Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said it may be two years before utility bills drop, with a recent reduction in wholesale gas markets reversing and unlikely to come back down for the forseeable future.
However, he said he believed utility bills would not grow at the same rate seen this year, with the majority of gas price increases now fed through to consumers.
Environment minister Mr Ryan was launching the government’s Energy Poverty Action Plan, which will provide another €10 million to support people at risk of energy debt, including those on pay as you go meters.
Asked about his expectation on utility bills, Mr Ryan said it was “unfortunately, for the next year or two years is we’re not going to see a significant reduction in electricity or gas prices, and I think that’s the expectation across Europe and across the International Energy Agency”.
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“If that changed, if the war came to an end, you might see some differences but the prospect of that at the moment is very low,” he said. While gas prices have come down from a very high peak in August, he said they had begun to climb again in recent weeks to a level where they were 7-8 times the historical average and “there’s no sense of it coming down again”.
“Europe is short of gas to be able to refill the stocks to be able to get through next winter,” he warned. “We will get through (this) winter but the ability to restock again next summer when the Russian pipelines will not be open, is going to be a real challenge,” he said.
“There’s no expectation in the forward price if you look at it, for it to come down from these very high levels.”
However, he indicated that he believed the majority of the “pass through” from higher gas prices has already been put into bills. “So depending on what happens in gas markets, I don’t expect we’ll see the sort of increases we’ve seen in the last six months.”
The Dublin Bay South TD would not be drawn on the possibility of further interventions to support households. “We’ll review it in the spring and summer in terms of any further additional measures. It’s very hard to call what will happen because there are international factors outside our hands.”
Mr Ryan also paid tribute to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who is due to step down from his position on Saturday. “I think he’s been an excellent Taoiseach, he’s served the country and the people well, he was at all times courteous, well informed, and hard working and decent, and I think this government has funcitoned in that way,” he said.
“I expect it to continue next Saturday and into the next two years, I think this is a time for political collaboration.”
In a statement, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications said it will “work with suppliers, relevant public bodies and NGOs to provide financial support to citizens experiencing difficulties meeting their energy costs this winter, including Pay As You Go gas and electricity customers. The new fund will be available to bolster hardship funds (which most suppliers have in place). People are advised to engage with their suppliers directly or contact the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), St Vincent de Paul or Alone, who provide financial advice and can advocate on their behalf to suppliers.”
It said Mr Ryan was going to extend the definition of vulnerable customers to include people who are financially vulnerable, to ensure they can avail of additional consumer protections. This will include those in receipt of Fuel Allowance, Job Seekers Allowance for over six months, Working Family Payment, One-Parent Family Payment, Domiciliary Care Allowance or Carers Allowance.
