Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to helping vulnerable households manage their energy costs through a combination of special energy related payments made by my Department and investment programmes within the responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. My Department currently provides a range of schemes to assist low income households with energy costs. These payments include regular payments such as fuel allowance and additional discretionary payments made under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.

The fuel allowance is a payment of €28 per week, a total of €784 each year per household from October to April. This has an estimated cost of €300 million and is paid to some 370,000 low income households. The electricity or gas allowance is available under the household benefits scheme at an estimated cost in 2021 of €195 million. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department makes discretionary payments to help people with the cost of heating their homes. A heating supplement may be paid to assist people who have exceptional heating costs due to ill-health, infirmity or a medical condition and are unable to meet those costs out of household income. In 2020, 1,100 people received the heating supplement and almost 1,000 people are currently receiving it. More generally, my Department also provides discretionary exceptional needs payments, where appropriate, to people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. These payments are not ring-fenced or budget limited as they would be if they were drawn from an earmarked fund, but rather are demand led.

In 2019, more than 5,000 exceptional needs payments, totalling €930 million, were made to assist with household bills and heating costs. In 2020 almost 4,300 exceptional needs payments were made at a total cost of €670,000. To the end of September this year more than 1,500 payments have been made at a total cost of almost €500,000.

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