A Mayo View: We can't keep running from pillar to post on rising energy costs

Eurostat, the key source of high-quality statistics and data on Europe, has recently reported that householders and business owners in Ireland are paying the highest electricity prices in the European Union.

Let’s admit, it did not come as a surprise to us.

But the fact we are paying nearly €500 more per year than our fellow European citizens is an annoying realisation, to say the least.

And the bottom line is that ordinary workers are being fleeced by energy companies making eye-watering profits.

This critique is not going to get into the politics of it, but needless to say the government parties are not exactly smelling of roses as a result of the situation.

And understandably so after the revelation that one data centre in the Dublin area consumes enough energy to power 200,000 homes per year, yet they are not paying their fair share when it comes to electricity bills due to what’s described as ‘a sweetheart deal’ it has with the government.

One of our own Oireachtas members, Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh, has been particularly vocal on this matter as a frontbench member of the leading opposition party, Sinn Féin.

Rose is also a resident of an area of Mayo which produces natural gas and renewable energy, from which local people reap relatively little reward.

In pointing to the ongoing pay dispute by ambulance staff as an example of how workers in general are struggling to cope with increased living costs on existing wages, she made the argument that deciding not to end ‘energy rip-off’ is a political choice.

She elaborated: “Government could choose to impose a windfall tax on the eye-watering profits of energy companies. It could choose to introduce household energy credits, but it has not.

“Something has to be done. We cannot continue pretending that Ireland having the highest energy costs in the EU is normal. It is not normal, and it is not fair. In fact, it is grossly unfair.”

The government, to be fair, has given credits before in the aftermath of the Ukraine war outbreak and, more recently, in respect of the huge hike in fuel prices as a result of the conflict in Iran.

In the budget, it reduced the VAT on electricity and gas to 9% permanently out to 2030. And, in July, the government will have the final report of the energy affordability task force, looking at things like network charges and what it can do to drive permanent savings on household and business bills.

But, essentially, the big investment should be directed on reducing Ireland's dependence on fossil fuel and making it more attractive, and far less expensive, for members of the public to transition to domestic energy generation through renewable sources while also seriously considering nuclear energy generation.

We can’t keep running from pillar to post in the midst of every unfolding energy crisis.