Tipperary Labour TD Alan Kelly has condemned the high cost of energy in Ireland.
The Portroe native describes the situation as out of control as energy companies have not passed on the lower wholesale prices of energy to retail consumers.
This he says is putting a huge strain on families locally and across the country.
Deputy Kelly says while the profiteering of energy companies is to blame the government also has to shoulder some of the responsibility.
“This government are really letting down the people. They’ve had a long time now and the fact is that from a regulatory point of view there is a failure here. It is disgraceful that a 64% drop in the cost from a wholesale point of view isn’t being passed on to consumers.
“It as over a year and a half ago that I proposed a windfall tax on these companies – we could have had as taxpayers a serious revenue taken from these companies that are making massive profits over the last twelve months.”
Alan Kelly says the energy companies should be punished for not passing on these significant decreases in costs to the consumer.
He has vowed to make it a political issue when the Dáil resumes.
“There is no reason why it should take any huge length of time for the decreases to be passed on. Pressure needs to be put on these energy companies – they will not listen unless they know it’s going to hit them and the way to hit them is have a windfall tax. It’s as simple as that – and actually make it larger than we were going to make it to punish them for their behaviour over the last year or so.
“64% is a huge differential and the fact that they’re not passing on that it should be one of the biggest political issues of the day.”
