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THE TAOISEACH HAS said there is “no question” that there is a growing demand for energy in Ireland.
The price of wholesale electricity is now 86% higher than it was a year ago, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
New figures from the CSO show there was an increase in the price of wholesale electricity in July, with prices 47% higher than the previous month. The price of electricity is now 86.3% higher than in July 2021.
Overall the Energy Products Index followed the same trend, going up by 37% since June 2022, and up 77.6% when compared to July 2021.
This evening, EirGrid temporarily issued an amber alert warning of low winds and tight margins between demand and supply – the latest in a series of such alerts in recent weeks.
The alert has since been lifted.
Speaking in Cork today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there is “no question” that there is a “growing demand on our energy because we’re growing as an economy and growing as a population”.
Earlier this month the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) issued an amber alert due to a “generation shortfall”. This type of alert is issued when there is a threat to the supply of electricity.
“People would have perhaps expected an earlier warning system in relation to some of this that’s materialising. It’s a good idea to do that, that’s important, but the broader issue is measures we take now to ensure we maintain energy security for the country,” the Taoiseach said.
The government has commissioned an independent review into electricity supply issues, with former senior civil servant Dermot McCarthy asked to carry it out.
Martin said McCarthy has “considerable experience” of government systems and that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was of the view McCarthy would be a “very appropriate person” for the job.
There have been calls for targeted measures to help low-income families bear the financial burden of rising energy bills this winter. It is expected that the Budget next month will include measures, including another €200 energy subsidy, to help address the crisis.
A recently published study by the ESRI revealed that, based on one measure, almost a third of Irish households are in energy poverty and are paying more than 10% of their income on energy costs due to inflation.
The CSO figures today show that wholesale prices for food products, beverages and tobacco prices increased by 10.3% in the year to July 2022.
Producer prices for dairy products rose 52.9%, fish products were up 19.7%, grain milling, starches and animal feeds increased by 14.2% and producer prices for meat and meat products rose by 13.2%.
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In construction, wholesale prices rose by 3.8% over the month of July and 20.6% in the year, with particularly high increases in structural steel and reinforcing metal (46.7%) and in the ‘Other timber, other’ category (109.6%).
Commenting on the release, Jillian Delaney, statistician in the CSO Prices Division, said: “Wholesale and producer prices continued to rise in most categories in July 2022. Producer prices in several food categories were significantly higher in July 2022 compared with the same month last year.”
The government plans to hold further meetings with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and EirGrid about energy procurement for this winter and next winter.
“We had meetings last year in respect of this. “We gave sanction to emergency procurement of generation in an unprecedented way,” the Taoiseach said.
“We gave them the capacity to procure energy generation on a short-time basis.
“Government will do everything it possibly can to ensure energy security for the people of the country.”
He said Ireland needs to accelerate renewable energy and off-shore wind energy and that the government would have to look “at demand reduction as well in an intelligent way”.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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