The cost of electricity for Leinster House more than trebled in December compared with a year ago, underlining the increase in energy costs that have caused havoc with swathes of the economy.
The electricity bill increased 216 per cent to €334,919 for the month, a 216 per cent increase on December 2021, even after an apparent reduction in energy usage.
One Leinster House official noted that while they had been expecting a “significant step change” in bills, the actual increase “seems very significant”, according to internal emails released under the Freedom of Information Act. Another wrote of their “shock” at the bills.
In contrast, gas bills remained more stable as Leinster House relied more on a wood pellet heating system. Still, officials spent close to €100,000 on wood pellets for November and December, almost treble the spend of the same period in 2021.
Leinster House was first warned last January that electricity costs were likely to rise by about 41 per cent if and when a new power contract was signed. By June, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) noted prices would likely increase by about 160 per cent. The outlook was even worse in September when the OGP warned of the potential for a 378 per cent hike in electricity prices and 457 per cent for gas.
A tender competition to supply electricity to the Leinster House complex – and for other public sector bodies – from May last year was cancelled due to a lack of responses while another in September also failed after receiving not a single bid.
As a result, the Oireachtas were switched to market rates, which were “significantly higher” than what they had been paying.
The Oireachtas were also warned the energy market would “remain volatile” especially while there was no contract in place for supply.
“I was certainly prepared for significant step change increases across the invoices sent in by our energy suppliers,” one senior official wrote. “However, even by these standards the current payment request seems very significant.”
Still, energy usage in the Leinster House complex dropped in four successive months from September to December. In November, the amount of electricity used was down by more than 5 per cent on the previous years.
Leinster House said they had introduced a range of measures to curb energy usage, including changing of external lighting protocols and a reduction in the daily heating period.
They also took part in a “reduce your use” campaign last winter and issued energy awareness and notices to staff and members about reducing their use of power.
“Out of hours audits” on energy use were also taking place in an attempt to identify and address any unnecessary use of electricity.
