Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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152. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to examine the case and review the documents of persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55681/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Budget 2024 package includes a new Electricity Cost Emergency Benefit Scheme III through which €412.83 (exclusive of VAT) will be credited to each domestic electricity account in three payments of €137.61 (exclusive of VAT) in each of the following billing periods - December 2023, January/February 2024 and March/April 2024. The estimated cost of this scheme is €1.007 billion.

The payment will be applied to domestic electricity accounts, including those with Pay As You Go meters, which are subject to distribution use of system charges at the rate for urban domestic customers (DG1) or the rate for rural domestic customers (DG2).

Under Scheme III, usage levels are assessed to ensure that payments are withheld in relation to low usage electricity accounts identified by the distribution system operator, to prevent the payment from being applied to vacant houses.

ESB Networks identified accounts which consumed less than 150 kilowatt hours of electricity per quarter for four consecutive quarters between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. If a domestic electricity account identified by ESB Networks on the effective date in respect of each payment, is flagged as a low usage account, it will not be allocated a payment for that payment period. The payment will not be withheld for accounts with a financial hardship meter, registered as a vulnerable customer or has low usage due to exporting energy to the grid through microgeneration.

The Scheme allows for review by a customer’s electricity supplier, if contacted by a customer who has not received the payment, The Supplier will be able to review this and apply the payment if the customer is; a registered vulnerable customer, is eligible to be on the vulnerable customer register, or has a financial hardship meter. The customer can seek further review by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, following the decision of the electricity supplier.

Through the Submeter Support Scheme, three payments of €137.61 (exclusive of VAT) will also be paid to supplier submeter accounts, identified by suppliers, which cannot receive payments under Scheme III.