McGrath: Energy providers must start dropping prices for households

'It shouldn't be the case that taxpayers have to pick up the bill at a time when many of these companies are enjoying very substantial reductions in the price that they're paying for energy,' Michael McGrath said.

Energy firms must start dropping their prices for customers sooner rather than later, the Finance Minister has said, as he confirmed more supports are on the cards for households.

Michael McGrath said the reasoning behind the failure of energy firms to pass on big drops in wholesale prices to customers "only goes so far" and that relatively minor drops in bills for households "needs to change".