Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The first electricity credit will be paid between November and December. It is worth €125. The next one will be in the January-February period. The Deputy is right in saying that most people will be able to save more money by switching provider than they will get from the electricity credits. There has been a great deal of interest in that, but switching provider is worth doing. A number of websites are doing it. The Deputy mentioned bonkers.ie, but there are also others. I would definitely recommend doing it. The Deputy is suggesting that we promote that more. I will mention that to the retail electricity division in my Department. He is right that people should take that opportunity.

The electricity credits exclude homes with very low usage on the basis that they are likely to be vacant. A home with very low electricity usage for a year is excluded from getting an electricity credit. However, that does not apply to people who have solar panels because people with solar panels sometimes have very low usage because they have been selling so much power back to the grid. Everybody with solar panels will get it. The reason people are taking up solar so much is partly because the requirement for planning permission has been removed for those installing solar panels, meaning that people can skip the bureaucracy. There is 0% VAT not just on the panels but also on the batteries and installation. That saves people a lot of money. There is still a grant and everybody can sell their power back to the grid which was not the case four years ago when it was difficult to get providers to buy electricity back when people were not at home.

About 100 families are installing solar panels every day, which is more than ever. Those of us who have been knocking on doors will have noticed how many homes have solar panels on their roofs. Approximately €17 million has been allocated for solar grants for next year. We are promoting solar heavily. The Deputy is right that switching electricity provider is something that everybody should do and something we should promote more.