Figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) again point to Irish consumers being ripped off by energy companies, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s energy spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CSO published this morning that wholesale electricity prices last month were 23.3% lower than February 2025, and 14.9% lower than January 2026. In fact, they have fallen by 72.1% compared with their peak in August 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the continued drop in wholesale rates, consumer bills continue to rise, with price hikes coming from all but one provider towards the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
“While people are watching their rents climb, energy bills are eating deeper into their monthly budget and grocery prices are continuing to rise week on week. Meanwhile, energy companies have been hiding behind a multitude of flimsy excuses to justify their price increases, such as rising infrastructure costs and grid upgrades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to my repeated calls for an investigation into price gouging by energy companies, Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien claimed he had asked the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to undertake one. However, many months later, there is still no update as to whether this has been conducted or what progress, if any, has been made by the CRU.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpiralling energy costs continue to put households under severe financial strain, with the most recent figures showing that almost 320,000 customers are in arrears on their electricity bills at the end of 2025 – of those, 8% had been behind on payments for more than 90 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is no longer just anecdotal evidence \u2013 the latest CRU figures provide further proof that consumers are being ripped off by energy companies. The question is: what is the government going to do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
“As war wages on in the Middle East, and people are really feeling the squeeze at the petrol pump, the government must take a proactive stance and step up. The Social Democrats is calling for a targeted \u20ac400 energy credit that can immediately be provided to the 800,000 households which are struggling most. There should also be a cut to excise duty, which accounts for the greatest tax on petrol and diesel.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 23rd, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) again point to Irish consumers being ripped off by energy companies, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s energy spokesperson, said: \u201cThe CSO published this morning that wholesale electricity prices last month were 23.3% lower than February 2025, and 14.9% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[650,539,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cost-of-living","category-energy","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n