City Councillor Mary Leahy has slammed the decision of the Energy Regulator to allow electricity and gas price increases to go ahead in full, despite the recent drop in crude oil prices.
She said last evening that the Energy Regulator is allowing the prices of gas and electricity to rise by 20 per cent and 17.5 per cent respectively causing great hardship to many families.
“These increases were sanctioned at a time when oil prices had spiked at a $147 a barrel. Oil has now dropped to $114; with some market analysts predicting the price could dip below $100. “These increases cause huge hardship to ordinary families and exacerbate the country’s difficulties with inflation. These costs are also making it more difficult for businesses and are threatening jobs at a time when our competitiveness is being eroded,” she said.
Cllr Leahy said that she is strongly of the opinion that the Energy Regulator is acting like a rubber stamp and allowing increases even when they are not justified.
“Very often these utilities enjoy a monopoly status where the consumer has no real choice.
“The situation is similar in the case of motor fuels where pump prices increase very rapidly but decrease very slowly.
“I am calling on the Energy Regulator to cast a more critical eye on price increase applications and to build in a formula whereby prices automatically reduce should the global prices of oil, gas, coal, etc, decrease.
“I would also call on the Government to reconsider the necessity of the office of the Energy Regulator as I have yet to hear of the Energy Regulator refusing a price increase request.
“I would like to remind these large utilities that they will not always hold the same quasi monopoly positions. I would also like to call on the ordinary consumer to register their objection and make their voices heard,” she concluded
