If costs remain close to where they are, it is ‘highly likely’ there will be another round of price cuts later this yearWholesale prices have fallen sharply in the last 12 months, but consumer groups say energy companies not passing on the lower prices to consumers quickly enough.
The faster-than-expected softening of headline inflation in the Republic and across the euro zone has been driven — almost entirely — by falling energy prices. “Due to hedging it takes time for price decreases on wholesale markets to feed through into lower bills for consumers. That would come on the back of two rounds of price cuts over the past six months that have seen electricity bills fall by around 20 to 25 per cent.
Ian Lawlor, managing director of Lotus Investment Group, which lends to developers, said the data shows “a significant improvement” on this time last year when annual inflation for construction materials stood at almost 14 per cent.