Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The number of weeks for which the fuel allowance is paid has been extended to 30, and in January 2007, the number of units covered by the electricity allowance was increased from 1,800 to 2,400.

Even more significantly, from 1 August 2008, the value of the electricity allowance per household increased from €465 to €540 per annum in line with electricity price increases. In order to continue to maintain the value of the electricity and gas allowances at the same level, the value of the gas allowance was also increased to €540 per annum from the same date. I increased the value of these allowances to ensure that vulnerable customers would continue to receive the same amount of energy under the household benefit scheme. In reality, where we saw that the price of electricity and gas went up over the summer, those on various schemes under household benefit did not suffer in that they did not have to pay any extra.

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