Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill. We are all aware of the extent to which the cost of living has risen and we are witnessing the highest inflation rates seen in this country for over two decades. Therefore, any help in reducing high energy bills must be welcomed as a buffer against what we know will be a tough winter for many. The energy supply markets, the unknown factors surrounding Ukraine and the unpredictable duration of the war are not in our control. What is in our control is the capping of electricity units at the rate they were in June or July 2021. This would have given certainty, reassurance and stability to domestic customers and small SMEs, including our retail industry. It would have meant they could plan their budgets and turnover without fear of inevitable drastic increases that will possibly cause many of them to close. We also believe a scheme should ensure people with vacant holiday homes or owners of multiple properties should not benefit from the €600 credits.

I would like to see more flexibility in the Bill to allow for an extension of the date to 2025. This would give the Government more scope to introduce further emergency payments should they be urgently needed.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify the Government's position on MPRN accounts. The Bill states the credit will be paid directly to the holder or name of the MPRN account. What happens in the case where people living in multiple-unit complexes share a meter through a domestic connection, or for members of the Travelling community living in a halting site with shared meters? Will they receive their €200 credit? I had such a case in Wexford town, concerning old people living in a small, purpose-built estate with only one MPRN meter between them.

We have been calling for a windfall tax all along. The recent announcement from the European Union to allow each state to fix up to 33% on the extra profits energy companies make is and will be an essential part of protecting workers and their families from being at the mercy of those companies now and in the near future, which are making opportunistic profits on the back of a war that threatens food and energy supplies across Europe.

Leaving the levy until next year must be questioned, along with the Government's refusal to support decoupling gas from electricity prices, considering that over 80% of Ireland's energy output was provided by wind in June, July and August of this year, yet companies charged each wind-produced unit at the top rate of a gas unit.

We are supportive of this Bill and call on the Government to introduce the windfall levy as early as possible. As we have already seen, the first payment of €200 in credits will be gobbled up by the staggering further increases of 38% in electricity and 37% in gas prices which came into effect on 1 October.

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