THERE HAVE BEEN calls for greater transparency on electricity costs in Ireland after Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien warned of price hikes of up to 9% over the summer.

Speaking yesterday on RTÉ, O’Brien said the conflict in the Middle East could push electricity costs in Ireland up by 4 to 9% over May, June and July.

“In electricity, it will be single-digit increases but it again depends on each of the providers, looking at from 4 to 9% depending on the provider, gas more than that. But we are prepared for that,” O’Brien said yesterday.

O’Brien added that he has asked the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to consider “enhanced mechanisms” to track retail fuel prices during the crisis.

In a report this month, the CCPC said increases were “driven by increases in wholesale costs”, not price gouging by individual companies.

The price of home heating oil rose by 67.5% in the month between February and March and went up by 63.3% in the last year.

While the CCPC identified “a small number of questionable consumer protection practices”, it did not find “price increases that are in breach of any law”.

Daragh Cassidy from price comparison website Bonkers.ie this morning told Newstalk Breakfast that he wants to see “more insight into electricity prices in Ireland”.

“We focus a huge amount on the price of wholesale electricity,” said Cassidy, “but in Ireland, wholesale costs only make up around 30% to 35% of the bill.”

He added: “To put that another way, if you have an electricity bill for €100, around €30 to €35 goes to the cost of the gas or the wind and the things that make the electricity, while the other €60 to €65 is going on all these other charges.”

“So, we don’t really know a huge amount, and I’d love more insight into that.

“That would help us focus on what’s too high, what’s not so high and what we can try and lower to make electricity prices more competitive.”

However, Cassidy remarked that the public needs to remember that the powers of the CCPC are “somewhat curtailed”.

“We live in a capitalist society, we do not have price controls of the vast majority of goods and services,” said Cassidy.

“There’s no control over the price of gas, electricity, oil, or supermarket goods.

“That means that forecourts and energy suppliers, rightly or wrongly, are free to charge whatever price they want for their energy, no matter what it’s trading at on wholesale markets.”

Elsewhere, Cassidy remarked that the 9% offered by O’Brien was “weirdly specific” and added: “Anyone who tries to make forecasts about energy prices these days can look very silly, because it’s just so volatile.

“At the start of the year, I was hoping we might even see a small reduction in gas prices, and obviously that’s off the table, and we’re definitely not going to see price cuts anytime soon.

“It’s just so volatile on a daily basis and things are changing depending on what Trump comes out with.”

He added that the “key thing” is the price of gas because Ireland “doesn’t really use oil anymore to generate our electricity”.

“Obviously there’s been a huge focus on the price of oil because the price at the forecourt has gone up,” said Cassidy, “but when it comes to our gas and electricity bills, it’s the price of wholesale gas that’s important, but unfortunately, that has gone up as well.”