O’Brien “sitting on his hands” as energy companies up prices for consumers, Ahern says

Labour TD Ciáran Ahern has called on the Minister for Environment, Darragh O’Brien to “take immediate action” and “rein in” energy companies.

This week, Bord Gáis, Energia, Flogas and SSE Airtricity all announced they were raising electricity and gas prices as the cost-of-living crisis, which has persisted since 2022, shows no signs of easing.

Ahern said it was “gross” that energy companies are “raking in extraordinary profits while ordinary people struggle.”

Ahern, Labour’s spokesperson for climate, environment and energy, said “energy companies have been getting away with this sort of behaviour for far too long.”

“Households up and down the country are being squeezed from every angle, and this latest round of price hikes will only compound the misery of this permanent cost-of-living crisis.”

The Dublin South-West TD said, “we can’t keep letting these energy companies get away with such brazen profiteering.”

“Earlier this week, Energia announced a 12.1% increase for electricity despite recording a very healthy €154 million in profits last year, and today Bord Gáis have announced that they’re hiking prices as well following a year in which they recorded €75 million in profits. It’s outrageous.”

“Minister O’Brien needs to act on this now or else he’ll be facing into a winter of discontent,” he said.

“I’m constantly hearing from households and families in my constituency who are seriously struggling to keep up with costs, and we know that the Government are ditching energy credits in this year’s Budget. That position now needs to be reconsidered, and targeted credits have to be included in the Budget to help the most vulnerable households.”

“We also need to start looking seriously at ways to regulate the energy market and the government should be lobbying at the EU-level for a change in competition law that’s holding us back from doing it. The old adage that more competition means better prices for consumers obviously hasn’t held up in Ireland and energy companies are acting more like cartels than competitive enterprises. It’s quite clear that profits come first for these energy companies, and ordinary households are suffering because of it.”

“Darragh O’Brien has been sitting on his hands on this issue and has refused to engage any time I’ve questioned him on what he intends to do about it. The Minister’s silence is completely unacceptable when so many households are struggling. He needs to act, and he needs to act fast.”