Shock for consumers and business. Low paid and elderly will be hit hard.

Fine Gael Communications & Energy Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD, today (Sunday) said a hike in electricity prices in October will horrify consumers and businesses and hit the low paid and the elderly particularly hard.  Deputy Varadkar has called on Minister Ryan to postpone the introduction of a €156 million levy, which will see household bills rise 5% and small businesses pay €100 more on annual bills, and instigate a full review of the levy used to subsidise peat and renewable energy generators.

“The news that electricity prices are due to rise from the first of October will come as shock to hard-pressed consumers and businesses.  The levy is particularly unfair to the low paid and elderly people as it is imposed as at flat rate on all domestic consumers regardless of how much energy they use.  A granny living on her own using very little electricity will pay the same amount as somebody who leaves their boiler on all day.

“Businesses will be horrified to see electricity prices going up again.  We already have the third highest electricity prices in the Eurozone and now they are set to rise further.  I think people will be particularly angry that the ESB will be the main beneficiary of levy and will get €85.5 million from it in a full year given that the company reported profits of over €500 million only last week.

“Responsibility for this price hike lies firmly with the Minister Eamon Ryan.  The Regulator’s only role is calculate the levy based on his policies.  Consumers and business are going to have to pay the bill for Eamon Ryan’s green energy revolution and his unwillingness to squeeze the ESB.

“I am calling on the Minister to introduce a statutory instrument to postpone the introduction of the levy, which will be imposed in October, pending a full review of the levy.”

Quango sepnds €500K on PR

The spend by the National Consumer Agency (NCA) of €18,000 on average a month every month for over two and a half years to a public relations company cannot be justified Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD said today (Sunday).

Deputy Varadkar made his comments after media reports highlighted the fact that €562,057 of taxpayers’ funds was paid by the State body despite the fact that it is being wound down.

“That this quango needs to spend any amount of money at all on outside PR is a mystery.
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Life on the opposition benches can be a remarkably frustrating place.  You can have all the good ideas in the world, but unless the government agrees to implement them, they just end up on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. Unfortunately, the Irish experience is that if an idea comes from the opposition benches, the government will ignore it.

That’s why I am particularly pleased with a small victory I’ve had in the area of the Small Claims Court. Last May, I launched an eighteen point plan to support the small businesses in Ireland (A Fresh Start for Small Business). One of the simpler proposals was to give small businesses access to the small claims court to chase up debtors. Currently, only consumers can use the small claims court procedure, and there is a limit of €2,000 in the claims which the court can process. …[more]

As the slump in retail sales enters its 14th month, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has called on the Government to kick-start the sector by implementing his Party’s proposals for small & medium enterprises.

“The last 14 months have been among the hardest on record for thousands of small businesses, with retail sales going through the floor. The motor trade is by far the worst hit, with a 60% slump in sales of new private vehicles, year-on-year.

“But the rest of the retail sector is also taking a hammering. Although there are some signs that the slump is bottoming out, the value of retail sales was down 11.2% in the year to April, while the volume was down 7.2%.

“SMEs employ some 800,000 people, but many are going to the wall on a daily basis. Urgent action is needed to protect these jobs, which is why Fine Gael produced an 18 point plan for SMEs: A Fresh Start for Jobs in Small Business.
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Banks are engaged in ripping off customers to the tune of €90 million this year by hiking up interest rates on loans and overdrafts by an extra 1% above the European market rate, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

“Even worse, this rip-off started just after taxpayers were asked by the Government to guarantee Irish bank deposits,” Deputy Varadkar said.

“The rip-off is revealed in a Fine Gael analysis of interest rates charged by Irish banks for overdrafts and personal loans since 2006. Irish interest rates broadly tracked the standard European market rate, the Euribor, between August 2006 and August 2008.

“But since the Government bank guarantee was introduced, Irish rates have shot up by at least 1% on top of the Euribor rate. Someone with a car loan of €20,000 will therefore be paying an extra €200 a year in interest payments.
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Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has called on the Government to include a new law in the forthcoming NAMA Bill to help homeowners to escape from high fixed-rate mortgages.

“Young homeowners and young families have been hit hard by the recession. They have seen their income eroded by pay cuts, levies and new taxes. The average young family with two young children has lost over €4,000 in take-home pay since this time last year.

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FG research suggests banks are increasing, not decreasing margins

Further evidence of rip-off activities by banks have emerged after a Fine Gael analysis revealed they have increased dramatically the amount of money they make on loans and overdrafts since the State bank guarantee was introduced last September.

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said his analysis revealed that the cost of business borrowing from Irish banks increased dramatically, and in some cases more than doubled, between September 2009 and last January, according to new Central Bank statistics. This increase happened after two years of relative stability.

Deputy Varadkar is calling on Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to call on the banks to cut margins and ensure an affordable flow of credit to businesses. …[more]

As you’ll see from the press release below, I launched a policy document on Fine Gael’s consumer policy today. The document in full is available here in pdf format, and I put the executive summary of it beneath the fold.

The main points of the document are

1. Reversing measures in Budget 2009 which are driving up prices, including the VAT increase to 21.5% and transport fares;
2. Freezing Government charges and local authority rates and levies in order to reduce business costs;
3. An immediate review of electricity and gas prices;
4. Abolishing surcharges for payments by credit card, debit card and direct debit, and abolishing expiry dates for shopping vouchers;
5. Utility regulators will have to publish a detailed case for every proposed price increase, and hold public hearings. Consumers will have the right to petition regulators to review prices;
6. A new arbitration system for disputes between consumers and businesses, and increase the threshold in the Small Claims Court to €12,000;
7. Extended breaks in services such as electricity, multi-channel TV or telephone will have to be refunded;
8. Merge the National Consumer Agency and Competition Authority into an Irish Fair Trading Authority (IFTA);
9. IFTA will have real powers, including monitoring tax and excise, and ensuring that currency fluctuations are passed on to consumers;
10. Government and public bodies shall give a reasoned response to IFTA recommendations. …[more]

New proposals to tackle the high cost of living and strengthen consumer rights have been published by Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD. They include an immediate review of electricity and gas prices, a ban on surcharges for all payments by ‘plastic’, and a freeze on Government charges.

Speaking at the launch of Finding Real Value today, Deputy Varadkar said: ‘In the midst of the deepest recession in a generation, consumers are left wondering why the cost of living is still so high. Rip-off Ireland is still a fact of life. Prices in Ireland are still much higher than the UK and the rest of Europe. Electricity and gas prices bear no relation to international rates. The high cost of goods and services are hurting consumers and families in their pockets’. …[more]