The Government must do more to open up the electricity and gas markets to drive down energy bills, it was claimed today.
Ireland has the seventh-most expensive energy prices among the 25 member states due to lack of competition to state companies ESB and An Bord Gais.
However EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs today called for unbundling of the electricity and gas markets to allow other EU operators to enter.
"There has to be unbundling. It's not done in Ireland yet. It is the first precondition for real competition," the Latvian politician said in Dublin.
Mr Piebalgs is on an official visit to Ireland where he will also address an Oireachtas Natural Resources Committee and the Institute of European Affairs.
The Commissioner said that only 10 per cent of Irish consumers who switch to other operators, which was very low. "Competition should be brought in but it is really for the Government to decide," he added.
Mr Piebalgs also called for the development of the all-Ireland energy market which would introduce competition from the UK. "If there is no unbundling, you cannot expect competition," he said.
Earlier this month, the Commissioner's 'A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy' Green Paper was adopted by the Commission. Mr Piebalgs told today's Institute of European Affairs that the blueprint signalled a new start for EU energy policy which also took into account the global challenges facing the sector.
He noted that the development of fully competitive internal energy markets would be a foremost priority of future policy. He said: "I consider I will have achieved something if, by the end of this Commission, all the necessary legal and regulatory instruments and bodies are in place to guarantee truly competitive and European electricity and gas market."
"There remains too many barriers to competition and too many differences between the rules of the game in the different member states.
"Markets remain national in scope and there is no level playing field. "Half-finished liberalisation in these sector will not bring all the benefits of EU citizens and industry that we have set out to achieve and the Commission is deeply committed to resolving this."
Other priorities in the Green Paper focus on energy supply, energy mix, climate change, research and external policy. In other remarks to the Institute of European Affairs, Mr Piebalgs described previous European energy policy as fragmented and lacking focus.
"If Europe could agree its clearly identified energy goals and priorities and pursue them vigorously with a single voice, it can lead the new global energy agenda, not follow it," he said.