MINISTER FOR ENERGY Darragh O’Brien will meet with energy companies tomorrow to try and convince them not to raise their prices this winter, especially since the upcoming budget will not contain an energy credit. 

Rising energy prices – and the high cost of living more generally – have led to calls for the government to include measures in the budget to support households. 

Speaking to reporters in New York, where he has been attending UN meetings on climate change and energy, O’Brien said that this winter “won’t be hopeless” when it comes to rising energy prices. 

“I will have specific asks of them in relation to vulnerable customers in particular,” he said of the companies.

“I will be reiterating that there will not be an energy credit in this budget, and there’s a responsibility amongst those firms as well to ensure that the energy they’re providing is costed fairly and affordably.”

O’Brien acknowledged that “energy prices are a real concern for people, particularly for families”.

He said his department had done some analysis of the different companies’ pricing, which O’Brien said he would discuss with them. 

He said he was particularly concerned by the number of households in arrears on the energy bills and that he is expecting the companies to come to him with proposals about how to deal with the issue.

“We’re not an outlier in Europe on this either, though,” he added.

“One of the things we discussed earlier on is energy pricing full stop across the world, like normal working families are finding it increasingly difficult to be able to manage their utility bills.