Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As stated by the Deputy, thus far, happily, the winter has been very mild. Let us hope it continues that way. As we enter the winter months I remain concerned about energy poverty and its impact on the most vulnerable in society. Energy poverty is a function of a person’s income, the thermal efficiency of his or her home and the price he or she pays for energy. As the Deputy will be aware, in November 2011 I published a strategy on affordable energy. It is being implemented by my Department in collaboration with the Department of Social Protection and other relevant Departments and agencies across the public sector.

To address the thermal efficiency of people’s homes, I have secured increased funds for the better energy warmer homes scheme in 2014. This scheme provides grants free of charge for vulnerable households to enable them to make their homes more thermal efficient. To date, more than 102,000 homes around the country have benefited from these free upgrades. My Department, together with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, is also working to ensure the funds available under the better energy warmer homes scheme are targeted at those households most in need. The eligibility criteria for the scheme have been widened in order that the scheme captures more households at risk of energy poverty. In addition, the SEAI will soon pilot an approach that will allow it to identify households in extreme energy poverty at an earlier stage in the scheme application process, thus allowing it to prioritise the treatment of these applications.

The SEAI is also running a pilot programme for upgrading local authority homes through the better energy warmer homes scheme. Previously, the scheme had only been available to private homeowners. The goal of the pilot programme is to assess if the scheme can also assist local authority households that are vulnerable to energy poverty. The pilot programme is nearing completion and I expect to receive a report on its effectiveness this month. The SEAI has also published the Keeping Well and Warm booklet and website which informs vulnerable households of the advice and supports available to them. In the past four years 230,000 Keeping Well and Warm booklets have been distributed to vulnerable households.

While the numbers of electricity and gas disconnections continue to decline, my Department is engaging with the CER with a view to reducing further the numbers of disconnections.

See this speech in context