are struggling so much, and when you see all these electricity companies making their ridiculous profits, it’s only a drop in the ocean, and that’s where our government needs to step in. Don’t ask a sector to self-regulate because it hasn’t worked in any other sector where self-regulation has come in, and it will not work in the electricity sector.”
