Electric Ireland’s plan to increase electricity prices by up to 4 per cent in October could spark price rises across a range of services, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has warned.
In the first Opposition leaders’ questions following the early recall of the Dáil, she said the move would exert further financial strain on families.
“Sinn Féin believes that a freeze on energy prices during the current Covid-19 pandemic should be introduced,” she said.
The electricity company has said that the price increase would result in an average €2.88 a month increase on domestic electricity bills.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government did not decide to increase prices but they would engage with Electric Ireland on its proposed increases.
“I fully accept that this news will come as a blow to many consumers in the light of the very significant and severe economic environment within which we are operating,” he said.
“We will do everything we can, as we have, in a historic and unprecedented way to support people in difficulty. That is the Government’s objective as we go through an unprecedented global pandemic.”
Warning of public fears about a slew of price hikes following Electric Ireland’s increase, Ms McDonald said this “would lead to many families finding it incredibly difficult to heat their homes or to turn on a light during a winter that falls in the middle of a global pandemic”.
The EU’s statistics agency Eurostat “tells us that consumers in Ireland already pay some of the highest electricity prices in Europe”, said Ms McDonald.
Unable to heat homes
She said TDs were aware that hundreds of thousands of people “live in what is referred to as fuel poverty, but which means they struggle or are unable to heat their homes”.
The Dublin Central TD added that the Government “is planning to introduce a significant hike in the carbon tax in the upcoming budget and that this will put increased pressure on those same families”.
People could not be blamed “for thinking that, even in the grip of a public health emergency, rip-off Ireland is alive and well and that big companies will make sure they get their pound of flesh”.
She added: “People hear the words of solidarity and the slogan that we are all in this together and they see the comforting television adverts from companies telling them not to worry or stress and that their service provider has their back, but then their bills go up again.”
