-
Irish Energy Regulator outlaws monopoly price fixing loophole in the Irish gas
market, delivering a killer blow to the proposed Hess/LNG/Shannon LNG
project.
- Irish politicians and
officials accused of misleading the general public by hiding the fact
that Irish consumers would have had to subsidise the Shannon LNG
project to the tune of up to €50 million per year.
In a victory for open competition and consumer price protection, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), with full support from the European Commission (DG Energy),
ruled on June 29th, 2012 that all gas suppliers in Ireland must
contribute to the cost of the interconnector pipeline from Britain to
Ireland, whether they use it or not.
Shannon LNG's predatorial business plan was based on selling gas for slightly less
than the benchmark interconnector price which would have given it a
dominant market position. However, this would have caused an increase
in consumer prices as decreasing numbers of interconnector
customers would be forced to pay more to cover the €50 million annual
fixed cost of the pipeline.
If
the Shannon LNG project goes ahead then it will no longer be with the
certainty of any market share they wish. The closing of the
price-distortion loophole by the Energy Regualtor will now almost
certainly see the end of the predatorial Shannon LNG project which had
been hoping to take advantage of a weakness in the Irish gas pricing
system.
The CER decision has finally forced everyone to recognise that Ireland
and the UK is the one gas market and that there is no such thing as
'Irish' gas.
'Safety
Before LNG' accuses all the local politicians and officials who
lobbied for the Shannon LNG price-fixing project with total disregard
for its negative safety, environmental and strategic effects, of
misleading the
general public by hiding the fact that Irish consumers would have had
to subsidise the Shannon LNG project to the tune of up to €50 million
per year. These
pro LNG politicians and officials acted with total disregard for their obligation to behave objectively and in a manner which is
consistent with their roles as public representatives and legislators.
Stupidity and the inability to understand basic economic facts is not
an excuse for the disgraceful lobbying by local politicians and
officials who would have gladly seen an offshore company rob Irish
consumers of as much as an extra €50 million per year at a time of
increasing fuel poverty.
