We are owed further price drops for petrol

Overproduction of petroleum coupled with a decrease in demand for crude oil led prices to drop rapidly over the past half year and we are just now beginning to see the results at petrol filling stations around this country.

With OPEC countries out-of-sorts with each other, a further drop in price is expected.

When oil prices rose in the past, utility providers were quick out of the traps demanding increases to utility charges. For the last six months they have been remarkably quiet. But then so too has the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).

One of the duties for CER is to ensure that prices charged to users are fair and reasonable. It is now time for CER to act on behalf of the people it is supposed to represent and force these companies (some of which make huge annual profits) to reduce their utility rates. God knows, we all could do with a little respite from austerity and rising bills.

John Bellew

Riverside House

Dunleer, Co Louth