John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I represent Dublin South-West, which is located in the area administered by South Dublin County Council and it has a social housing stock of approximately 10,000 houses. That can be replicated in every local authority area although the numbers would be different. Those 10,000 homes would comprise 10,000 individual customers with different accounts across the utility companies. I have a suggestion which would offer many advantages. Is it open to a local authority to organise a best-deal system for its 10,000 social housing tenants? If it is, there is a quite a substantial housing stock. I know the CRU will be rolling out smart metering. Many of the innovative solutions offered by some of the companies are quite pricey. They may offer savings and they definitely offer savings over the medium term, never mind the long term, but they are aimed at middle-income earners who can afford it. I am mindful of those who cannot afford these types of measures. If a local authority could purchase bundles from utility companies, it would put it in charge, in a much better way without controlling the entire process, of securing deals, reducing energy costs and monitoring all those energy costs. Retrofitting is often the way we deal with some of these matters but that involves a major cost. I do not know if this question has been raised previously or whether the commission has a view on that. Would that proposal be an option if South Dublin County Council decided it would be in the best interests of its tenants to look after the supply of electricity to those 10,000 homes, that it would get the best deal from the ESB or Energia and would renegotiate it from time to time, as well as ensuring its tenants were as well educated as possible in terms of energy use?