Cowen to brief European Commissioner on ESB price manipulation allegations 

15/07/2020 ****FILE PHOTO *****

Fianna Fáil TD and former Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen will travel to Strasbourg on Tuesday to meet with the EU Commissioner on Energy to discuss his allegations of price manipulation by the ESB.

Mr Cowen has been a vocal critic of the State utility in recent months and has accused them of abusing its monopolistic position to penalise consumers.

He has said under Dáil privilege that the company’s wholesale prices added €250 million to customers’ electricity bills between July and September last year.

“I am travelling to meet with Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson further to my complaint earlier this year relating to the wholesale energy market in Ireland and how it's being manipulated by ESB and not taken to task by the regulator, resulting in consumer prices even over and above international price pressure,” he told the Irish Examiner.

"I’ve an important meeting with EU Energy Commissioner in Strasbourg this week. The price of electricity in Ireland is some way ahead of international trends. The market is a monopoly. Time for change,” he said.

According to his submission to the Commission, seen by the Irish Examiner, Mr Cowen is claiming that because of limited competition in a small market which is being exploited by market-dominant generator groups, consumers are forced to pay higher prices for their energy.

Mr Cowen's submission says that when renewable generation on the island of Ireland is low and demand is high, he and others have noticed exceptionally high offer prices from certain generators, particularly in the last 12 months. The prices offered are often many times higher than the levels justified by input costs. 

He said the ESB was "noticeably prominent in this behaviour last year, but we know others are now also behaving in a similar manner".

The State company has strongly rejected allegations that it profited from last year’s electricity supply squeeze and that it kept bids for cash supports to build power plants deliberately low to deter likely rivals from entering the Irish market.

The ESB wrote to the Offaly-based TD earlier this year saying he should forward to regulators material to back up his claims.

Mr Cowen said he passed the information to the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) some time ago. “I have already raised issues with the regulator that I think need to be investigated by the authorities that are there to do so,” he said.

The ESB published a series of papers in January that it said provided evidence refuting allegations made against it by Mr Cowen.