Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has revealed the Government is considering introducing caps on energy bills alongside further energy rebates in their latest cost of living plan.
This could potentially save consumers thousands a year on their electricity, gas and oil bills.
Mr Varadkar said “nothing is off the table yet” when he was asked if there would have to be a choice made between rebates and price caps, or if a hybrid model could be introduced.
Read More : Met Eireann forecast four weeks of unusual weather in Ireland
He said: “All options are on the table, a cap, extra credits like we did earlier in the year, or a combination of the two.
“We (the Cabinet budget committee) agreed last night that we would commission a paper to study the whole issue of price caps, how they might work and what the pros and cons would be.
“They announced the price cap in the United Kingdom for businesses, but they just confirmed today that they don’t know how they’re going to do it.
“We’d rather do it the other way round and work out how you’re going to do things before you decide whether or not to do them.”
The UK government announced earlier this week that it is heading down the bill cap route.
If our own government follows suit, Mr Varadkar told the Mirror it would be both for businesses and households here, which could result in bill savings running into hundreds, or even thousands of euro for homes.
This would be based on current annual energy prices for households having already hit €2,000 a year, with estimates that the bills could top €6,000 a year before the crisis is over.
It is accepted across Government circles that another energy rebate in the form of credit on our bills - it was worth €200 per household last April - will be with us before Christmas.
And it is then accepted that there will be another rebate worth several hundred euro landing on our doorsteps in the first quarter of next year.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin all but confirmed this when he told the Dáil on its first day back on Wednesday that “more relief” will be with households “before the end of March.”
Meanwhile, Energy Minister Eamon Ryan welcomed the latest news on proposed energy company windfall taxes.
EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that Europe is moving ahead with their windfall plan which could yield €140billion across the bloc.
Mr Ryan said: “The proposal for a European-wide plan to capture excess profits from energy companies and to recycle them to householders and businesses will be taken into account in the upcoming budget, as one of the ways in which we can fund supports for householders and businesses over this winter.”
The Minister added: “But Europe has to move on this quickly and decisively. The current electricity market is not working for people. This is one way we can begin to realign it."
READ NEXT:
- Love Island's Jacques makes explosive admission on what viewers didn't see in Casa Amor
- Man lay dead in Dublin drug den for a week as others came and went before grim discovery
- Woman living in her car with cats on Irish beach for months has to wash in the Atlantic daily
- Queen's generous gesture to closest staff member with Irish roots who was always by her side
- Garth Brooks pulls pint and sings If Tomorrow Never Comes on visit to famous Kerry pub
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
