A Department for consumer affairs is urgently needed to ensure consumers are protected from unfair price increases, said the Labour Party spokeswoman on consumer affairs, Ms Kathleen Lynch.
Ms Lynch was responding toBord Gáis charging this year's VAT rate on last year's gas bills.
Since January 1st, all gas bills are being charged 13.5 per cent VAT, as stipulated in the Budget. Bills up to December 31st had been charged 12.5 per cent VAT.
However, Bord Gáis is also charging the 2003 VAT rate of 13.5 per cent on bills for November/December of last year.
"Tens of thousands of low- and middle-income families have suffered cutback after cutback and this is the latest such example. This is little short of retrospective taxation," said Ms Lynch who called for an explanation from the company.
Bord Gáis said the VAT rate it was applying to its bills was "in accordance with the Department of Finance directive which said any bill issued after January 1st, 2003 is to be charged at the VAT rate of 13.5 per cent".
A spokeswoman for Bord Gáis said it had applied to the Revenue Commissioners for a concession which would enable it to apply the 2002 VAT rate of 12.5 per cent to 2002 bills even though it had already issued bills after January 1st charging 13.5 per cent.
Bord Gáis applied for this concession on Friday and is awaiting a response from the Revenue Commissioners. When asked why it had not applied for this concession last December, it said it was doing its "utmost to rectify the situation" and that it was "never too late".
"If the Revenue Commissioners says it's fine, then we will apply the 12.5 per cent rate to all our customers for 2002 bills," the spokeswoman said.
Ms Lynch called its explanation "outrageous" and said Bord Gáis only did something about it when the anomaly was pointed out. While it was legally entitled to charge 13.5 per cent VAT on bills issued after January 1st, "morally, they would not have a leg to stand on.
"This is 1 per cent on the entire bill they are charging. They should deduct 1 per cent from any 2002 bill and apologise to the customers," she said.
Pointing to a trend of consumer price increases, Ms Lynch said the Consumers' Association of Ireland was outraged by Bord Gáis's actions but "getting outraged is all they can do".
"There are Government departments to protect all sorts of interests except those of the most vulnerable, the consumer . . . Ireland is the only country in Europe where it is cheaper to buy a litre of petrol than a litre of water."
She is calling for a statutory body with powers to ensure people's rights are protected. "The consumer is the only person in the whole country who is not protected."