Galway West TD Noel Grealish has called on the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure to introduce a new Energy Support Scheme for businesses to help them stay afloat in the face of soaring energy costs.
The Independent Deputy, along with his colleagues in the Regional Independents group, met with Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath in Dublin last week for talks on the upcoming Budget due to be revealed in a number of weeks.
“There is a real fear among many businesses in Galway that I have spoken to in the past few weeks that the energy crisis could put them, and the jobs that they provide, at risk.
“Everybody in business and industry is being hit by the rising costs, from the very large operations down to the small family businesses that can be particularly vulnerable to even relatively small increases in their running costs.
“For many, these constant increases in electricity and gas charges are coming on top of rampant inflation like we haven’t seen in four decades, the fallout from Brexit, the war in Ukraine and other global supply problems that have seen the price of supplies rise, and the difficulty in finding staff,” he said
Deputy Grealish revealed that one Galway company which uses a large amount of electricity had told him that their annual energy costs had shot up, from about €40,000 to what they predict will be €200,000 this year.
“That’s a crippling increase in costs for any company that will have to be passed on to the customer, and God knows what effect that might have on their trade and their future viability
“But even businesses that wouldn’t be using electricity at that kind of rate are facing a mounting threat to their futures
“Several supermarkets, for instance, have told me about annual bills of €40,000 to €50,000 jumping to €160,000. They say that something will have to be done urgently about energy bills if they are to survive the winter and retain their staff,” he said.
“Householders obviously need help to cope with the soaring cost of energy to heat, light and run their homes, and energy usage increases with the approach of winter as days get shorter — but we also have to make sure that their jobs are safe.
“And unless strong and immediate steps are taken to give businesses and industries a helping hand with their energy bills, we will see jobs being cut and businesses going to the wall.”
Deputy Grealish said that, at the same time as homes and businesses were facing this crisis, the energy companies were raking in exorbitant profits — while pushing up their charges.
“Bord Gáis Energy’s operating profits rose by 74pc in the first half of the year, with an adjusted profit of €39.5m in the first six months of 2022 — up from €22.7m in the same period of last year.
“Our own ESB made €679 million in profits in 2021, and who knows what multiples of that they will make this year.
“Meanwhile, profits made by ESB, Energia and SSE Airtricity from their wind farms that supply electricity to the wholesale market are also soaring as a result of the increase in energy prices, again effectively profiting from ordinary people’s misfortune.”
Deputy Grealish said he was aware that the Taoiseach had spoken of considering a windfall tax on energy companies’ profits and he would fully support that move.
“Thankfully, there is also a buoyancy in the Government’s finances due to better than expected tax revenues and other factors, at least some of which should go to support businesses in difficulty.
“A number of measures to help people through the current cost of living emergency have been flagged in advance of the Budget 2023 announcement, and that is to be welcomed.
“But I also stressed to Ministers Donohoe and McGrath the equally urgent need to do something to help keep businesses afloat as their energy costs are going through the roof.
“Without the introduction of a new Energy Support Scheme as I outlined to the Ministers, we could see many of them being forced to shut up shop,” added Deputy Grealish.
