Gas and electricity bills are becoming unsustainable. Households are facing bills of €6,000 from early next year if prices keep on increasing at the current rate. That is more than triple the average they were paying at the start of 2021.
A recent Amarach opinion poll indicated that t 54% of people said they would not be able to pay the unexpected €1,000 bill. So how can people keep paying these bills?
We have a government that is slave to the dogma that it cannot properly ‘interfere in the market’. The result has been an approach that takes little account of social suffering.
People Before Profit is advocating immediate price controls on energy and essential foods. The government has the legal power to impose such an order but refuses to use it. Price controls will mean that the profits of large energy companies have to take a hit.
‘Ireland used to have the cheapest electricity in the EU for domestic users but de-regulation has pushed our prices to the top of the league.
‘We need to reverse this and take energy companies into public ownership and give them a not for profit mandate.’