Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We may not use it all.

I thank the House for the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank Deputies Cronin and Kerrane for co-sponsoring it with me.

The Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Prohibition of Winter Disconnections) Bill 2021 aims to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to include explicit provision for the Minister to provide policy direction to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to introduce a moratorium on disconnections of gas and electricity supply to domestic customers for non-payment during the annual fuel allowance season or during other periods of time the Minister may deem appropriate. It is an important power that we seek to bestow on the Minister.

We know that the risk and reality of disconnection is something we need to address in a real way. We acknowledge there are powers there already under section 10A. We know the CRU has operated a voluntary code over the years at different times, including during Covid. However, if we track the disconnections in gas and electricity over the years, the most recent figures for 2019 show that there were more than 5,000 electricity disconnections and more than 2,400 gas disconnections, which were up on the previous year. Therefore, we know that more needs to be done to protect vulnerable customers, particularly during the difficult, cold winter months.

An additional power we seek to give the Minister is discretion to identify other periods the Minister may deem appropriate to initiate a ban on disconnections - for example, during the Covid period. We acknowledge that the voluntary scheme significantly reduced the number of disconnections during the Covid period. However, that is for a limited time. We are now living at a time of hyperinflation and a huge increases in cost of petrol and diesel and in the cost of living, putting families under huge pressure. Our proposal is that we would give people the protection, particularly during the winter months or at times otherwise deemed appropriate by the Minister, and to give people some breathing space by removing that threat of disconnection from over their head, however limited that space might be. We know from the figures that when there is not protection there, disconnections happen at a significant rate. This proposal gives people a bit of space to arrange their affairs, to enter into a payment plan, to get themselves back on track in terms of repaying the debt that is owed to the supplier or to engage with other agencies, as might be appropriate, whether the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or other agencies to support them through the period. It provides a protection for vulnerable customers as well as a safety net and breathing space.

In my last minute, I will point to some of the commentary when section 10A, which is the provision that is there and we seek to amend, was introduced in 2006. The then Minister of State, John Browne, said that it was important that such power should be used sparingly and always in the public interest. That is exactly what we are talking about here. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, also contributed to the debate at that time. He said the regulated model had not worked because a regulator or bureaucrat based in the Department or the CRU could not take on the political responsibility to lead and that such a person could not take a decision on something awkward, difficult or risky, and that was the role of politicians. The power we want to bestow on the Minister is to protect during the winter months and to identify those periods in which the Minister would be given the discretion to implement a ban on disconnections to protect customers.

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