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Government must intervene to reduce rip-off energy bills
BY: DEPUTY KATHLEEN FUNCHION SINN FEIN TD FOR KILKENNY CARLOW
Sinn Féin TD for Carlow
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Kilkenny, Kathleen Funchion, has said that the government is not doing enough to help struggling workers and families overwhelmed by the costs of energy across Carlow and Kilkenny.
Teachta Funchion said:
“Households in Carlow and Kilkenny are still struggling to keep their heads above water as government continues to prioritise the pro ts of energy companies over workers and families at every turn.
“Average gas and electricity bills have doubled over the last year to the point that the price of electricity here is the highest in Europe and the price of gas is eighth most expensive.
“ ere is no excuse for this.
Wholesale prices of gas and electricity have fallen signi cantlyelectricity by half - yet there have been no e orts to pass these savings on to consumers.
“As energy companies rack up eye-watering pro ts, the number of people living in energy poverty doubled over the last year and at its peak was a shameful record-breaking high of 40%. sensible measures that the government can and must introduce to protect struggling households from greedy proteering.’’
“One in ve Irish homes are now behind on their gas bills - of those 679,000 people that rely on gas to heat their homes, 139,785 were in arrears at the end of December with this rising to 152,276 by the end of Febru ary.
“ e government can act to protect domestic consumers but instead continues to sit on its hands.
“Sinn Féin is calling on them to introduce a windfall tax which addresses the super-pro ts of energy companies.
Februalso cerreduc-
“Government must also provide nancial relief and cer tainty to households by reduc ing domestic electricity prices to their pre-Ukraine invasion levels and capping them at that level - as has been done in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
“ ey must also reverse the increase in carbon tax.
“ ey must also intro duce new regulatory powers for the Com mission for the Regu lation of Utilities that empowers them to tackle instances of price-gouging and to ensure that it has the resources to do so.
“ ese are all introComRegu-
