Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important topic. I will begin by outlining recent price developments and the Government response and then I will discuss smart metering, EV policy and the Government's Reduce Your Use campaign.

The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is the continuing upward trend in international gas prices, where we are a price taker. Gas prices have been rising steadily since March 2020 and were further exacerbated following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This feeds directly through to retail electricity as the wholesale price of electricity correlates strongly with the price of gas. The Government is very aware of the impact on households of increasing electricity costs. In addition to measures taken in budget 2022, the Government has announced a €505 million suite of measures to mitigate cost-of-living increases, including a credit payment to all domestic electricity accounts, additional fuel allowance payments amounting to €225, a new targeted €20 million scheme for the installation of photovoltaic panels for households that have a high reliance on electricity for medical reasons and a reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 9% on gas and electricity bills from May to October. In addition, response 6 of the national energy security framework charges the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, with implementing a package of measures to enhance protections for financially vulnerable customers and customers in debt by quarter 3, ahead of the next heating season. Furthermore, in this fuel allowance year recipients received a total of €1,139 compared to €735 in 2020-21 and €756 in 2019-20. This includes the €5 weekly increase announced in budget 2022 and an additional €225 announced in 2022.

I turn to smart meters. Citizen participation in the clean energy transition is essential to meeting our ambitious climate targets. The infrastructure needed to empower citizens to become active energy consumers is smart metering. Action 22 under the national energy security framework, led by the CRU and ESB Networks, aims to leverage the roll-out of the smart metering programme by providing electricity customers with access to their data, thus enabling greater citizen participation. The CRU will also examine charges within its remit to ensure the differential between peak and off-peak tariffs provides the opportunity for electricity customers to save money by moving some consumption to off-peak hours.

On heat controls and reducing consumption, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, operates a number of energy-efficiency upgrade schemes on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Support for heating controls is available under the better energy homes scheme. All homeowners whose homes were built and occupied before 2011 can apply for the €700 grant to upgrade their heating controls. The Government has also launched a new nationwide public information campaign, Reduce Your Use, to promote and encourage energy-efficiency and highlight the range of government supports that are available to households and businesses to help to lessen the impact of rising costs.

The Government is deeply committed to its climate action plan goal of having nearly 1 million EVs on the road by 2030. The Government's draft EV charging infrastructure strategy 2022-25, which is currently out for public consultation, promotes the roll-out of publicly accessible charging points for EVs. It focuses on meeting the needs of EV owners who are unable to charge their vehicles at home, as well as offering top-up charging at destinations and on major routes. Work is currently being progressed to expand the EV home charger grant to include shared parking in apartment blocks and similar developments. The Department of Transport is working closely with the SEAI and expects a scheme for apartments to open in the near future.

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