Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 April 2022
202. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he has met with or sought to meet or contacted a company (details supplied) to query its recent price increases in view of its claim of fully renewable energy sources. [19079/22]
View answerOn the 24th of March officials from my Department met with the Managing Director of SSE Airtricity. It was an introductory meeting that covered a number of topics relevant to the retail electricity and gas markets including pricing, consumer impact and the services offered by SSE.Government is acutely aware of rising electricity and gas prices and its affects on households. The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is high international gas prices where we are a price taker.In Europe, wholesale natural gas prices have risen and remained high since the second half of 2020. Gas prices are now unprecedently high, with UK wholesale gas prices recently reaching record levels. The increase in international wholesale gas prices, have continued to be driven by the volatility in the international gas market linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing war. These gas increases feed directly through to retail electricity prices as the wholesale price of electricity correlates strongly with the price of gas. These reasons have been cited by retail suppliers when announcing their price changes and have been confirmed in commentary for the EU and the International Energy Agency (IEA).Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which is an independent regulator, accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas and not the Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 and subsequent legislation. It is a function of the CRU to regulate the electricity market.
