The Micro Renewable Energy Federation (MREF) has called for an investigation into the prices charged by some electricity providers, after the group was contacted by a dairy farmer.
Pat Smith, chairperson of the MREF, called on the government and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to look into the issue, after seeing the bill of a dairy farmer which Smith described as “excessively crippling”.
“The dairy farmer that has contacted us has a robotic milking parlour and was charged the equivalent of over 48c/kWh, including VAT, for the month of September last,” Smith explained.
“The farmer used a total of 5,100kWh and his bill was €2,466.”
Smith said that he recognised that energy bills were going through the roof, with gas price volatility being blamed for this increase.
However, the MREF chair also said that he “sees no justification for such a high kWh price being charged to any business and, from examining at a lot of electricity bills of customers, a price of 48c/kWh appears massively excessive and unjustifiable”.
“The government and the independent energy regulator in the form of the CRU need to urgently investigate energy pricing and charging of customers by electricity and gas suppliers, and anyone found to be overcharging a customer should be exposed and financially sanctioned to the greatest possible extent,” Smith argued.
“Gas and electricity customers need reassurance that they are getting proper market-related bills based on their usage and that nobody is being ripped off or taken advantage of in these volatile times.
He also called for the “dubious practice” of utility companies upping energy costs without notice once a contract is concluded to be outlawed.
“It should be a contractual obligation and responsibility of every energy provider to phone their customers and advise them when a contract is ending and of their new pricing level once they are out of contractual agreement,” Smith argued.