Energy companies free to pass windfall tax to consumers
ENVIRONMENT Minister Eamon Ryan will not penalise energy companies if they hike their prices even further in response to his windfall tax, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The Consumers Association of Ireland (CAI) warned that the Coalition’s plans to slap windfall taxes on energy companies’ profits will make no difference to hard-pressed householders if they simply raise their prices in response.
CAI policy adviser Dermott Jewell said the Government must act to prevent companies, most of whom have recorded record profits in recent months as fuel costs soared, from doing so.
He told the MoS: ‘They’ll need to be penalised in some way if they attempt to do this; otherwise it will just turn into a game whereby the Government introduces another tax on them and they hike prices again.’
However, in response to queries from the MoS, the Green Party leader’s department indicated it would not penalise energy companies that continue to hike prices.
A spokesman said: ‘Any major interference in the
energy market would need to be carefully considered, to avoid potentially further disrupting a market that is already facing significant challenges and exposing the Exchequer, and ultimately the taxpayer, to potentially unquantifiable costs.’
Mr Ryan this week announced the Government will cap revenues of electricity generating companies that don’t use gas, to raise as much as €1.9bn for the Exchequer.