Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

The reference in the Fine Gael motion to the need for review of the regulatory arrangements is appropriate given the reduction in global prices at a time when large increases in domestic charges have been approved. As I said at the time the approval of increases of more than one third in the price of gas and 20% in electricity will have a huge detrimental effect on many low-income householders.

The generally accepted measure for fuel poverty is any household that needs to spend more than 10% on heating its home. With the latest increases the number of people falling into that category will increase significantly. The average annual household gas bill before the latest increase was €1,260, which will rise to almost €1,700. Likewise the average electricity bill will increase from €740 to €890. Any household using both will have an overall bill of €2,590. Any household with a disposable income of less than €26,000 per year will technically experience fuel poverty. That is a frightening statistic when one considers that the pre-tax average industrial wage is only approximately €5,000 more.

A 2001 survey showed that more than 17%, almost 230,000 households, were experiencing some form of fuel poverty, which is considerably higher than comparative figures from other EU states. Given the large increase in prices since 2001, that figure will now be considerably higher. The survey also found that particular people were most vulnerable, including single people, a large proportion of whom are elderly. It is a catch-22 situation as elderly people and social welfare recipients are not only in receipt of incomes that make meeting energy costs difficult, but are also more housebound and therefore need to use extra heating systems to live.

Another group significantly affected are single parents with young dependent children. That such families spend much time at home is a major contributory factor. Ireland has significant variations in seasonal mortality, indicating a strong probability that many of those who die in the cold seasons do so because they do not keep themselves sufficiently warm. They do not keep themselves warm because they cannot afford to do so.

Another aspect of fuel poverty examined in the survey to which I refer and given prominence in a newspaper by John Healy and Peter Clinch from UCD was energy efficiency. The homes of lower-income families tend to be less well insulated and thus it costs more to keep them warm due to considerable energy loss or inefficiency. This could be tackled by altering the current grant structure for the installation of energy efficient and renewable energy systems into homes. Currently a relatively small number of people take up, for example, the greener homes grant. In my county, fewer than 600 people have been offered grants so far this year. The figure for the whole State is fewer than 7,000. To a large extent this is because even with the grant considerable cost is involved in installing the necessary equipment.

Currently approximately 270,000 people receive fuel allowance at a cost of €125 million. That figure is close to the number of households living in fuel poverty in 2001. Given the link between fuel poverty and energy efficiency, would it not make sense to make everybody in receipt of fuel allowance also eligible for a full grant to improve insulation if they wish to take part in the greener home system? While the cost would certainly be significant, it might well turn out to be cost effective and would reduce overall energy bills, reduce the consequences and hence the burden on the health service of correlated illnesses and make significant contributions to improving our position regarding renewable sources of energy and reducing energy waste.

See this speech in context