Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

This Bill should fit into a superstructure, namely, the climate change Bill. I regret that the publication of that Bill has been postponed. One element of the Government may have been enthusiastic about including the Bill in the programme for Government, but it has not been endorsed wholeheartedly. This is regrettable. It is important that the heads of the Bill are published so we can see some progress on it.

That said, I welcome the Bill before the House as part of the wider cultural shift we have been seeing in recent years towards smarter use of our energy. Heavy emissions models and widespread inefficiencies have been common in industry for years and I am glad to see the Bill reflects the change which is already under way and establishes legal compulsion on energy suppliers. As competition develops in our internal market we run the risk of an under-regulated market losing sight of the urgent need to achieve efficiencies. Therefore, I welcome the fact that the Bill seeks to address this potential problem.

The Bill is also very welcome in so far as it provides for an energy demand reduction target programme and I hope it will go a long way towards achieving our 20% efficiency target under the national energy efficiency action plan and help to reduce carbon emissions. I suggest this target is too modest. Nonetheless, the measures are a help.

Sustainability will come much more to the fore in future years. I used the Ecology Foundation as the source of the following statistics. A total of 90% of Ireland's energy mix comprises fossil fuels, namely, oil, gas and coal. Ireland has the fourth highest dependency in Europe on imported fuels. Imported fuels cost Ireland more than €6 billion per annum. We are getting used to the difference between millions and billions and we understand the impact €1 billion can have. If we could reduce the balance of payments of our fuel bill it would make a significant difference. We import all of our oil and coal and 95% of our gas, which will come as a surprise to people.

A total of 55% of our electricity is generated from gas, and it is only when one considers this statistic that it brings into sharp focus how exposed we are, as Ireland has only 11 days gas supply stored compared to 92 days in France and 84 days in Germany. This is a very high risk strategy. We need only consider the earthquake in Japan which knocked out a major nuclear plant. Not only was there an impact on the local population but also on the industrial sector. It takes considerable time to replace such an energy loss. Energy security is a very important issue and our dependence on the importation of fuels is a serious problem for us. It is a high-risk strategy.

If Germany had an Atlantic coast similar to Ireland's would it have made much more of it as a resource than we do? It provides a great opportunity but it is under-performing. I hope we do significantly more with regard to wave and wind energy because the Atlantic is a wonderful resource and it will become incredibly important in terms of our future energy security.

In recent years progress has been made in home energy retrofitting. I hope the Bill will help many people who until now have not had an opportunity to access grants or financial arrangements to allow them offset some of the cost of insulating their homes and other efficiency measures. There is no doubt it makes a sizeable difference. I live in a very modest terraced house and a few years ago I installed very good insulation in the attic. During the very bad weather I could see the difference made because the frost and snow stayed on the roof. It was clear the energy was being contained in the house rather than heating the environment.

The establishment of an energy efficiency fund is a particularly interesting aspect of the Bill and I look forward to seeing the type of projects it will help to fund.

I welcome the regulatory power the Bill confers on the Minister and the Commission for Energy Regulations. However, I am concerned about some aspects. Will the Minister elaborate on what the Bill considers to be "small energy suppliers" as referred to in section 11(1) in Chapter 4? What are the criteria used by the Department in drafting the definition? Conflict could arise at the edge of this. Does the Minister have any estimates on how much money will typically be taken in by the energy efficiency fund? I presume it will be a rolling fund because it will be paid off over time and will have new entrants.

Does the Minister envisage any adverse effects on smaller retrofitters? An issue which was raised very early was the opportunity for people who formerly worked in the construction sector to retrain and obtain the accreditation required to do the work. However, some people who did this were concerned about larger suppliers dictating who the contractors would be. I would like to know how this is likely to roll out and how this aspect will be managed. It will be quite important for people who have diverted from a particular type of job to this profession. Opportunities exist if they are properly harnessed.

What impact on the Department does the Minister envisage the administration of the energy efficiency order system and the oversight of voluntary energy efficiency agreements will have? Will additional staff and resources be required? How will it play out from an institutional point of view? It may well be that these will be teased out on Committee Stage but I would welcome a response to know the type of amendments to table.

The Bill seems to introduce a number of sensible measures in respect of pension entitlements for Bord Gais and ESB employees who transfer to other sector organisations and this is needed.

I was interested in some documentation from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. We were fortunate to have had a briefing with it several weeks ago. While we would like to think that in the first instance consumers think about the environment, what motivates people to take up initiatives such as the warmer home scheme are comfort gains and energy savings. According to research, the environmental benefit was a weak motivator. A total of 65% of people believe the value of their home increased after they upgraded so it will be important. Comfort is also an important factor as the majority of participants cited energy savings followed by comfort gains.

It has been well established that most households do not know their energy costs or prices, which is interesting. That brings us into another area that was touched on by previous speakers, concerning fuel poverty. Often, those who receive free units of electricity or gas do not use them in full because they are terrified of receiving a bill. They find it almost impossible to quantify what they are using. Devices exist to do so and it is important that they become better known among those in receipt of social welfare. One of the arguments made about fuel poverty is that someone who is housebound should receive the fuel allowance for the whole year. The eight months fuel allowance allocated by the Department of Social Protection is very welcome and it is unfortunate that it was reduced in recent months. Paying it for eight months is a false economy in respect of someone who is housebound if people end up in hospital because of inadequate heating.

I refer to sustainability. If we are not at peak oil, we are very close to it. Sustainability must become one of the cornerstones of all policy. We are very exposed due to the lead-in time for the importation of fuel. We have only 11 days of fuel. The ecosystem, the increasing population of the world and the demands of the newer economies would make the issue of sustainability more important. This type of scheme will be important in reducing demand but not necessarily reducing the quality of people's lives when we can retrofit homes and make them more fuel efficient.

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