LAST UPDATE | 4 Mar

FUEL INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES have been called in by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke for a meeting on Friday to explain how their prices jumped in recents days. 

The minister will be seeking answers from the companies on their price structure and how price hikes were imposed so quickly despite wholesale supply. 

Burke will also advise fuel industry bodies to remind their members that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is now conducting a “major” and “urgent” investigation into possible price gouging.

Consumers are also being urged to urgently report breaches of competition and consumer law they believe they have experienced with home heating oil, petrol and diesel to the CCPC.

“I am encouraging members of the pubic to contact the CCPC via ask@ccpc.ie or via their helpline at 01 402 5555 in relation to recent increases in home heating oil and fuel. I am assured by the CCPC that these complaints will be carefully and urgently assessed,” he said.

The consumer watchdog can avail of a range of powers to investigate and prosecute where clear breaches of the law are evident, the minister said. 

He outlined the CCPC can impose fines of up €10 million in certain circumstances of breaches or 10% of a company’s turnover.

“A confidential whistle-blowing service is also available for reports of suspected cartel behaviour.

“I am also meeting industry representatives and suppliers in the energy market on Friday to discuss my concerns around the recent sharp increases in home heating oil and fuel prices, which do not appear to correspond with wholesale trends. All businesses operating in this country must comply fully with the law, and the CCPC will be monitoring developments closely,” said Burke. 

Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris told his parliamentary party meeting this evening that any level of price gouging or profiteering from the war in the Middle East is “totally and utterly unacceptable”.

He said the CCPC review must be thorough and evidence-based, but cannot take long.

If evidence of price gouging is found, the government must use all levers at their disposable to clamp down on this activity, he said.

Earlier today, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said the government is not considering any interventions when it comes to costs.

He said energy credits and one-off supports are currently “highly unlikely”, he said. 

Calls for targeted supports for rising energy costs

Opposition members have called for targeted energy supports to be rolled out, similar to those that were announced after the war in Ukraine. 

The calls come amid reports that the price at the pumps jumped in recent days, with politicians hearing from constituents about a massive hike in home heating oil costs. 

Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Sasko Lazarov Sasko Lazarov

Speaking to reporters at Government Buildings today, Chambers ruled out any forthcoming announcement on energy credits or excise cuts.

“The current position is that there isn’t any intervention on the table,” said Chambers, telling the media that the government will “assess the wider position over the weeks and months ahead to see if there’s any sustained or increasing price dynamic”. 

“We’ve to be careful about what intervention we make and what impact that has on the wider fiscal position,” he added. 

“I don’t think it would be responsible or appropriate to make any intervention when something has just occurred in recent days. And clearly, a lot of what’s happened at a retail level has nothing to do with the changes that we’ve seen in the geopolitical situation,” said Chambers. 

He added:

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“Clearly, if things escalate to an extraordinary degree, we’ll assess that at a given point in time, but we don’t know what the medium-term position will be on this around the economic consequences, or the inflationary consequences, and how that might impact on our growth trajectory.”

Calling out the increased prices facing customers in recent days, Chambers said it is “price-gouging”.

“It’s just pure opportunism by certain retailers, and that has nothing to do with government levies or taxes. They need to be tackled head on by the CCPC, who have statutory remit around consumer protection and also around competition policy in the market. I think we need to look at it,” said the public expenditure minister. 

The government won’t make any “ad hoc, reactionary decisions”, he added.

Chambers also confirmed the carbon tax increase will proceed as planned. 

Taoiseach Micheal Martin acknowledged during Leaders’ Questions today that there was “a lot of uncertainty out there at the moment” and said “no one should take advantage of that” to increase energy prices.

“We’re keeping everything under review in terms of the price situation and impact on households.”

The slowdown in growth of the UK economy, which was announced yesterday, could have an impact on Ireland’s growth, Chambers warned. 

He said the Department of Finance are working on new growth projections for Ireland, taking into account the geopolitical context. 

Harris said it is difficult to predict where the Middle East conflict will lead and the scale of economic impact will depend on the length and depth of the conflict.

He will meet European counterparts on Monday at which energy affordability and the economic impact of the conflict will be discussed.