Cost Of Power Under Review

NI Utility Regulator Iain Osborne has today highlighted the downward trend in underlying fuel costs as he launched a review of tariffs.

With a financial fillip expected to flow from a reduction in Value Added Tax as part of the Chancellor's pre-Budget report, there has been a call for more monetary relief with reductions in the price of electricity being passed on to Northern Ireland consumers, the regulator said.

He said that bills have leaped by a third with wholesale prices spiking earlier this year and commented: "Because we exist to protect consumers we want to see electricity prices that are as low as possible.

"Our commitment to consumers is that cost reductions will feed through as fast or quicker than cost increases," he said.

"However, there can be no guarantee at this point that this review will lead to lower electricity prices."

He was commenting on the way that electricity bills rose by a third in October, adding almost £150 to the average bill. It followed a 14% increase in July.

Mr Osborne added: "We have been closely monitoring the changing situation on the wholesale energy market for some time and we have also discussed with NIE the potential impact of wholesale trends on consumers," he continued.

"We conclude that the time is now right to review electricity prices, and that this review should start immediately."

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Arlene Foster said: "The downward trend in wholesale oil, coal, and gas prices over the past number of weeks has presented the utility regulator with a timely opportunity to review retail electricity prices in Northern Ireland with the potential for any savings to be passed on to hard pressed consumers."

Also commenting, West Belfast Sinn Fein MLA and Vice Chair of the Committee for Enterprise Trade & Investment Jennifer McCann said the review of electricity prices by the regulator was good news: "Over the past year we have seen electricity prices here reach unprecedented high levels. The reason for the huge price hikes were given as the wholesale cost in the price of energy.

"Sinn Féin welcome the announcement by the Utility Regulator's office to review the price of electricity," she said, also asking that the Stormont Executive ensure the help for those who are experiencing difficulty in paying for fuel this winter is speedily given to them as "people are cold now.".

See: Major Shift In Labour's Economic Policy Expected

(BMcC)