LAST UPDATE | 12 Mar

IRISH HOUSEHOLDS HAVE experienced the sharpest increase in home heating oil prices anywhere in the EU in recent weeks, according to new figures.

Data from the European Commission’s Weekly Oil Bulletin shows that 1,000 litres of home heating oil in Ireland cost €964 in February, but had risen to an average cost of €1,554.90 by 9 March.

The 61% increase is by far the highest in the EU, and means heating oil prices in Ireland are now the second-highest on record.

The cost of heating oil appears to be rapidly approaching levels seen during the energy crisis in March 2022, when the average price reached €1,643.

Across the EU as a whole, prices rose far less sharply.

The average price of 1000 litres of heating oil across the 27 member states increased from just over €1,000 on 23 February to more than €1,300 on 9 March, a rise of just over 27%.

Austria recorded the next largest jump after Ireland, with prices rising from €1,098 to €1,624, an increase of nearly 48%.

Political reaction

People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett today called for price controls on energy suppliers and said his party has “long believed that there’s a problem with the deregulation of the energy markets”.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Today with David McCullagh, Boyd Barrett said this is the “long-standing view” of People Before Profit.

“On an emergency basis, we can’t have a situation where energy companies might literally turn off the lights,” he continued.

He likened the situation with energy prices to when banks were nationalised after the crash: “Just as we had to nationalise banks at a certain point, we might have to do that.”

Boyd Barrett said, “The state has to intervene further by, if necessary, taking control of these supplies.”

He wants to see a range of measures examined by the government to alleviate these costs: “In the first instance, you’d have to look at the profits of the companies, but in the second instance, absolutely, the government would have to subsidise it.”

Asked about allegations of price gouging, Boyd Barrett said that, though he would welcome an investigation, the government needs to act now “to protect people”.

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said the scale of the increases raises “serious questions” about how prices are being passed on to Irish households.

“Irish households are still experiencing disproportionately high increases compared to our European neighbours,” Boylan said.

“Of course global events affect energy prices everywhere. But what we are seeing in Ireland is far beyond what households across Europe are facing.”

Boylan added that the government must act quickly to protect households from excessive price increases.

“The government cannot simply stand back and hope the market corrects itself. The government has clear options available to provide relief,” she said.

Energy prices have soared since the war began in Iran. Last week, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke wrote to the Chair of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) requesting it to carry out a review of the retail energy market.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned filling stations and home heating oil suppliers against price gouging as crude oil prices rise in response to the war in the Middle East.

Martin said, “We don’t want any price gouging going on.”