Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has accused the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) of being asleep at the wheel for failing to complete an investigation into suspected price gouging by energy companies.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on energy, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cSoaring energy prices are feeding into the wider cost-of-living crisis and fuelling the type of public anger and frustration we witnessed during last week\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the D\u00e1il today, I asked the Government for an update on the CRU\u2019s investigation into price gouging in the energy market, which was requested by the Minister for Energy last November. However, five months later \u2013 as energy bills continue to skyrocket \u2013 there is still no sign of a report or even details as to what stage the investigation is at.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is despite mounting evidence suggesting that consumers are being fleeced by energy companies. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported last October that Irish retail prices did not adjust at a comparable rate to the reduction in wholesale energy costs. In fact, wholesale prices are currently 72 per cent cheaper than at their peak in August 2022 \u2013 a figure that is certainly not reflected in customers\u2019 energy bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I raised this matter with Minister of State Timmy Dooley in the D\u00e1il today, I was shocked to learn that the Government has not received any response or update from the CRU on the status of the price gouging investigation. The minister then suggested that I invite CRU representatives to appear before the Climate Committee and engage with them there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I will be taking the minister up on his suggestion by writing to the CRU today, it is unacceptable for the Government \u2013 given that they requested the investigation in the first place \u2013 to be passing the buck to the Climate Committee to deal with such as serious matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CRU has a responsibility to act in the interests of consumers \u2013 something it has manifestly failed to do in this instance.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 16, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has accused the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) of being asleep at the wheel for failing to complete an investigation into suspected price gouging by energy companies. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on energy, said: \u201cSoaring energy prices are feeding into the wider cost-of-living crisis and fuelling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,539,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-energy","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n