116. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment his current plans to regulate increases in prices from energy suppliers. [64969/26]

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) was assigned consumer protection functions under the 1999 Electricity Regulation Act and subsequent legislation and has statutory responsibility for the compliance by energy suppliers with their consumer protection obligations. The electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a European Union regulatory regime wherein electricity and gas markets are commercial and liberalised.

Operating within this overall EU framework, responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets, is solely a matter for the CRU. In line with long standing policy on deregulating price setting, the CRU ended its regulation of retail prices in the electricity market in 2011, and in the gas market in 2014. Price setting by electricity suppliers, including standing charges, is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned.

Each such company has its own different approach to pricing decisions over time, in accordance with factors such as their overall company strategic direction and developments in their cost base. Within a competitive environment, providers also have costs such as staffing, tax, infrastructure, and the cost of network tariffs which in turn affect end users’ bills. As Minister, I have no statutory function in this matter.