Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that. I mention a scenario where your unit price has gone up by less than 50%. In the case I gave you, Deputy Matthews's unit price had gone up by 47% and his fill had increased by €7,000. He is ineligible for the scheme. Deputy Ó Murchú's company's unit price went up by 60%, his bill went up by €9,000 and his actual bill that he will have to pay is €5,400. When your unit price goes up 47%, as in the case of this hypothetical business that I have unfortunately tagged Deputy Matthews with, you are not entitled to any State support for that €7,000 increase in your bill, which has translated from the unit price going up. That is a significant issue in the step effect. There has to be a step and there is one but there are ways to limit the step effect, such that you are in or you are out. A nearly 50% increase in the unit price of gas and electricity is a big jump. We can see that when a bill goes from €15,000 to €22,000. That could be multiples of that if it was a larger company. The impact on the bill could be double that and the customer still would not be entitled to any State support. If a customer's bill was €30,000 last year, the impact on his or her electricity costs this year would be €14,000 and he or she still would not be eligible for any State support because the unit price was below the 50% increase. That is an issue.

I want to raise the issue of the cost of this measure. How much does this cost?