Sinn Féin spokesperson on Energy, Pa Daly TD, has called on the government and the Regulator to urgently intervene to halt any further energy price increases.

Commenting on energy provider SSE’s announcement that that their customers were set to be hit with a price rise in the next few weeks, Teachta Daly said:

“Today’s announcement is a very concerning development.

“SSE Airtricity confirmed that they will raise their standard variable household electricity and gas prices from April 2nd. Electricity customers will face a 10.5% rise in bills, while gas bills will increase by 8.4%. Annually, this will amount to a staggering increase of €171 and €114 on annual bills annually.

“Ordinary workers, families and small businesses simply cannot afford to take yet another hit when it comes to the cost of living.

“Nearly half a million households are already in arrears with their bills. This will only make the situation even worse.

“The government and the regulator must intervene to challenge these rip-off costs.

“Sinn Féin have repeatedly pointed out that something is going very seriously wrong with Ireland’s energy system. It is embedded with a deep unfairness in which energy corporations run off into the sunset with massive profits, meanwhile ordinary workers and families are paying the highest energy prices in Europe.

“This must change.

“Sinn Féin has repeatedly provided Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with solutions to these problems. We know that in order to address the fundamental flaws in Ireland’s energy market – flaws that keep our energy prices high – the energy market needs fundamental reform.

“We’ve introduced legislation to beef up the powers of the regulator in order to hold energy companies to account by making their pricing strategies more transparent and fair, as well as new powers to regulate standing charges.

“Sinn Féin have also introduced measures to restructure and redistribute network charges and the PSO levy so that large energy users pay their fair share and ordinary workers and households are not expected to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden.

“These are just some of the ways Sinn Féin would introduce fairness into Ireland’s energy system – helping to bring energy prices down. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to get serious about protecting ordinary workers and families rather than the profits of private companies.

“I am calling on the Government and the regulator to urgently convene a meeting with SSE Airtricity to demand an explanation as to why they have announced such a significant increase in prices. If the answer is found to be wanting, then this decision should be challenged.”