Gas prices will be cut by 12 per cent from May following a decision by the energy regulator to pass a fall in global gas prices to Irish consumers.
The Commission for Energy Regulation said consumers could also expect further price cuts before the end of the year if global prices continue to decline.
But Fine Gael’s energy spokesman Simon Coveney said the price cut was too little and claimed a 25 per cent reduction in domestic gas prices is possible.
“60 per cent of the retail price paid by consumers and businesses for gas is directly related to its wholesale price and there has been a 30 per cent reduction in that figure this year,” Mr Coveney said.
“The plummeting wholesale price of gas allied to a dramatic drop in the value of sterling must also be a factor in determining the cost of gas.
“This is a precious and rare opportunity to deliver savings to hard pressed households and businesses during recession.
“If more employers can retain more employees on their payrolls because of reduced energy bills then the benefits are obvious and lasting.”
But regulator spokesman Dermot Nolan said it would not be appropriate to impose a bigger decrease now, in the event of a world price rise.
Mr Nolan said: “We’re passing on all we can”.
He said that at the time of the 20 per cent increase, international wholesale prices should have translated into a 40 per cent increase for consumers.
“Overall what we have tried to do is smooth the gas prices over the year”.
However, Mr Nolan said there was a chance of further price drops later in the year. “If prices are to change again they will be changing at the end of September and would take effect at the 1st of October.”
“I’m very, very hopeful that come the 1st of October that prices will fall further”
Ealier this month, Bord Gáis reported a 10 per cent fall in pretax profits to €151 million for 2008.
The decline in pretax profits was down to a combination of spending on its expansion, sales costs, increased regulatory requirements and a “share-based payment associated with the introduction of an Employee Share Ownership scheme in 2008”.