Regulators must start standing up for consumers as telecoms firms plan to jack up prices
- Ban on automatic annual price increase needs to be put in place
As telecoms companies and other big businesses continue to hike prices at a time of record profits, Labour finance spokesperson Ged Nash has urged government and regulators to call these companies to task.
Deputy Nash said:
“The Labour Party has consistently highlighted the need to address the enormous gouging of consumers going on over the past number of years.
“As the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) today calls for a crackdown on telecoms companies hiking prices mid-contract, it’s time to see real action and teeth from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
“Under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil families are struggling with the permanently increased cost of living and higher bills. This government and the relevant regulators need to put hard-pressed consumers first, for a change.
“Labour has set out a clear plan to make wages go further. Little has been done by successive Fine Gael Fianna Fáil coalitions to tackle price gouging or the high costs of services in Ireland which is why Labour has called for a detailed action plan to address this once and for all.
“With the spotlight on telecoms companies today, more than ever we need to see real reform to ban automatic annual price increases in service contracts. The tail is wagging the dog here, and it’s time for this Government to intervene.
“Tackling the high price of mobile phone contracts for example is just one of the many areas that this government needs to address to end the enormous cost of living in Ireland.
“Even the Tories in the UK banned the sort of annual price increases our regulator green lights on-the-nod for global telecoms giants as a matter of course, here.
“We need to see action from Government to make grocery prices lower, by giving the CCPC greater powers to regularly assess prices, the groceries market and make pro-consumer interventions.
“We also need to see the ‘loyalty penalty’ that’s rampant in many kinds of utility contracts end.
“We need to tackle the high cost of insurance which continues to impact negatively on business in Ireland. We need to bring down household bills by reducing electricity prices to the European average, and implementing a street by street retrofitting plan ana carrying out a major, independent review of the reasons why prices are so high.
“The Labour Party will never be shy of constructive solutions to end the rip-off of consumers and demand a greater balance between the interests of working people and small businesses and big businesses that betray all the signs of effective monopolies with their pricing strategies.”