FALLING ENERGY prices could create scope for consumers to pay a bigger share of electricity and gas supply costs, thus easing pressure on businesses, Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins said yesterday.

Around €25 of every €100 that householders pay for electricity and between €25 and €30 of every €100 that they pay for gas goes towards paying for the individual supply networks.

According to Mr Mullins, businesses also pay these charges, but carry a greater overall share of the burden, and many of them say that reducing them would help cut their costs and possibly save jobs.

The Bord Gáis chief executive pointed out yesterday that natural gas prices could fall by up to 25 per cent this year, while electricity prices are heading in the same direction.

He argued that against this background, it would be worth exploring the possibility of shifting a greater share of the fixed-cost burden on to householders.

“I’m not saying that we should do this, but I am saying that we should at least have the debate; if it doesn’t happen, then at least we have looked at it,” he said.

Mr Mullins explained that the logic for having such a debate would be that saving and maintaining jobs is a priority, and that any initiative that would benefit the economy as a whole would also benefit consumers.

He pointed out that because of the way the costs are shared, a 10 per cent cut for businesses would result in a 4 per cent increase for householders.

Putting this against the 12 per cent cut in gas prices due on May 1st, this would still leave consumers with an 8 per cent reduction.

“It’s just a question of rebalancing the network tariffs,” he said. “We’ve done this before, so it’s not new.” He added that the they could be rebalanced again in the future if necessary.