The Government is preparing for domestic electricity prices to increase by between 4 and 9 per cent with significantly higher rises expected for household gas bills, Minister for Energy Darragh O’Brien has said.
O’Brien said the increases, which Government believes will begin between May and July, are linked to continuing pressures on global energy markets stemming from conflict in the Middle East.
Asked about the suggestion on Friday by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke that price increases could reach as high as 30 per cent, O’Brien said the hikes would not be as high as that.
“I’m not contradicting what Peter said at all. It depends on which retailers have their own hedging arrangements. [For] electricity, we’re not looking at increases in that sphere. It would be single-digit increases. We are looking at increases of between 4 to 9 per cent, depending on the provider.
“With gas it’s more than that, but not [as high] as 30 per cent,” he said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, he said Government was planning for different scenarios and retained the capacity to introduce further supports if needed.
“Every country in the world is grappling with supply. Thankfully, our supply here and our reserves are very robust, and again, we have regular information on that. In relation to supply, we’re not ruling anything out at the moment. We’ve only just brought in additional measures with a €750 million total package, one of the most significant in Europe,” he said.
Addressing reports of about 500 cancelled flights by Aer Lingus, O’Brien said the issue was unrelated to fuel shortages but said there were price pressures on airlines because of increases in the cost of jet fuel.
“Aer Lingus has planned maintenance and that has meant small changes to their schedule, about 2 per cent of their schedule,” he said, adding people were being rebooked on flights on the same day.
“We’re seeing increases in the price of jet fuel. So there are cost pressures there for airlines, and airlines will make commercial decisions, separate to Government. But what I’m saying to people is our supplies and our reserves here in Ireland are very robust, with a 70-day reserve,” he said.
On internal discussions within Fianna Fáil regarding the leadership of Taoiseach Micheál Martin, O’Brien said he and most of his colleagues remained firmly supportive.
“I’ve been really clear on my position and the vast majority of my colleagues were fully supportive of the leadership of Micheál Martin, and we need that experienced leadership now more than ever,” he said.
He acknowledged pressures on Government TDs amid recent protests and disruption, but defended the party’s overall approach.
“This is probably the first very significant crisis that some of our first-time and newer TDs have seen … There has been a lot of pressure on TDs across the House, particularly those in Government.
“What we saw over the last two weeks, I never want to see happen again in relation to the blockades, the disruption to supply chains, and some of the behaviours that we saw. Genuine protest is something that I will always defend, and my colleagues will always defend that, but blockades, no, they are different.
“We are a democratic party. We allow people to have an opinion. What Fianna Fáil TDs are committed to doing is working on behalf of their people and their country, because it is an honour for us to be elected to do that,” he said.