WTH?
This is total madness, FIFTH price hike from Electric Ireland since the beginning of 2021. EI’s parent group - ESB - recorded €680m profit in 2021.
I genuinely do not know how any of us apart from the super-rich will survive this winter.
What is the government doing apart from sitting on their hands?
It has to do with world events. But this is why I cook by bottled gas anad always have spares in and a solid fuel stove.Which may of you cannot do . After ten years in an all electric house I NEVER again would do that.
The government already own 95% of ESB Group who own Electric Ireland, they should be steering the company in to how much profit is acceptable, similar to how EDF is being steered in France to be only allowed raise bills by 4%. ESB made €679m profit last year so it's by no means in the poor house.
It has almost everything to do with Putin and the invasion of Ukraine. Electric Ireland don’t just call around the day before with a suitcase of 20’s and buy gas. It’s often bought months and even years in advance on the futures market. Now the EU have acknowledged that the European wholesale electricity market structure is deeply flawed, and are actively working to change it. But the fact of the matter remains - Europe has less gas than it needs and the price of it has skyrocketed as a result.
These things are much more complicated than simplistic sloganeering.
Couldn't believe this when I saw it on my news feed - its only just increased a few months ago after an earlier increase in the year
Its all very well to get angry, but anger isnt a policy and most of the comments here just show ignorance to what's actually happening in the World. Its not in the gift of the Irish Government or the suppliers here to do anything about it.
The UK Govt tried to force suppliers to run at a loss and all that happened was that suppliers went bust, starting with the smallest and weakest.
Wholesale gas prices are NOT falling, despite what you may read day-on-day. Overall, they are 700% higher than one year ago. The rises passed on to customers are less than 100% so far, so as you can see, two things have yet to happen; the suppliers haven't quite yet cushioned all they can tolerate and worse rises are yet to come.
That said, ordinary homes and small businesses really can't afford to meet these rises. So the answer is for the European Union to set up a fund to mutualise the energy debt of its citizens, in much the same way as Covid losses were underpinned and for that mutualisation fund, or bond, to be paid off for many years after the immediate crisis has subsided.
It sounds radical and it is and it will require a temporary suspension of EU competition rules, but the alternative is an economic collapse of unimaginable proportions, which would amplify the effects of the War for a decade to come.
Fortunately, the EU can borrow trillions on its own sovereign and if that money is invested right, the damage can be limited and economic stimulation achieved.
As for Britain and other individual Countries who dont have that kind of latitude to borrow, its not a great outlook.
Probably wiser to grow a brain and thus be able to understand what's going on in the world at the moment.
Alternatively, if you really want to do something about it, then head over to Ukraine and fight the Russians.
Everybody always wants everybody else to do something about it for them…. While they sit on their couch with a glass of wine……
”Nah, I won’t get off my arse and protest, but I’ll like & share your groups Facebook page”
.............. and I'll vote for the people who will definitely sort it all out after the next election!
The IPCC, the resulting CO2 catastrophism and all the intermittent renewables that has lead to, which are the core reasons for the current energy situation and are what have put Russia into a position where they could be a problem. Russia is a side issue; it's our own climate eco-energy stupidity that is really at fault.
A thread for practical measures to mitigate these increases might be useful. Utility companies want people using/wasting their product. There are always ways to use less.
Unfortunately to do this you often need to spend money but with all these increases, the payback time may have decreased dramatically.
E.g. drying clothes. A big contributor to many people's energy bills. Grand during summer months if you have a clothes line. Not so if you are in an apartment during winter. Should people be looking at replacing traditional (resistive heating) tumble dryers with heat pump dryers for about 400 quid. Or, if you have a garden, buying a small greenhouse or polytunnel for drying clothes.
The illusion of choice when it comes to deregulated public services is evaporating like steam from a cooling tower. The now myriad of middle men are sucking the consumer dry.
If Ireland had built a nuclear power station, rather than spend the same sort of money subsidising renewables, we wouldn't currently have a problem. Letting the Irish government off the hook for it's climate stupidity and squeamishness and claiming it was out of their hands, doesn't fit with how I see things.
Bottled gas is about the most expensive way to cook. It's great in a power cut, but it's not a magic bullet for reigning in costs.
I'll join that protest, but no way am I organising it. I don't have Facecrook, twatter, or instagrant to spread the word.
I respectfully disagree, and even if it was, is the price of destroying our own economy and the lives of many worth it so we can pat ourselves on the back and say we stuck it to Putin?
The sanctions are having little effect on Russia which is selling its oil and Gas to the rest of the world. The war would have been long over if the west kept out of it.
The problem with conserving energy is that, say we all reduce our consumption by 20%, they'll just up the prices by 20% plus their price gouge.
We work for them.
Fight the Russians?
Ask yourself why oil and gas prices arent really affecting other parts of the world in the same way.
Ireland produces its own gas and we can power ourselves with peat. Europe has plenty of Nuclear power stations as well as oil and gas. It's ridiculous to suggest this is all because of the war in Russia if it were the price of oil and gas wouldn't be falling whilst the energy costs in the west keep rising!
"A typical standard vented tumble dryer uses 2.50 kWh per cycle" At 38.6 cents per Kw thats €0.965 pre load. A heat pump dryer ican reduce energy use by 28%, so thats a saving of €0.27c per load. If you think a €400 dryer will ever pay for itself, be my guest.
The sanctions are having a huge effect and Russia can't sell it's gas to the point it's now flaring off and burning it.
Saying the war would have been over by now is such a disguting and inhumane way of putting mass slaughter, I can't think of an adequate reply that wouldn't get me an insta-site ban. I disagree with you, with not a scintilla of respect.
I don't argue that they've a case to answer in that regard, but so much our infrastructure was in the dark ages for decades, first the telecoms were a priority, then the Motorways were a priority, then the Water network was a priority, then broadband was a priority.
The ESB did a pretty decent job of energy security when it was all under their ambit, but now we have a separate generator and a separate supplier and a separate regulator and there are too many stools for things to fall between.
I'm not sure the majority of Irish people would accept a nuclear station, but definitely taking the Peat and Coal stations offline before renewable alternatives were up and running was beyond foolish.
Public opinion on nuclear has shifted.
https://www.thejournal.ie/poll-nuclear-power-ireland-2-1858320-Dec2014/
If all our Electricity was generated by wind the Power companies would still increase electricity prices because of the way electricity market pricing is arrived at in Europe .
One of the biggest issues I see is the "x% of our normal rate" nonsense .. why are they allowed tie customers into contracts without guaranteeing a fixed price? the discount means nothing if the rate is completely moveable ?! If people could move whenever they liked they would be forced to be more competitive. Unless a rate is fixed the max contract should be 1 month. Who regulates this $hite ?
And we'd have no electricity at all when there wasn't any wind!
Incidentally, in the past 12 years, my unit rate has been reduced on at least three occasions by the various electricity suppliers that I was using. (And I'm not referring to the discounts I got when switching supplier.)
Whilst I don't want to turn this into a Urkane thread, without western backing of arms and money, Ukraine had no way of standing up to Russia, thus the way would be long over and the loss of life would be greatly reduced.
Imagine the Falklands war, had Argentina been backed by other South American countries we would have seen more loss of life and prolonged war.
There is a protest this month. I won't be going as some of the 'promoters' include the retired ESB workers association or some such bunch. Same fkrs happy enough to be overpaid in a monopoly for decades but **** it now their pensions are being squeezed by their alma mater.
lol
Prices have fallen, yes but they are still WAYYYY up on the norm
Some historical numbers for context, prices in EUR/MWh
1-Sep-2020 - 11.75
1-Sep-2021 - 50.23
1-Sep-2022 - 243.00
Granted they dropped from recent highs
Which is welcome, but if last year is anything to go, i.e. pre-war, we are going to see some bonkers spikes once the cold snaps hit
So yeah, unfortunately, its going to get a lot, LOT worse before it gets any better and as long as we keep fossil fuels in our mix, we are at the mercy of global commodity markets so while the prices may drop again at some stage they may spike at the next [INSERT EVENT HERE]
Larbre34 is 100% correct. There is literally nothing that the electricity companies can do about the wholesale price of gas, which in turn is used to price electricity. The price increases have only begun and the only way is up. If they can't make a profit, they will become insolvent and entire system will fold.
Government can perhaps force them to drastically reduce their standing charges and the EU are looking to decouple the gas price from the electrical pricing market.
Ireland produces its own gas from the coast of Mayo, the government is also the main shareholder of the ESB.
Nationalise the Gas and reduce the cost of electricity otherwise the system, is going to fold when businesses ant afford to operate and we see huge unemployment.
But surely a protest at the gates of the Dail by the usual rentamob aided and abetted by a handful of self-important me-toos will force the gubberment to pull up its socks and slash the global price of gas?
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